Valencia, December
Valencia Marathon Pacing Plan
Starts by the City of Arts and Sciences, runs through the Turia Gardens — a 9km park built in the city's former riverbed — past the old town's Torres de Serranos and the Malvarrosa beachfront, and finishes back at the City of Arts on a raised walkway over the water. Total elevation change is under 30m across the whole race; the only 'climbs' are the shallow ramps onto a few overpasses.
Distance
42.6 km
Elevation gain
+49m / -56m
Typically run in
December
Typical race-day weather
10°C, 12 km/h
Weather is a 10-year seasonal average for this course's location and month, not a forecast for a specific date — see FAQ.
Elevation profile
Sample strategy — 3:45:00 goal
A real, AI-generated excerpt of what Splitsmith produces for this exact course — not a hand-written example. Upload your own goal and recent results to get the full plan.
KM 0-5 — The opening kilometers drop gently downhill with a tailwind at your back, and the data shows it: 5:06-5:07/km for the first two kilometers, nearly 3.5% faster than your race average. Resist the pull — your goal pace across the full 42.6K averages closer to 5:20/km, and banking seconds here just borrows against the headwind climbing later in the race. Let the tailwind carry you at an honest effort, not a fast split, and you cross 5K at 25:58.
KM 6-14 — A headwind sets in from km5 through km13, and you can see it in the numbers — 5:20-5:21/km through km6 and km9, a full second or two slower than flat effort should cost. Hold your effort here rather than chasing the pace number on your watch; the wind is the reason, not fatigue. Things ease by km14 (5:09/km, tailwind returns), and you pass 10K at 52:23.
KM 15-22 — This stretch is your fastest sustained window — tailwind from km15 to km21 drops you to 5:07-5:13/km, 2-3% quicker than average. This is genuine free speed from the wind, not overreach, so use it to move through the field, but keep effort even rather than pushing harder than the tailwind is already giving you. You cross 20K at 1:44:33, well inside a 3:45 rhythm.
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Build my Valencia Marathon plan →Splitsmith is an independent pacing-plan tool and is not an official partner, sponsor, or affiliate of the Valencia Marathon or its organizers. Course data source: digitized from the official course.