TheMarathon Clinic
Course pacing

How to pace the Amsterdam Marathon

The TCS Amsterdam Marathon is a flat and fast marathon, with about 84 m of climbing and 84 m of descent (a near-level net change). Pace it by even effort; on a course this flat, all but even splits will follow.

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Next Amsterdam Marathon

Sunday 18 October 2026

About 16 weeks away · 112 days · projected from the usual race weekend

Build a plan for this race

Elevation gain

84m

Elevation loss

84m

Net change

0m

Terrain

Flat

Typical race-day conditions

October

At the gun

11°C

~9:30am start

By the finish

14°C

warms through the morning

Humidity

80%

morning average

Conditions

Good

close to ideal, a small cost at most

Goal finish time
::
StrategyEven effort keeps your effort steady and lets pace drift with the terrain, slower up the climbs and faster down. Even pace holds one pace the whole way and ignores the hills.
Splits every
Units
Race conditionsPace for an ideal cool day, a typical race-day, or a warm-outlier year. Warmer conditions slow your realistic finish, and the splits below adjust to match.
AcclimatisedAcclimatised: you already train and race in conditions like these, so your body has adapted. You sweat sooner and more, hold a lower heart rate and core temperature, and barely lose time to the heat.Not yet: you mostly train in cooler weather, so a warm race hits harder, a higher heart rate, an earlier fade, and roughly twice the slowdown an adapted runner sees. It comes good after about two weeks of training in the heat.
Typical condition impactTypical October · +1.4%

A typical October morning sits around 11°C at the gun and 14°C by the finish. Adapted to conditions like these, the heat may still slow you about +1.4% against an ideal cool day. That moves your 3:30:00 goal to about 3:33:01, and the pace below already allows for it.

Your target pace

5:03/km

Your average across the whole course. The splits below shift it for every climb and descent, so your effort stays even the whole way.

TCS Amsterdam Marathon

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Hover the map or the profile, the other follows.

0 km510152025303540-3 m-2 m-1 m0 m1 m2 m3 m
climb descenttarget pace

The coach's read

Flat enough that the terrain never enters the conversation, an even-effort, even-pace day from gun to tape. Start controlled out of the stadium, settle into rhythm along the Amstel, and the lap of the track to finish is the reward for disciplined pacing.

WHY  Allowing for a typical October day, that's about 5:03/km of effort the whole way, the splits below shift with the gradient, not your pace.

Ease the climbs, let the descents run, and stay relaxed through the second half.
JHJason HuntFounder & Head Coach
Your race-day splits
MarkerTarget paceClock
1 km5:04/km5:04
2 km5:00/km10:04
3 km5:02/km15:06
4 km5:06/km20:12
5 km5:03/km25:15
6 km5:03/km30:19
7 km5:00/km35:19
8 km5:01/km40:20
9 km5:08/km45:28
10 km5:02/km50:29
11 km5:03/km55:33
12 km5:02/km1:00:35
13 km5:03/km1:05:38
14 km5:02/km1:10:40
15 km5:03/km1:15:43
16 km5:02/km1:20:45
17 km5:05/km1:25:49
18 km5:02/km1:30:51
19 km5:02/km1:35:53
20 km5:03/km1:40:56
21 km5:04/km1:46:00
22 km5:03/km1:51:03
23 km5:03/km1:56:06
24 km5:02/km2:01:07
25 km5:06/km2:06:13
26 km5:03/km2:11:16
27 km5:00/km2:16:16
28 km5:05/km2:21:21
29 km5:07/km2:26:28
30 km4:58/km2:31:26
31 km4:57/km2:36:23
32 km5:04/km2:41:27
33 km5:03/km2:46:30
34 km5:10/km2:51:40
35 km5:03/km2:56:43
36 km5:04/km3:01:47
37 km5:03/km3:06:50
38 km5:01/km3:11:51
39 km5:00/km3:16:51
40 km5:04/km3:21:55
41 km5:05/km3:27:00
42 km5:03/km3:32:03
Finish5:01/km3:33:01

Even-effort splits distribute your goal time by the energy cost of each gradient (the Minetti grade-cost model), not an even pace. Wind, heat, turns, and your own downhill tolerance still apply, so run the climbs by feel and stay relaxed on the descents.

Train for this course, not just the distance.

A coach builds the climbs and descents into your plan.

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Take it furtherAdjust for the heatPlan your splits
·Race-day guide

Pacing the Amsterdam Marathon

A coach's read on how the TCS Amsterdam Marathon runs, and how to spend your effort across it.

01The course

Kilometre by kilometre

  • There are no climbs to plan around: the profile stays within a narrow band the whole way, so the course runs as a flat, even-effort race.
  • Vondelpark (~39.5 km): Through the city's great park in the closing kilometres before the stadium.
02The plan

How to pace the Amsterdam Marathon

  1. Read the course before race day. Pancake-flat, a PB course. Flat enough that the terrain never enters the conversation, an even-effort, even-pace day from gun to tape.
  2. Pace by effort, not just the watch. Set the effort you can hold for the whole marathon, then let the pace flex with the ground: a little slower up, a little faster down, the same effort throughout.
  3. Hold it steady and even. With no real hills to plan around, the win is discipline: settle on your goal pace early, hold it through the middle, and avoid the temptation to surge.
  4. Plan your finish. Start controlled out of the stadium, settle into rhythm along the Amstel, and the lap of the track to finish is the reward for disciplined pacing.
03Questions

Amsterdam Marathon, answered

Is the Amsterdam Marathon hilly?
No, it's a flat course, with only about 84 m of total climbing over the 42.2 km. There's nothing in the terrain you need to pace around.
How should I pace the Amsterdam Marathon?
The TCS Amsterdam Marathon is a flat and fast marathon, with about 84 m of climbing and 84 m of descent (a near-level net change). Pace it by even effort; on a course this flat, all but even splits will follow.
Is the Amsterdam Marathon a good course for a PB?
Yes. It's flat and fast, so on a calm day it's one of the better courses for a personal best. The limiter is your fitness and pacing discipline, not the terrain.
How much elevation gain does the Amsterdam Marathon have?
About 84 m of total gain and 84 m of loss over the 42.2 km, in line with the organiser's published figures.

From the journal

2026-06-10 · 4 min

Why your marathon paces should come from a real run

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Train for Amsterdam. Not just the distance.

A coach builds this course's climbs, descents and race-day pacing into a plan made for you.

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