TL;DR
- Cultivate a good running base (running ~20 miles per week, 4-6 times per week) before starting to train for a marathon
- Running 5-6 times per week is ideal for adapting your body to the demands of running (though beginners will want to start with less)
- Regardless of whether you are building up your running base or starting to train for a race, a good training plan is vitally important and should slowly and sustainably ramp you up to your target mileage.
- Physical therapists, trainers, and online resources can all be great places to get running plans.
- Training plans should predominantly focus on easy running and should also include 1-2 speed workouts per week and, if training for a race, 1 long run per week.
- Warming up and cooling down before and after each run and strength training a couple of times a week is important for preventing injury.
- Recovery is as important as the actual running and involves getting adequate sleep and nutrition, giving yourself rest days, and supplementing with stretching and cross-training.
- There are many products that I’ve found help make running and racing more comfortable, and I list them at the bottom of this post.
My Marathon Training Origin Story
I used to think that I would never ever train for a marathon. In my early and mid-20s, I ran regularly, about 15-20 miles a week spread across 4 days, but even so, marathon training sounded so horrible. Who could ever run 26.2 miles, I thought? And, more importantly, who would ever want to? Running a half marathon sounded more doable, though still very challenging. When my brother suggested that we run a half marathon together, I jumped at the suggestion, deciding it was a good way to test my limits and add some structure to my running routine.
I was so nervous before running my first half marathon that I slept for a grand total of 1 hour. Despite the lack of sleep, I loved the experience and realized that though the half marathon was difficult, it was achievable. Achieving that goal allowed me to expand my conception of what was possible for me and what my limits are.
Consequently, when my brother said, “The next step is to run a full marathon,” the idea no longer seemed impossible and horrible, it seemed like a challenge I could maybe, possibly overcome. Fast forward to 8 years after that first half marathon, and I have completed 2 more half marathons and 6 marathons, qualifying for the Boston Marathon with a 3:24 time in my last marathon.
My Marathon Training Takeaways
When I tell people I run marathons, many of them respond with, “I could never do a marathon, that would be impossible for me.” The point of giving that long-winded origin story is to show that I thought that too at one point, but running a marathon definitely was possible. I fervently believe that, barring health complications, most people could complete a marathon. The more important question is whether you want to complete a marathon. If you don’t want to do a marathon, that’s totally understandable! During about 95% of my training (and a whole lot of the marathon itself), I wonder why the heck I’m doing this in the first place.
However, if you are interested in completing a marathon, then I think it’s a great goal, I 100% believe in you and I think you can do it. After running all those marathons and half marathons, I have a lot of things I’ve learned that work well for me and might be helpful for you.
Setting Up a Baseline Before Marathon Training
First and most importantly, it’s vital to consult with a health professional before starting a new training plan, especially if you have any health concerns.
Second, it’s super important to have a good fitness and running base before you start training for a marathon. When I started training for my first marathon, I was regularly running 20 miles a week. In the book Rise and Run, running coach Shalane Flanagan similarly recommends running 20 miles a week on average before starting to train for a marathon. For my advice on starting a workout routine you love, check out this blog post.
Aim for a Base of 20 Miles Per Week
If you are not running 20 miles a week and want to get to that amount, then the safest way to get there is to do a slow ramp-up, followed by a couple of months of maintenance of that running level before progressing further. What do I mean by a slow ramp-up? One example workout plan would involve alternating 2 minutes of jogging with 3 minutes of walking and repeating that 4 times for a 20-minute workout completed 4 times a week.
In the second week, you would alternate 3 minutes of jogging with 2 minutes of walking and repeat that 4 times for a 20-minute workout completed 4 times a week. In the 3rd week, you’d add a rep (3 minutes of jogging, 2 minutes of walking repeated 5 times) and complete that workout 4 times throughout the week, and so on, decreasing breaks and increasing the length of each jog interval until you are able to run consistently with few to no breaks and hit that 20-mile average per week.
A Professionally Built Marathon Training Plan Is Super Helpful
Consulting with a physical therapist or trainer is the best way to get a plan that is customized to your fitness level–after an injury my physical therapist was incredibly helpful. I’m pretty sure I would have reinjured myself immediately without her guidance. If that isn’t within your budget, there are a number of free online training plans that may fit your needs. In particular, I have used Nike’s training plans and loved them. You can use their training plans to ramp up to a 5K, 10K, half-marathon, or marathon.
Build Up the Frequency Of Your Runs
The amount of miles you run is important, but so is the frequency with which you run. For 9 out of the 10 years I’ve been running, I have run 3 or 4 times a week and enjoyed that amount. However, I read a lot of books and articles by running coaches and had always heard that you should run 5 or 6 times a week in order to adapt your body to the demands of running. But that’s so much time! I always whined internally.
Finally, I started running 5 times a week this past year when I was training for my 5th and 6th marathons. Sure enough, each run felt so much easier. It was pretty incredible what a difference it made compared to running 4 times a week. Running 5-6 times a week may not be available to you depending on your schedule and preferences.
And if you rarely run you want to work up to that frequency rather than jumping in too fast and injuring yourself. However, I’ve found running 5-6 times a week is worth it if you have the time and can work up to it.
Create a Warmup and Cooldown Routine
I know this is already a lot—running 20+ miles a week, running 5-6 times a week, but there’s more. It’s also important to warm up and cool down before each run. That’s yet another thing I’ve only started doing over the past year and a half after I had an Achilles injury, but it’s key for preventing injuries and making sure your runs are as effective as possible. I know if I don’t warm up I feel like my legs are bags of cement for at least the first 5 minutes of a run.
Usually, my warm-ups last 5 minutes and involve a mix of bodyweight squats, lunges, calf raises, and a little core work (like the world’s greatest stretch, planks, or mountain climbers). Cooldowns involve 5-10 minutes of calf, hamstring, quad, and hip stretches, with each stretch held for at least 30 seconds (less than that and your muscles do not have time to relax into the stretch according to the National Association for Sports Medicine).
Integrate Strength Training Into Your Marathon Training
And oh my gosh I’m sorry to add even more but ideally, you should also be adding in some strength training. I know, I know, who has the time!? But 10 minutes of lower body strength training twice a week is hugely beneficial for preventing injuries. My go-to is 3 sets of 10 single-leg deadlifts with a 20-pound kettlebell (repeated for each leg) and 3 sets of 10 single-leg squats on each leg, plus an additional 2 minutes of bodyweight squats and/or crab raises. The hyperlink in this paragraph provides more ideas for strength workouts.
Lower-body strength training is important because a lot of us have underactive glutes from spending so much of our lives sitting. And the thing is, running doesn’t necessarily remedy that. We can run with underactive glutes, but it means that the rest of our legs are picking up the slack and doing extra work, which is a recipe for injuries down the line.
Strengthening your glutes means that they’ll activate more easily and effectively when you run. Plus, your glutes are among the largest and most powerful muscles in your body. I’ve noticed an especially big difference in how fast I run up hills when I work on strengthening my glutes.
Focus on Pace and Form
Last, it can be worthwhile to pay attention to your running pace and form. As my favorite running coaches, David and Megan Roche say in their book Happy Runner, the vast majority of your running should be easy. This means you are running at a pace where you can talk in (mostly) full sentences.
Easy running improves your aerobic fitness and capillary development to a greater degree than fast running, while fast running improves your strength to a greater degree than easy running. You need both, but you need aerobic fitness more. Plus, easy running is less likely to lead to injury and burnout–which sounds pretty great.
Marathon Training 101
Find a Great Marathon Training Plan
Once you have a good base, the actual training portion is very straightforward. First, it’s important to find a training plan that works for you. Do not make the mistake I made with my first marathon and go it on your own.
I made my own plan (without researching how to train for a marathon) and decided to do one long run a week and amp up my long run mileage by 2 miles every other week until I hit 26 miles right before the marathon. Nothing else in my training changed. If you don’t know much about training for a marathon, this sounds pretty rational, but it was not ideal on a lot of fronts and it made for a very tough marathon.
So first, find a training plan that works for you. Like I mentioned above, I love Nike’s training plans and have used them for most of my races. I have also used the Boston Athletic Association’s training plans, Shalane Flanagan’s marathon training plan in Rise and Run, and the Run with Hal app and I always come back to the Nike training plans.
What To Look For In A Marathon Training Plan
The reason is that Nike does a good job of making their plans accessible and fun. A lot of the training plans I’ve seen have you running a ton of weekly mileage that’s very hard to incorporate into a life with a job, family/friend responsibilities, and/or other hobbies (i.e. not a professional runner life).
Nike’s plans also keep things fun and interesting with a variety of running workouts—you might do a chill 25-minute run one day and then a hill workout where you run fast up a hill 8 times with a couple of minutes recovery between each burst the next day and then a long run a few days later. That being said, there are a variety of plans out there and it’s worth looking for one that appeals to you.
In terms of marathon training plans, the best and most effective ones almost always have 1 long run a week, 1-2 runs where you work on building speed and strength (like a hill or intervals run), and ~3-4 recovery runs where you focus on easy running.
If you are new to speed runs, it can be helpful to focus on hill runs to begin with, because running uphill involves a lot of strength but each uphill footfall involves less force on your body than running on flats or downhill. As you become comfortable with hill runs, you can more safely build speed on flatter surfaces (once again, I’m drawing from Megan and David Roche’s fantastic training, which they outline in the book Happy Runner).
How to Plan Your Marathon Training Recovery
Recovering adequately is as important as the actual running. Recovery means giving yourself at least 1 day of rest from running each week. Running is a very high-impact activity and so it cannot be done as frequently or for as long as lower-impact activities like biking or swimming. Forgoing rest days means that your body is at a much higher risk of injury and deterioration.
Adequate food intake and sleep is also massively important for recovery. Everyone’s nutrition needs differ, so you should review how many calories you need given your activity level, size, and gender. Runners (including me!) also commonly experience nutrition deficiencies such as iron, magnesium, zinc, and B12, so make sure you are getting a full spectrum of nutrients.
Unsurprisingly, running can (often) lead to muscle tightness and pain. Tight muscles are less mobile and so may be more subject to tearing and injury. Given that, it can be helpful to try stretching, foam rolling, yoga, massage, and/or other techniques for lengthening your muscles and working out knots.
Find Ways To Support Your Marathon Training Outside Your Workout Routine
Finally, it may be helpful to consider how your life outside of marathon training is supporting your running fitness. Up until the COVID-19 pandemic led to worldwide shutdowns, I walked everywhere. I also used my standing desk constantly and virtually never sat at work unless I had a meeting–I have very restless legs and struggle with sitting.
However, once COVID hit, my walking virtually ceased. I also badly sprained my ankle and started sitting while I worked. As a consequence, my fitness involved big bursts of activity with a lot of sitting in between. I would sit all day at work and then go for a fast run with no warmup. On weekends, my partner and I would hike up 3000+ feet with 40-pound packs while we were training to climb Mt. Rainier. We’d then come home and sit on the couch and eat pizza.
After I partially tore my Achilles, I suspected (though cannot prove) that this boom-and-bust cycle of activity had stressed my Achilles far more than if I had sprinkled in walks, continued to use my standing desk regularly, and generally integrated more low-impact cross-training. So it may be helpful to incorporate more low-impact activity throughout your day—whether it’s standing at work, going for walks, biking to work, or some other activity that is enjoyable and/or easily incorporated into your life.
Helpful Tools for Marathon Training
Running marathons is pretty much always painful. Very satisfying, yes. But also, my god, the chafing, the digestive distress, the cramps… However, there are products that I’ve found help make a marathon less painful. For a more complete list, see my post on game-changing running gear.
- Anti-Chafing Balm—I used to think that chafing was an inevitable part of running long distances, but no longer!
- A handheld water bottle—The one I use has a little pocket that fits my keys and a gel. It’s light and easy to carry.
- Toe socks—I know they’re kind of embarrassing. But they keep my toes somewhat less blistered than regular socks.
- Electrolyte tablets—I use Nuun, but any kind would do. I often have really terrible stomachaches after long runs. Putting an electrolyte tablet in my handheld water bottle and then having one after a long run seems to prevent them from happening about 60% of the time.
- Tailwind Recovery Mix—After a hard workout, you ideally want a snack that has a 3:1 proportion of carbs to protein because that balance is the most effective for muscle recovery. However, I personally don’t like trying to figure out how to get that perfect amount and I usually have 0 appetite after a long run. Tailwind Recovery Mix has that 3:1 proportion built in, you can mix it with water, and it has a pretty nice chocolate milk taste. It’s made my recovery snack much more straightforward.
- Hat and sunscreen—Sun protection is so important when you’re out for a long time but it’s easy to overlook. It’s easy to sweat off sunscreen, so sun protection through clothes (and hats!) is a great alternative.
Final Thoughts on Marathon Training
And disclaimer, I am not a personal trainer or medical professional! These lessons come from my own experience and resources I have used. Consult with a medical professional before starting a new training or nutrition plan.
Any other tips on marathon training you’d like to see here? Let me know in the comments! And if you enjoyed this or feel it would be helpful for others, I’d love for you to consider liking, subscribing (in the left sidebar), or sharing it with others.