Copyright © 2024 RunningFront
Marathon Training Plans
Beginner, intermediate, and advanced
training plans from 8 – 20 weeks.
Don't Leave Your Performance to Chance
Experience a surge in speed and endurance
Build a powerful running engine with training programs backed by modern exercise science and the combined experience of world-class coaches. See your VO2max and lactate threshold climb on your smartwatch.
Feel better during and after your training
Balance your training with the hard-easy principle. Every key workout is followed by 48 - 72 hours of easy running or rest so that you can absorb the training, feel ready for the next workout, and reduce the likelihood of injury.
Stay motivated with exciting workouts
Beat monotony with an exciting array of workouts in different training zones that evolve from week to week and culminate in a peak performance for your event. You will enjoy the training journey as much as the race.
Don't Leave Your Performance to Chance
Experience a surge in speed and endurance
Build a powerful running engine with training programs backed by modern exercise science and the combined experience of world-class coaches. See your VO2max and lactate threshold climb on your smartwatch.
Feel better during and after your training
Balance your training with the hard-easy principle. Every key workout is followed by 48 – 72 hours of easy running or rest so that you can absorb the training, feel ready for the next workout, and reduce the likelihood of injury.
Stay motivated with exciting workouts
Beat monotony with an exciting array of workouts in different training zones that evolve from week to week and culminate in a peak performance for your event. You will enjoy the training journey as much as the race.
Marathon Training Plans with Coach Support
Get started in 3 simple steps
1. Choose your 8 – 20 week training plan
Find marathon time-goal training plans from 5:00 to 2:30 hours in miles and km.
2. Activate TrainingPeaks or FinalSurge
A flexible online calendar, individual training zones, and trackable progress.
3. Upload the workouts to your watch
Follow the instructions for your structured workouts on your smartwatch in real-time.
Imperial or Metric
IN MILES
IN KM
Beginner
Marathon
beginner plan in miles
-
17 - 31 miles per week
-
4 runs per week
-
12, 16, 20, 24 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Intermediate
Marathon
intermediate plan in miles
-
31 - 45 miles per week
-
4 runs per week
-
8, 12, 16, 20, 24 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Advanced
Marathon
advanced plan in miles
-
49 - 70 miles per week
-
6 runs per week
-
8, 12, 16, 20, 24 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Custom
Marathon
custom plan
-
? miles per week
-
? runs per week
-
6 - 28 weeks
Learn More
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Sub 5:00 h
Marathon
sub 5:00 plan in miles
-
17 - 31 miles per week
-
4 runs per week
-
12, 16, 20 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Sub 4:40 h
Marathon
sub 4:40 plan in miles
-
20 - 33 miles per week
-
4 runs per week
-
12, 16, 20 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Sub 4:20 h
Marathon
sub 4:20 plan in miles
-
23 - 35 miles per week
-
4 runs per week
-
12, 16, 20 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Sub 4:00 h
Marathon
sub 4:00 plan in miles
-
25 - 37 miles per week
-
4 runs per week
-
12, 16, 20 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Sub 3:45 h
Marathon
sub 3:45 plan in miles
-
26 - 40 miles per week
-
4 runs per week
-
8, 12, 16, 20 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Sub 3:30 h
Marathon
sub 3:30 plan in miles
-
31 - 45 miles per week
-
4 runs per week
-
8, 12, 16, 20 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Sub 3:20 h
Marathon
sub 3:20 plan in miles
-
36 - 50 miles per week
-
5 runs per week
-
8, 12, 16, 20 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Sub 3:10 h
Marathon
sub 3:10 plan in miles
-
41 - 55 miles per week
-
5 runs per week
-
8, 12, 16, 20 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Sub 3:00 h
Marathon
sub 3:00 plan in miles
-
43 - 62 miles per week
-
6 runs per week
-
8, 12, 16, 20 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Sub 2:50 h
Marathon
sub 2:50 plan in miles
-
49 - 70 miles per week
-
6 runs per week
-
8, 12, 16, 20 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Sub 2:40 h
Marathon
sub 2:40 plan in miles
-
55 - 78 miles per week
-
7 runs per week
-
8, 12, 16, 20 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
Sub 2:30 h
Marathon
sub 2:30 plan in miles
-
57 - 86 miles per week
-
7 runs per week
-
8, 12, 16, 20 weeks
Choose Plan
Set any time goal for this plan
to personalize your pace.
to personalize your pace.
FAQs
Goal-based plans
The goal-based plans let you choose a plan according to your time goal. Make sure you are realistic about it. If you current marathon PR is 4:20 hours then you are unlikely to succeed with a sub 3:00 hour plan.
That said, the weekly mileage of the plan isn’t exact science to achieve a certain time goal. Rather, it is based on experience of what’s necessary to achieve a certain time. You may choose a 4:00 hour plan and achieve 3:30 hours on race day — or vice versa. That means you could use the lower mileage 4:00 hour plan and personalize its zones for for a 3:30 hour time goal.
You can adjust your training zones every few weeks according to your progress.
Yes, you can fully adjust the plan to your needs.
Training zones
You can personalize the training zones of based on your fitness level for any plan with a click of a mouse button. Take a recent race result (or an educated guess) for your current ability and then update your zones as needed toward your goal race pace.
Training days
You can move your workouts easily with the drag and drop feature. For instance, if you prefer your long run on a Sunday instead of a Saturday, you can change the order of workouts. Just make sure you don’t have any hard back-to-back sessions.
You can also skip or replace some of your easy runs with aerobic cross-training, such as cycling or swimming. But I recommend a minimum of 4 running days per week.
Race Day
By default my plans assume the race is on a Sunday. Should your race fall on a Saturday, then remove Wednesday’s easy run and bring the workouts that follow 1 day forward.
TrainingPeaks and FinalSurge are the leading online training platforms for endurance athletes. Here you can upload your workouts to your running watch and follow the instructions in real-time. Post-workout it syncs your training data where you can observe your progress over time.
Both platforms come in free and paid versions. The free versions work just fine with any of my training plans.
If you want a maximum of training metrics then I suggest you use TrainingPeaks. But for an easy-to-use and beautiful interface I recommend FinalSurge.
You can contact me anytime via email if you have questions about the training plan or training in general.
But for continuous and personalized training plan adjustments consider my 1-on-1 online coaching.
