Barcelona, March
Zurich Marató Barcelona Pacing Plan
Passes the Sagrada Família around km 5, runs down Avinguda Diagonal, along the Mediterranean seafront past Port Olímpic and Barceloneta beach, skirts the base of Montjuïc, and finishes near the Arc de Triomf. Very few real inclines — the closest thing to a hill is the gentle rise past Montjuïc in the closing kilometers — which is why it's popular with first-timers chasing a personal best.
Distance
42.3 km
Elevation gain
+86m / -105m
Typically run in
March
Typical race-day weather
9°C, 10 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 are gently rolling with a net downhill drift, and km1 comes in at 5:09/km on a -0.5% grade — resist the urge to bank time here. Your goal pace for this race is roughly 5:19/km, so let km3's 5:33 (the day's first real uphill at 0.9%) settle you into rhythm rather than chase the fast opening split back. Crosswinds through this stretch are a minor factor, not a reason to tuck in and surge.
KM 6-12 — Km10 drops to 4:50/km on a -1.6% grade — let gravity give you that split for free, don't add effort to it. The terrain flips hard right after: km11 and km12 climb at 0.5% and 1.1%, slowing you to 5:27 and 5:36, with a headwind on km11 compounding the grade. You cross 12K at 1:03:26 — check your watch here and confirm you haven't let the km10 freebie talk you into overcooking the climb that follows.
KM 13-18 — This stretch undulates without a clear pattern — 5:19 to 5:27/km through km13-17 — before km18 drops to 4:56/km on a -1.2% grade with a tailwind assist. Treat that km18 split as terrain, not a sign you're flying; hold effort steady rather than pace steady on the downhill. You hit 18K at 1:35:01, a useful midpoint reference against your 3:45 target of roughly 1:35:00 at this mark — you're on schedule, not ahead.
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Build my Zurich Marató Barcelona plan →Splitsmith is an independent pacing-plan tool and is not an official partner, sponsor, or affiliate of the Zurich Marató Barcelona or its organizers. Course data source: digitized from the official course.