If you’re eyeing a half or full marathon , chances are you have a finishing time goal in mind, particularly if it’s not your first go at the distance. And in order to achieve that goal, you’ll need to determine your race pace ... and then practice running it.

Over a 16-week training block , for example, the more workouts you run at race pace, the stronger you’ll feel holding it on the course. But every coach or seasoned runner out there will tell you that while practicing race pace is incredibly important, you also shouldn’t run race pace for every single run.

The benefits come from dosing it appropriately: too little and you won’t be ready for race day, too much and you’ll run into fatigue, injury, and burnout.

Training at race pace “is important physiologically and psychologically,” says Laura Norris , an RRCA-certified running coach with a master’s in applied exercise science.…