Embarking on the journey to conquer a marathon is a monumental challenge that requires dedication, discipline, and a well-structured training plan.
Whether you’re a beginner gearing up for your first marathon or an intermediate or advanced runner aiming to improve your performance and speed, this comprehensive 3-month marathon training guide is tailored to help you cross the finish line with confidence and strength.
With a 3-month training plan the focus is on getting in the mileage and ensuring that you stay strong and injury free. If you can do a bit of work on speed then that is a bonus, but not essential. Starting training at this stage requires you to have a good base of fitness and the ability to comfortably run 5-6 miles/10K.
You should aim for 3 runs a week, 1 cross training session, 1 strength training session and 2 rest days.
Laying the Foundation
Training Schedule for Beginners
Weeks 1-2 Establishing a Base
Day 1: 3 miles at an easy pace
Day 2: Cross-training – 30 minutes
Day 3: 5 miles at an easy pace
Day 4: Rest, stretching or light yoga/pilates
Day 5: Strength training session
Day 6: 7 miles with a mix of walking and running
Day 7: Rest, stretching or light yoga/pilates
Progression for week 2 : Add half a mile onto each of the mid week runs and your long run should be 8 miles with a mix of walking and running.
Training Schedule for Intermediates
Weeks 1-2: Assessing and Building
Day 1: 4 miles with intervals (run hard for 1 minute, recover for 2 minutes)
Day 2: Cross-training – 30 – 40 minutes
Day 3: 6 miles at an easy pace
Day 4: Rest, stretching or light yoga/pilates
Day 5: Strength training session
Day 6: 8 miles at an easy pace
Day 7: Rest, stretching or light yoga/pilates
Progression for week 2 : Add half a mile onto each of the mid week runs, with a long easy run of 9-10 miles.
Cross Training:
Incorporate low-impact activities such as swimming, cycling, or elliptical training to supplement your running routine. This aids in building cardiovascular endurance while giving your running muscles a chance to recover. Aim for 45-60 minutes – building up to 60-90 minutes over the course of the plan)
Strength Training:
Focus on full-body strength training twice a week, emphasising exercises that target major muscle groups. Squats, lunges, planks, and resistance band exercises will help to improve stability and reduce the risk of injury.
Keep it simple, gradually progress by building up resistance or time on exercises such as planks.
Nutrition:
Hydration: Ensure you take on adequate water throughout the day to keep your body well hydrated.
Carbohydrates: Incorporate complex carbs like whole grains (oats, brown rice), fruits, and vegetables in your diet.
Proteins: Include lean protein sources in your diet, such as fish and chicken, for muscle repair.
Tips:
Gear Check: Invest in proper running shoes and comfortable clothing.
Pace Yourself: Start at a comfortable pace to avoid early burnout.
In running training there is an 80:20 rule (followed by elite and recreational runners alike) – 80% of all running should be at an easy/conversational pace. This avoids overload and allows good quality sessions even when it comes to higher intensity sessions.
Rest and Recovery: Prioritise adequate sleep and rest days to allow your body to recover.
Intensifying Workouts and Mental Focus
Training Schedule for Beginners
Weeks 3-5: Increasing Endurance
Day 1: 5 miles at an easy pace
Day 2: Cross-training – 40 minutes
Day 3: 7 miles at an easy pace
Day 4: Strength training session
Day 5: Rest, stretching or light yoga/pilates
Day 6: 10 miles with a mix of walking and running
Day 7: Rest, walk or very low intensity swim
Progression for week 4: Try doing one of your mid week runs at your target marathon pace. Long run should be 12 miles with a mix of walking and running
Progression for week 5: Again, include some marathon pace miles during your mid week runs. Your long run should be 14 miles, and only take walking breaks as required.
Training Schedule for Intermediates
Weeks 3-5: Introducing Tempo Runs
Day 1: 5 miles with hill training (hills optional)
Day 2: Cross-training – 45-60 minutes.
Day 3: 8 miles with the last 2 miles at a slightly faster tempo.
Day 4: Rest, stretching or light yoga/pilates
Day 5: Strength training session
Day 6: 12 miles at an easy pace
Day 7: Rest, stretching or light yoga/pilates
Progression for week 4: Long run should be 14 miles miles at a comfortable pace
Progression for week 5: Long run should be 16 miles at a comfortable pace
Cross Training
Continue integrating cross-training activities while gradually increasing their intensity and time. This ensures a well-rounded fitness level without overtaxing your running muscles.
Strength Training
Progress your strength training by adding more resistance or exploring some simple plyometric (jumping, bounding, skipping, hopping) exercises- if you have not done these before, you need to introduce these very gradually. Focus on maintaining a balance between upper and lower body workouts.
Nutrition
Hydration: Carry a water bottle or use hydration belts during long runs. Consider sports drinks or electrolyte supplements for runs exceeding 60 minutes.
During Run Fuel: Experiment with energy gels or chews during longer runs. There are lots of different ones on the market, so you will need to find the ones that work for you.
Meal Timing: Plan your meals around your training schedule. It is often a good idea to eat at least 40-60 mins before a long run, and only eat foods that are fairly plain and easily digestible. This will help to avoid getting a stitch or an upset stomach.
Tips:
Mental Visualisation: Practise positive visualisation for race day – imagine yourself on the course; hear the sound of the crowds and the sites around the course, and most importantly, picture yourself crossing that finish line!!
Social Support: Share your journey with fellow runners or a running group. This will help keep your motivation at a time when the training is getting tough.
Peak Training
Training Schedule for Beginners:
Weeks 6-9: Mental Conditioning
Day 1: 6 miles easy pace
Day 2: Cross-training – 60-70 mins minutes
Day 3: 8 miles at marathon pace
Day 4: Rest, stretching or light yoga/pilates
Day 5: Strength training session
Day 6: 14 miles with a mix of walking and running
Day 7: Rest, stretching or light yoga/pilates
Progression for week 7: Long run 16 miles
Progression for week 8: Long run 18 miles
Progression for week 9: Long run 20-21 miles
Not that your longest run should be around 3 hours – going over this gives diminished returns; i.e. it will give you limited extra benefit, but you will have a longer recovery time due to increased microtrauma to the bones/muscles/tendons.
Also, where possible aim to run as much of the long runs as possible and consider short walk breaks when taking on fuel or fluids.
Training Schedule for Intermediates:
Weeks 6-9: Peak Mileage
Day 1: 6-10 miles at an easy pace
Day 2: Cross-training – 60-75 minutes
Day 3: 10 miles at marathon pace
Day 4: Rest, stretching or light yoga/pilates
Day 5: Strength training session
Day 6: 15 miles at an easy pace
Day 7: Rest, stretching or light yoga/pilates
Progression for week 7: Keep your midweek runs at an easy pace but on your long run increase to 17 miles with 2x 3-4 mile sections at marathon pace.
Progression for week 8: Increase the length of one of your midweek runs by a mile or two. The other midweek run should be slightly shorter, but at marathon pace, and then your long run should be 19 miles at an easy pace.
Progression for week 9: Again, with mid week runs, increase the length of the runs but keep at an easy pace and then with the long run aim for 20-21 miles but include 3x 3-4 miles at marathon pace.
Cross Training
Maintain cross-training and keep the intensity and endurance steady. Focus on low weight bearing exercises like the static bike or swimming. Promote relaxation and recovery.
Strength Training
Keep resistance training up, build your weights to increase load and start to reduce your repetitions. Continue to build core strength.
Nutrition
Post-Run Nutrition: Prioritise protein and carbohydrates for recovery – you should try and take on some protein within an hour of finishing your run. This can be something simple like a milk based protein shake. Replenish glycogen stores with carbs like sweet potatoes, rice, and quinoa.
Tips
Mental Rehearsal: Keep your eye on the prize….continue to visualise putting all your hard work into practice and crossing that finish line!
Final Gear Check: Confirm you have all the race-day attire and equipment that you need, and that you have run in it at least once to check it is comfortable for race day.
Race day prep: Practise your race-day routine, including hydration, nutrition and pacing.
Strategic Tapering
Week 10-12
Tapering is a crucial phase in the final few weeks leading up to a marathon, where the focus shifts from intense training to optimal rest and recovery, ensuring peak performance on race day.
Over the 3 weeks, the primary focus is to gradually reduce both the volume of your training runs while maintaining some level of frequency and a degree of intensity (e.g. marathon pace workouts) to maintain training stimulus while letting the body recover.
The goal is to strike a balance between maintaining fitness and allowing your body to recover. The first two weeks should see a significant reduction in mileage, with a decrease of around 20-30% each week.
Short, brisk runs and a couple of intervals will help keep your legs sharp without inducing fatigue. As the marathon approaches, the final week should involve a more drastic reduction, allowing your body to rebuild and store energy.
Incorporate one or two very light strength training sessions to avoid muscle fatigue. The emphasis should be on flexibility exercises and mobility drills.
This tapering strategy allows for muscle repair, glycogen replenishment, and mental rejuvenation, ensuring you arrive at the starting line feeling fresh, strong, and ready to conquer the marathon distance!
How can Complete Physio help with your training?
Complete Physio can support you through the whole of your marathon training, from start to finish. If you are a beginner, it is worth seeking expert advice to help you plan your training programme and ensure that you are focusing on the right exercises to keep you injury free.
If you are a seasoned runner looking to enhance your performance, we have expert clinicians who are themselves experienced marathon runners; they can really hone your technique and ensure you are performing at your peak.
Tips for Enhanced Running Training and Performance
Listen to Your Body
Pay attention to signs of fatigue, soreness, or injury and if your body is worn out, allow it some rest. If you miss a mid week training session then don’t worry, rest and recovery is equally important. Just try, if possible, not to skip the strength sessions and the long weekend runs.
Mindful Pacing
The focus here needs to be on keeping your easy runs easy, which will allow for higher intensity and more effective higher intensity sessions as you build endurance.
It’s also good to vary your pace, to keep your training interesting and boost your running fitness.
Footwear Matters
Invest in proper running shoes that suit your foot type and running style. Go to a running shoe shop to be fitted by a specialist, and it’s also sensible to book a session in our running clinic, to review and improve your technique.
Cross-Training Variety
Mix up cross-training activities to engage different muscle groups, but try to avoid high impact or very intense workouts like high energy spin classes or cross fit type classes. These may cause too much muscle fatigue and have a negative impact on your running sessions.
Recovery
Don’t skip rest days, they are absolutely vital, in order to allow your body and your mind to recover and repair. You can incorporate light activities like stretching or yoga, and also having regular sports massages on these days can hugely enhance your recovery.
Regular Training Runs
These runs are all about adding to your weekly mileage and maintaining your technique and running form.
If you have a specific pace target or finishing time goal, you can add some tempo runs and hill training as per the intermediate programme.
With the long slow runs, the aim is about increasing your endurance and getting your body used to running for a long time. Don’t worry so much about pace during these runs; keep them slow and steady, and if you need to walk/run this is fine, just try not to stop completely.
Race Simulation
Don’t forget to do a ‘dry run’ before race day. Practice with race-day conditions, including running in all the gear, nutrition, water, and pacing. If you can, also try to run on a similar surface and time of day as you will on race day.
Conclusion – The Finish Line Beckons
As you embark on this 3-month marathon training journey, remember that it’s not just about reaching the finish line; it’s about growth, determination, and resilience. Trust in your preparation and training, listen to your body and enjoy the marathon day build up.
With a well-structured training plan, smart nutrition choices, and mindful training practices, you’re well equipped to conquer the marathon distance.
Lace up those running shoes, stay consistent, and may every step bring you closer to the triumph of crossing the marathon finish line with pride!
Don’t let pain hold you back, book now!
