Marathoners - use pace bands/tats?

Mollydolly10

Any marathoners use pace bands or pace tats? I love how neat they are!! Since it's my first marathon, I don't necessarily have a concrete time goal, but since my Polar HRM doesn't do splits, it'd be nice to have some sort of reference while running!

http://www.pacetat.com/PaceTat-Miles.html
http://www.clifbar.com/play/pace_band/
http://www.marathonguide.com/fitnesscalcs/PaceBandCreator.cfm
http://www.katyfit.com/pace_band.shtml

agleckle

At the last half marathon I did, they gave out pace tatts in our swag bags! It was the coolest thing... and very helpful since I can't make my garmin set up splits to keep me on pace for a half marathon!

ATLMel

I entered my expected time for each mile marker onto an Excel sheet. then I printed it out and laminated it (you could also put it in a Ziploc snack bag). It was more personalized than a pace band. Only took me 5 mins to make and was great on the race.

SueInAz

I had a pace wristband at my half marathon in January. They were handing out both the tattoos and the wristbands at the expo. I loved it because while it was my first half marathon, and I would have just been happy finishing, I really did want to try to finish in under 2:45. The wristband let me know how close I was to that goal during the entire race. I ended up finishing in 2:42. :happy:

brandyk77

I used one for the first time last fall for my 7th marathon. I bought one specific to the course (it had a hilly first half) but honestly, I must say, I didn't like it. Of course, there is very little I like at the end of marathon.

I have never ran with one for a half. I just manually lap my garmin at the mile markers (turning off autolap) and am aware of my paces and what and when I need to run. that seems to work well.

Kacy

I made my own for my last half because I couldn't the free online one I found to print. Just kept it in my pocket. I didn't look at it much, but I kept a close eye on my pace on my watch. I think it was helpful because I had looked at it so much I pretty much knew what my splits needed to be and could estimate by my watch. I think its a great idea.