Beginner Marathon Program

"If you feel bad at 10 miles, you're in trouble. If you feel bad at 20 miles, you're normal. If you don't feel bad at 26 miles, you're abnormal." - Rob de Castella, winner 1983 World Marathon Championships

I found an updated marathon training program on Cool Running’s website. This training program includes some speed training.  The “Fartlek” consists of bursts of speed in the middle of a training run. After warming up at an easy pace throw in bursts of speed varying the speed and the times from as short as 15 seconds to as long as two or three minutes. Between these bursts allow yourself enough recovery time to match roughly 2/3 of the effort time.

A pace denoted as 5k or 10k refers to the pace that you could run a 5k or 10k on that day.  When you read “4-5 hills” that means you should do 4 – 5 repeats at 5k pace on a hill about 150 – 200 yards long. Long hills should be 400 – 600 yards long. The notation “4 x 880’s” means run four repeats of 880 yards each. The pace below tells you how fast you should run them.

All other runs should be run at an easy training pace about 90 seconds to 2 minutes per mile slower than your 10k pace.

For first time marathon runners who are more interested in simply finishing the marathon than in racing or running for time. The following adjustments are recommended:

·         Week 5, Sunday: 10 miles

·         Week 7, Sunday: 12 miles

·         Week 9, Sunday: 14 miles

·         Week 11, Sunday: 16 miles

·         Week 13, Sunday: 18 miles

·         Week 15, Sunday: 20 miles

·         Week 17, Sunday: 20 miles

This program includes a pre-training schedule. You should be able to run this schedule for four or five weeks without much discomfort before starting the marathon program.

Pre Training Schedule

	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.
Pre- Train	Off	3M	4M	4M	Off	3M	6M

Beginner Marathon Program

Week	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.
1	Off	3M	4M	4M	Off	3M	6M
2	Off	3M	5M	3M	Off	3M	7M
3	Off	Fartlek (4M)	5M	3M	Off	3M	8M
4	Off	Fartlek (4M)	3M	4M	Off	3M	10M
5	Off	4-5 Hills 5K-10K pace	3M	4M	Off	3M	12M
6	Off	3-4 Long Hills 5K-10K pace	4M	6M	Off	5M	5M
7	Off	3 x Mile 5K-10K pace	3M	5M	Off	3M	15M
8	Off	6M	5M	6M	Off	5M	7M
9	Off	5-6 Hills 5K-10K pace	4M	7M	Off	3M	18M
10	Off	7M	6M	7M	Off	6M	9M
11	Off	4-5 Long Hills 5K-10K pace	5M	8M	Off	3M	20M
12	Off	3 x Mile 5K-10K pace	5M	8M	Off	3M	10K Race (Or 10M)
13	Off	6 x 880s 5K-10K pace	6M	8M	Off	3M	22M
14	Off	7M	5M	8M	Off	5M	10K Race (Or 10M)
15	Off	6 x 880s 5K-10K pace	6M	8M	Off	3M	24M
16	Off	4 x Mile 5K-10K pace	7M	10M	Off	4M	10K Race (Or 10M)
17	Off	5M	3M	5M	Off	3M	26M
18	Off	6M	5M	8M	Off	4M	12M
19	Off	5M	4M	6M	Off	3M	12M
20	Off	Fartlek (5M)	4M	Off	Off	2M	RACE DAY

What marathon training program do you follow?