This 20-week entry level marathon training plan will build your volume and endurance to finish a marathon, 26.2 miles! This plan is designed for first-time marathoners and lower-volume runners and focuses purely on DISTANCE-BUILDING with an emphasis on EASY effort running to build your aerobic capacity and endurance. This plan starts with 4 runs per week + 1 cross-training session and builds to 5 runs per week. The starting weekly mileage is 16 miles perr week and peaks at 45 miles per week. The longest run in this plan is a 20 miler.

This plan is designed for first-time marathoners and/or lower-volume runners who want to build the capacity to cover the marathon distance while working a on a little bit of speed to add some variety and change up the pace of your training! It is recommended that the runner who participates in this program has completed a half marathon and is comfortable with a range of paces in their running. This plan starts with 4 runs per week + 1 cross-training session and builds to 5 runs per week. The starting weekly mileage is 16 miles/27 km per week and peaks at 43 miles/68 km per week. The longest long runs in this plan are 16 miles/26 km long, and the rest of the plan is built around supporting that distance as your longest long run. This plan also contains a 4-week post-race recovery schedule, a Race Day planner worksheet, recommended warm-up & cooldown routines, core exercises and lower body strength training exercises, information on goal setting/pace calculators, hydration, fueling, and more! "Why isn't there a 20 mile/32 km run on this plan?" Research supports designing long runs with two parameters in mind: as approximately a quarter to a third of your total weekly volume, and also 3-3.5 hours maximum. Because this plan maxes out at 43 mpw/68 kpw, it's not appropriate for your Long Run to be 20 miles/32 km. But remember, marathon training isn't about any single long run distance; it's about the entirety of your training cycle. Furthermore, there are ways to achieve the same adaptations over 2 runs instead of one longer run; this whole plan is built around those concepts!

Lets get running! This 20-week Intermediate Marathon Training Plan is designed for runners who are ready to take marathon training to the next level. Ideally, this runner has already completed a marathon or feels comfortable putting in 25 miles a week at the start of this plan and incorporating speed workouts into their running routine. This plan starts at 5 runs and 25 miles, increasing to 6 runs and 51 miles per week at the peak.

This 16-week ADVANCED Marathon Training Plan is designed for higher volume/experienced runners who are able to comfortably complete 45 miles per week (72 kpw) BEFORE beginning this training cycle. This plan contains 6-7 runs per week and peaks at ~70-80 miles/96-102 km per week. There are even optional double days that will have you closer to the 80mph if that is a goal for you. This plan contains race-specific weekly workouts (lactate threshold, VO2max, and marathon pace/effort), a weekly medium-long run, and a weekly long run, plus strides and hill sprints; this plan also contains detailed information how to execute each run or workout in this plan in this plan.