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Course pacing
How to pace the Osaka Marathon
The Osaka Marathon is a largely flat but gently rolling marathon, with about 107 m of climbing and 122 m of descent (a near-level net change). Pace it by even effort: ease back on the few rises and let the descents run, rather than forcing an identical pace on every kilometre.
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Guide reviewed August 2026
Next Osaka Marathon
Build a plan for this raceSunday 28 February 2027
About 21 weeks away · 147 days · projected from the usual race weekend
Elevation gain
107m
modelled
Elevation loss
122m
modelled
Net change
-14m
Terrain
Rolling
Typical race-day conditions
February
At the gun
5°C
~9:00am start
By the finish
9°C
warms through the morning
Humidity
62%
morning average
Conditions
Ideal
cool, fast racing weather
A thirty-year average for February, not a prediction. The real forecast appears here inside the last nine days.
Your race plan
3:30:00
Target pace
4:59/km
Your goal is already a Osaka time, so the plan finishes on it. The hills are in the splits below, not in the total: they decide which kilometres are fast and which are slow.
▸Where that comes from
- Your goal for Osaka
- 3:30:00
- Osaka’s terrainshapes the splits, not the total
- —
- On the day
- 3:30:00
↑ climbs +3:40 (107 m)↓ descents -3:45 (122 m)
The climbs and descents very nearly cancel out.
Osaka Marathon
Osaka, Japan
Hover the map or the profile, the other follows.
Interactive route map loads as you approach it.
Osaka is a 42.2 kilometre course described as flat, fast tour of the city. It has about 107 metres of climbing. It has about 122 metres of descent.The elevation chart and split table below provide the same route information without requiring the map.
This one is won on the back half.
km 31–32 climbs 24 m, right where most runners fade.
plan slows (give time) plan runs (take it back)each block ≈ 500 m of the course
Your race-day splits
Every
Units
| Marker | Target pace | Clock | Terrain |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 4:38/km | 4:38 | -14 m |
| 2 km | 4:55/km | 9:33 | flat |
| 3 km | 5:12/km | 14:45 | +8 m |
| 4 km | 4:51/km | 19:36 | flat |
| 5 km | 5:08/km | 24:44 | flat |
| 6 km | 4:59/km | 29:43 | flat |
| 7 km | 5:02/km | 34:45 | flat |
| 8 km | 4:50/km | 39:35 | -6 m |
| 9 km | 5:12/km | 44:47 | +8 m |
| 10 km | 4:58/km | 49:44 | flat |
| 11 km | 5:14/km | 54:58 | +9 m |
| 12 km | 4:36/km | 59:34 | -16 m |
| 13 km | 4:52/km | 1:04:27 | flat |
| 14 km | 4:50/km | 1:09:17 | flat |
| 15 km | 5:05/km | 1:14:21 | flat |
| 16 km | 4:59/km | 1:19:21 | flat |
| 17 km | 4:58/km | 1:24:18 | flat |
| 18 km | 4:59/km | 1:29:17 | flat |
| 19 km | 4:58/km | 1:34:15 | flat |
| 20 km | 4:57/km | 1:39:12 | flat |
| 21 km | 5:07/km | 1:44:19 | flat |
| 22 km | 4:52/km | 1:49:11 | flat |
| 23 km | 4:58/km | 1:54:09 | flat |
| 24 km | 4:59/km | 1:59:09 | flat |
| 25 km | 5:00/km | 2:04:08 | flat |
| 26 km | 4:59/km | 2:09:07 | flat |
| 27 km | 4:59/km | 2:14:06 | flat |
| 28 km | 4:59/km | 2:19:05 | flat |
| 29 km | 5:06/km | 2:24:11 | flat |
| 30 km | 5:02/km | 2:29:12 | flat |
| 31 km | 4:58/km | 2:34:10 | flat |
| 32 km | 5:28/km | 2:39:38 | +17 m |
| 33 km | 5:01/km | 2:44:39 | flat |
| 34 km | 4:38/km | 2:49:17 | -13 m |
| 35 km | 4:46/km | 2:54:04 | -8 m |
| 36 km | 4:59/km | 2:59:02 | flat |
| 37 km | 5:01/km | 3:04:03 | flat |
| 38 km | 4:54/km | 3:08:58 | flat |
| 39 km | 4:59/km | 3:13:57 | flat |
| 40 km | 4:55/km | 3:18:52 | flat |
| 41 km | 5:14/km | 3:24:06 | +9 m |
| 42 km | 4:56/km | 3:29:02 | flat |
| Finish | 4:59/km | 3:30:00 | flat |
These are modelled splits, not a validated prediction. The route and elevation data, weather, surface, congestion and your own uphill and downhill ability can all change the pace you can hold. Use the numbers as a planning guide, run the climbs by feel and stay relaxed on the descents.
Take it to your watch
These exact splits as a structured workout: one step per kilometre, each with its target pace band (±10 s/km). Your watch prompts every step, so on race day you run the terrain, not the arithmetic.
Garmin needs a cable and a computer. In this file: 43 steps · every km · 3:30:00 goal · even effort · typical February conditions · per-km paces. Change anything above and download again.
Getting it onto your watch
You will need a USB cable and a computer. There is no way around that: Garmin has never built a way to send a workout to a watch from a phone, from Garmin Connect, or from any file you can email yourself. Everyone who makes these files, us included, has the same constraint.
- Download the file above on a computer.
- Plug the watch in by USB and wait for it to appear.
- Copy the file into GARMIN/NewFiles. If your watch has no NewFiles folder, use GARMIN/Workouts instead.
- Eject the watch and unplug it.
- On the watch, go to Training, then Workouts. It will be there under the name of this race.
On a Mac the watch mounts as a media device rather than a drive, so you will need a transfer app such as Android File Transfer to see those folders. Windows shows them in Explorer.
Dragging it into Garmin Connect or TrainingPeaks will not work, and it is worth knowing why. .fit is a container that holds several different kinds of file. A recorded run uploads to both of them happily, which is what those drop zones are built for. A workout is a different file type inside the same extension, and neither platform will import one.
Train for this course, not just the distance.
A coach builds the climbs and descents into your plan, and closer to the day you can sit down with Jason and settle how you will run it.
Where Osaka is decided
Hardest km
32 km at 5:28/km
Fastest km
12 km at 4:36/km
The coach's read
Flat and fast through the heart of the city, with cool late-February air to match. The crowds are dense down Midosuji early, so hold back and run even effort, then let the flat run-in to the bay reward your patience.
WHY At 3:30:00, that's about 4:59/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
·Race-day guide
Pacing the Osaka Marathon
A coach's read on how the Osaka Marathon runs, and how to spend your effort across it.
01The course
Kilometre by kilometre
- The climbing that matters: 30.9–32.3 km (+24 m at 1.6%). Run these by effort; your pace will and should slow.
- Where you get it back: 32.4–34.7 km (-26 m down). Let these run without braking or hammering: relaxed, quick feet.
02The plan
How to pace the Osaka Marathon
- Read the course before race day. Flat, fast tour of the city. Flat and fast through the heart of the city, with cool late-February air to match.
- 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.
- Give the climbs effort, not pace. Let your pace slow on the climbs while holding effort steady; chasing your flat pace uphill is the classic way to blow up. The biggest is around 31–32 km (+24 m).
- Protect your quads on the descents. Stay relaxed and let the descents come to you. Hammering downhill banks a few seconds now and wrecks your legs for the closing kilometres; the model deliberately caps the downhill benefit for this reason.
- Plan your finish. The crowds are dense down Midosuji early, so hold back and run even effort, then let the flat run-in to the bay reward your patience.
03Questions
Osaka Marathon, answered
- Is the Osaka Marathon hilly?
- It's largely flat but gently rolling, with around 107 m of total climbing over the 42.2 km. The biggest single climb is about 24 m.
- How should I pace the Osaka Marathon?
- The Osaka Marathon is a largely flat but gently rolling marathon, with about 107 m of climbing and 122 m of descent (a near-level net change). Pace it by even effort: ease back on the few rises and let the descents run, rather than forcing an identical pace on every kilometre.
- What is the hardest part of the Osaka Marathon?
- The toughest climb runs roughly 31–32 km, gaining about 24 m at an average 1.6%. Flat and fast through the heart of the city, with cool late-February air to match.
- Is the Osaka Marathon a good course for a PB?
- It can be. It's fast enough for a personal best if you pace by effort and don't fight the rolling sections; just don't expect a dead-flat racetrack.
- How much elevation gain does the Osaka Marathon have?
- About 107 m of total gain and 122 m of loss over the 42.2 km, modelled from the official route and SRTM 30 m DEM via OpenTopoData.
Race Strategy Session
The pacing above is free. The judgement is the part worth paying for.
This page knows the Osaka Marathon. It does not know you. Two or three weeks out, Jason reads your last twelve weeks and spends 60 minutes going through the day with you, then writes it down so you are not running on memory.
- An honest read on what your training says you can hold
- How to spend your effort across this course, and where it is won
- Fuelling and conditions, decided before you are standing on the line
A$180
One session, one race. Video call, or in person in Sydney.
Your race is still a way off. Worth knowing about now, worth booking about eight weeks out.
More marathons
Train for Osaka. Not just the distance.
A coach builds this course's climbs, descents and race-day pacing into a plan made for you.