What’s the ideal training plan for a marathon?

Step 1: define your marathon goal

It may seem obvious, but before throwing yourself headfirst into training, you need to define your marathon goal clearly. You might run a marathon to experience the distance, set a new personal best, challenge yourself, have fun or push your limits. Whatever drives you to run a marathon, you need to know what you’re aiming for.

If you’re wondering why defining your goal matters so much, remember this: it will shape the scheduling of your different races, both tune-up events and key targets, as well as the structure of your training plan and preparation. Finally, having a precise goal is a valuable resource when motivation starts to wane.

With thousands of marathons around the world, choosing the right one can quickly become a headache. Take a look at our guide to choosing your marathon.

Step 2: prioritise your personal goals

If, like many runners, you’d love to race half the events on the calendar every year, this second step is essential. You simply can’t race every weekend while preparing for a marathon. This phase helps you establish a clear order of priorities among all the races you want to run.

✔ The importance of tune-up races

Tune-up races, or intermediate goals, are events you take part in before your main target. Choosing preparation races has several advantages:

• Reduce the pressure associated with your main goal

• Fine-tune the details, from nutrition to kit

• Stay motivated

• Get a feel for your race pace

• Enjoy the competitive atmosphere and shared energy

Your final tune-up race should be scheduled a few weeks before your marathon, ideally one month out. We recommend choosing an event shorter than your main target distance.

As you can see, adding tune-up races to your marathon build is highly recommended. You can choose events with a similar profile to your final goal, in terms of climate, course, field size and more, or races you simply want to discover. Don’t overlook the enjoyment factor.

✔ Your key races

In an ideal race-season plan, runners targeting marathons should plan between one and three key races. For one thing, marathon training is relatively long and demanding. For another, you’ll need a meaningful recovery period after each marathon. Generally, three weeks gives the body time to regenerate and helps restore the motivation to train.

With only 52 weeks in a year, it’s difficult to schedule more than three marathons. Your training plan will be built primarily around these key races, with the aim of arriving in peak condition for each one.

✔ Tune-up races for a marathon

What distance should you race as a tune-up for a marathon? Ideally, a 10K or a half marathon, but a trail race or cross-country event can work just as well. Once again, it’s a personal choice. Depending on the length of your marathon build, you could run a short trail race followed by a half marathon one month before race day.

Many runners follow this strategy: a 10K at the end of their speed-development block, followed by a half marathon roughly one month before the marathon.

Step 3: follow a personalised marathon training plan

Training remains the central element of your marathon project. How long should you train? How many sessions per week? Which coaching option is right for you? This is another area worth thinking through in advance.

✔ Coaching options for marathon preparation

To meet the needs and preferences of most runners, a wide range of coaching options has been developed.

Working with a coach or personal trainer has the advantage of providing plenty of support and highly personalised training plans. It costs more than the latest coaching apps, which use your running history to create relatively personalised, suitably tailored plans. Some now incorporate AI to provide feedback on individual sessions. However, a digital coach isn’t for everyone. You can also train by joining a running or athletics club. The group dynamic can be a real asset when it comes to stepping outside your comfort zone and pushing your limits.

It’s up to you to find the coaching solution that best fits your expectations, budget and needs.

✔ Duration, frequency and volume of marathon training

Whatever coaching solution you choose, the fundamentals of effective marathon preparation remain the same.

The length of your marathon build depends on your constraints, availability and goal. The longer the preparation, the more time you have to develop endurance and speed, while working specifically on marathon pace. Another benefit of a longer build is that it allows you to include several tune-up races, such as a 10K or half marathon. We recommend preparing for your marathon over at least 16 weeks, or four months, to maximise your chances of success. That doesn’t mean you can’t prepare for a marathon in 12 or 20 weeks.

Training frequency, meaning the number of sessions per week, once again depends on your constraints and goal. The marathon is a long distance, so schedule at least four training sessions per week.

Finally, one of the benefits of marathon training is undoubtedly the variety of sessions: easy aerobic running, short intervals, hill work, strength training, marathon-pace running, recovery and more. Your training plan should help you improve where your greatest potential for progress lies.

There’s no single ideal plan for preparing for a marathon, but rather a formula you build yourself around your goal, running experience, availability and personal constraints. Enjoyment and commitment are common threads in many different marathon builds. Now it’s over to you.