12 Week Marathon Training Plan
| week | % weekly mileage | key workout 1 | key workout 2 |
| one | 75 | 3×1.5 miles at tempo pace, with a steady half-mile recovery between repeats | Steady long run of 13 miles (at 10% slower than MP) |
| two | 85 | 2×2 miles at tempo pace, with a steady half-mile recovery between repeats | Progression long run of 16 miles |
| three | 95 | 4-mile tempo run | Steady long run of 15 miles (at 10% slower than MP) |
| four | 75 | 3×2 miles at MP, with a steady half-mile recovery between repeats | 5-K or 10-K race or time trial |
| five | 100 | 3×2 miles at MP, with a steady half-mile recovery between repeats | Progression long run of 18 miles |
| six | 75 | 3×2 miles at MP, with a steady half-mile recovery between repeats | 15-K or half-marathon race |
| seven | 90 | 3×2 miles at tempo pace, with a steady half-mile recovery between repeats | Progression long run of 20 miles |
| eight | 100 | 5×2 miles at MP, with a steady half-mile recovery between repeats | Steady long run of 16 miles (at 10% slower than MP) |
| nine | 75 | 3×3 miles at MP, with a steady half-mile recovery between repeats | Progression long run of 22 miles |
| ten | 100 | 2×4 miles at MP, with a steady half-mile recovery between repeats | Steady long run of 18 miles (at 10% slower than MP) |
| eleven | 85 | 2×3 miles at tempo pace, with a steady half-mile recovery between repeats | 15 miles, with last 8 to 10 miles at MP. Note: Do this run early in week 11. |
| twelve | 50 (not counting the marathon) | 8 miles, with last 3 miles at MP | Marathon |
How to read the schedule: This program culminates with your marathon at the end of the 12th week. For each week, it lists the two key workouts to do, with the understanding that you’ll space the workouts out rather than do them on consecutive days.
Why the schedule looks like it does: This schedule doesn’t list every run for the week; rather, just the two key workouts. Some of you will want to sprinkle in easy runs on the other five days; others will only do two other runs. That’s up to you. Most people do long runs on weekends, but if you’ll have more time and energy on, say, Wednesdays, do them then.
The schedule also states weekly mileage in terms of percentage of peak. So, for example, if you plan to max out at 50 miles a week, match that figure with the percentages in the first column of the schedule to see how much to run that week (e.g., 50 miles in week 10, 25 miles in the last six days before the marathon).
Steady long run: This schedule generally alternates between two types of long runs. With the first, the steady long run, the bulk of it is run 10 percent slower than MP. For example, if your MP is 8:00 per mile, you would do most of this long run at 8:48 pace (8:00=480 seconds; 10% of 480=48; pace for this run=MP (480) + 10% (48)=928 seconds per mile, or 8:48). Use the first few miles of these long runs to warm up, then spend the rest of the run at the prescribed pace. The honest pace on these long runs will increase your fuel-burning efficiency, but it’s not so intense that it’ll kill you for the rest of the week.
Progression long run: The second type of long run you’ll be doing is a progression long run, in which you run the bulk of it at your normal training pace. With 40 minutes to go, start to pick up the pace so that your last 30 minutes look like this: Ten minutes at marathon pace (MP) + 20 seconds per mile; then 10 minutes at MP + 10 seconds per mile; and the final 10 minutes at MP. For example, if you’re training to run 8:30 pace in your marathon, in the last half hour of a progression run you would hit 8:50 pace for 10 minutes, then 8:40 pace for 10 minutes, and then 8:30 pace for the last 10 minutes. Where to run: When possible, do your long runs and MP work on terrain that mimics that of your marathon. At the start of the schedule, do some of your key workouts on the track or other calibrated courses so that you can be sure you’re hitting the right pace.
Recovery periods: How fast you run between sessions of tempo or MP running is key to this program’s effectiveness. The pace of your recovery running should be steady training pace. If this hardly seems like a recovery, remember that MP shouldn’t feel so hard that you need drastic amounts of recovery after a few miles of it. As your MP workouts get easier, says Hudson, increase the pace of your recovery effort, not the pace of the MP segments. The longer you work at MP with short rest, the more prepared you’ll be to hold that pace for 26.2 miles.
The rest of the week: Again, fill in the rest of the week with easy running. As your hard days get harder and increasingly focused on sustaining marathon pace, the pace on your easy days should get easier. One way to ensure that you’re truly recovering on your easy days is to wear a heart-rate monitor and not go above 70 percent of your maximum heart rate.
Pacing Guidelines
Tempo pace = 10 to 15 seconds per mile slower than your 10-K race pace, or roughly 10-mile or half-marathon race pace. Do these workouts at as even a pace as possible.
MP = marathon pace, the per-mile pace you hope to run in the marathon. In these workouts (and in the marathon), run as close as possible to this pace for each mile (rather than, for example, running one mile 10 seconds faster than MP, the next 10 seconds slower than MP, and then saying that you averaged MP).
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