Amsterdam, October
TCS Amsterdam Marathon Pacing Plan
Starts and finishes inside the 1928 Olympic Stadium, and spends the first half along the Amstel river out toward Ouderkerk before looping back through the historic canal ring. Flat by Dutch-course tradition, with the finish's lap around the Olympic Stadium track — the same stadium that hosted the 1928 Games marathon — as its signature moment.
Distance
42.8 km
Elevation gain
+43m / -44m
Typically run in
October
Typical race-day weather
11°C, 13 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 gun goes off on flat ground with a tailwind at your back through km 1-3, and the field around you will look fast — 5:08-5:14/km comes easy. Hold 5:12-5:16/km anyway; the tailwind is doing the work, not your legs, and this pace banks you nothing toward the finish. By km 5 the wind swings to a headwind, a preview of the next 15km, so don't spend anything here.
KM 6-13 — Headwind sets in at km 5 and stays through km 13, paired with small uphill ticks (+0.2 to +0.5%) at km 6, 7, 13, and 15. Expect the pace to drift to 5:20-5:25/km on those kilometers — that's the wind and grade combining, not fatigue, so don't chase the split back. You cross 10K at 52:13; check your watch there and confirm you're still inside the 5:10-5:15/km band on the flatter kilometers around it.
KM 14-21 — The headwind continues, but km 16 drops -0.8% and gives you the fastest kilometer of the race at 5:00/km — take it, don't fight for more. The grind resumes through km 19-20 at 5:13-5:19/km into the wind. You hit the half at 1:49:41 (km 21); that split should sit almost exactly on your even-effort pace, confirming the headwind cost is already priced into the plan.
Build your TCS Amsterdam Marathon plan
Upload your own GPX or use TCS Amsterdam Marathon's course — set your goal and recent results, and get the full km-by-km strategy.
Build my TCS Amsterdam Marathon plan →Splitsmith is an independent pacing-plan tool and is not an official partner, sponsor, or affiliate of the TCS Amsterdam Marathon or its organizers. Course data source: digitized from the official course.