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Race strategy
Months of training. One day to spend it.
One session with Jason before your goal race, going through your training block, the course, your fuelling and the conditions, so you know exactly how you are going to run the day.
A marathon can be lost a long way from the finish. In the first ten kilometres, at the aid station you skipped, on a climb nobody told you about. You have paid for the entry, the flights and four months of early mornings. This is one hour with a coach who has read your training, knows the course, and will tell you what you are actually fit for on the day.
Price
A$180
Length
60 minutes
Where
Video, or Sydney
When
2 to 3 weeks out
You came from the BMW Berlin Marathon pacing guide, so that race is already in the form below. Jason has the route, the elevation and the usual conditions for it in front of him before you talk.
What we go through.
In order, because that is how the decisions stack up. The first one is the part no calculator on this site can do for you.
01
Your training block
Jason reads your last twelve weeks before you talk: the long runs, the sessions that landed, the ones that did not, and what your body has been telling you through the taper. Everything else in the session is built on that.
02
What you are actually fit for
A goal you can defend, and the range around it. If your training says something different from the number in your head, you hear it now, on a call, rather than at 32 km with nothing left.
03
The course, in the order you meet it
Where it climbs, where it gives the time back, where the wind usually sits, and the two or three points on this route where the race is decided. Not a generic split sheet: how you in particular should spend your effort across this ground.
04
Fuelling you have actually practised
Carbohydrate per hour, when it goes in, what you carry and what you trust the course to have. Built from how your stomach has behaved in training, not from the number on the back of a gel.
05
The conditions, and what you do when it turns
What the forecast does to your target, and the plan for the day that does not go to plan: too warm, halfway too fast, a niggle at 25 km. You decide these things now, calmly, instead of at 30 km in the heat.
What you leave with.
A conversation you half remember is worth very little at 35 km. Everything we decide gets written down and sent to you.
- A written race plan
- One page, in your hands within two days. The plan for the day, in the order it happens, so you are not relying on what you remember from a call.
- Your splits, and the watch file
- The pacing plan for your course as a structured workout you can load onto a Garmin or COROS, so on the day you run the ground instead of the arithmetic.
- A fuelling schedule by the clock
- What goes in and when, timed to your race, with what to do if your stomach turns.
- A note in race week
- Once the real forecast lands, Jason tells you what it changes. Usually that is one sentence about your first 10 km.
How it runs.
Tell us about your race
A few minutes on the race, the date and where your training has got to. No payment yet.
Send your training
A Strava or Garmin link, or an export. Jason reads your block properly before you speak, so the hour is spent on decisions rather than catching up.
The session
Sixty minutes on video, or in person if you are in Sydney. You talk it through until the day is decided.
The plan
Your written race plan, your splits and the watch file, within two days. Then a note in race week when the forecast is real.
The session is best two or three weeks out, when the hard training is behind you and the taper is telling the truth. We will run one from about six weeks out if that is when you can talk. Less than five days before the race there is not enough time left to change anything, so we would rather not take your money.
The session
A$180
One session, one race. 60 minutes live with Jason, plus the preparation before it and the plan after it.
- Your last twelve weeks read before you speak
- A written race plan within two days
- Your course splits and a watch file
- A fuelling schedule timed to your race
- A note in race week once the forecast is real
If you decide to work with Jason after the session, the fee comes off your first month of coaching. So this is never money spent instead of coaching.
Move the session for free with three days' notice. If your race is cancelled or you get injured, we will move it to your next race or refund you in full as long as the preparation has not started. If Jason has already read your block and built the plan, that work stands and the session still happens.
This is for you if
- You are self-coached, the training is largely done, and you do not want to waste it.
- You are racing a course you have never run, and the unknowns are the problem.
- It is your first marathon and you would rather not learn the pacing lesson the expensive way.
- You have run the distance before and gone out too hard, and you would like a plan you will actually hold to.
This is not for you if
- Your race is months away and what you need is training, not tactics. Build a free plan instead.
- You want someone in your corner week to week. That is coaching, and it is a different thing.
Jason runs a small number of these each month around his coached athletes, and they cluster before the big races. If your race is close, book early.
“Nobody wants to find out at 30 km that the number on their wrist was never the right one. An hour a fortnight out, with your own training in front of us, is usually the difference between a day you are proud of and a day you explain away.”
JHJason HuntFounder & Head Coach
Every session is run by Jason himself: a 2:24 marathoner, an Athletics Australia Advanced Running Coach, and a former professional triathlete who has raced these decisions as well as coached them.
Questions
When should I book a race strategy session?
Two or three weeks out from your goal race is the sweet spot. The hard training is done, the taper is telling you the truth about your fitness, and there is still time to rehearse the fuelling and the pacing. Six weeks out works if that is when you can talk. Inside five days there is not enough time to change anything, so we would rather you kept your money.
How is this different from the free course pacing on this site?
The free pacer gives you honest, course-aware splits for a goal time you type in. It does not know you. The session starts from your actual training: whether that goal time is the right one, what the last twelve weeks say you can hold, how your stomach has handled fuelling, and what you should do when the day does not go to plan. The free pacing stays free, and you get a pacing plan out of the session as well.
Is this coaching?
No. It is one session about one race. There is no training plan, no weekly contact and no ongoing relationship, and it is priced accordingly. If you want a coach who stays with you week to week, the coaching page is the right place to start. And if you go on to do exactly that, the fee for this session comes off your first month, so it is never money spent instead of coaching.
What do I need to send you beforehand?
A link to your Strava or Garmin, or an export of the last three months, plus your goal race and what you are hoping to run. If you have a recent race or time trial, send that too. It is the single most useful thing for working out what you are fit for.
Do you cover races that are not on the site?
Yes. The site has detailed course data for a set of marathons, and if yours is one of them we will use it. If it is not, Jason works from the organiser's route and elevation. Half marathons and ultras are fine too, though the marathon is what we are built for.
What happens if I have to pull out?
Move the session for free with three days' notice. If your race is cancelled or you get injured, we will move it to your next race or refund you in full as long as the preparation has not started. If Jason has already read your block and built the plan, that work stands and the session still happens.
Tell us about your race.
Jason reads these himself. He will come back with a time, and he will tell you if he thinks a session is not worth it for where you are.
No payment to enquireBest two or three weeks out
Race still months away? Start with the free plan and come back when the racing gets close.
One race sorted. Or a coach for the whole build.
If the problem is bigger than one day, coaching is the honest answer. Weekly replanning, a real person reading every run, and race day rehearsed months in advance.