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Comfortable at the half
You’ve run 21.1 km. Now you want to step up to the distance that defines endurance running.
Sixteen weeks of patient build-up to running a marathon. The plan respects the distance — long runs reach 32 km, race-pace blocks teach you to hold your effort, and the three-week taper protects everything you’ve built.
The marathon is not a longer half. It’s a different sport. This plan accepts that and prepares the body honestly — three months of consistent base, three months of patient building.
You’ve run 21.1 km. Now you want to step up to the distance that defines endurance running.
You’ve done it before. You want a plan that respects your time and pulls you back to your best.
Three months of consistent running and a half marathon in the legs. Ready for the real commitment.
“The marathon is the easy run with consequences. Pace it like a friend; race it like a fight.”
Foundation builds the aerobic floor. Build introduces race-pace work. Peak takes the long run to 32 km. The three-week taper delivers you fresh, recovered, and ready.
Settle the five-day rhythm. Long run grows from 14 to 18 km. First marathon-pace work in week 3.
Longer tempo blocks, harder intervals. Long run reaches 24 km. A cutback week protects the body.
Long run climbs from 26 to 32 km with race-pace finishes. The hardest, most rewarding block.
Volume drops, sharpness stays. Race week is short, calm, and deliberate. Then 42.2 km.
40–55 minutes fully conversational. Critical at this volume.
Structured intervals at 7–8/10 effort. Maintains top-end during long base building.
Easy running plus five short strides. Keeps form honest under fatigue.
Alternates each week. The session that teaches your race effort.
The session everything else exists to support. Race-pace finishes from week 3.
At marathon volumes, recovery becomes the limiter. Anything that protects it pays back.
Test gels, salt, drinks, and timing on the long runs. Don’t surprise yourself on race day.
Optional, but high-value once long runs hit 24 km plus.
A finished marathon is a permanent change to your ceiling. From here, every direction in endurance opens up.
Move into ultra-distance trail running on the foundation you’ve just built.
Sharpen with a focused marathon-pace speed block — and chase a real personal best.
Apply the engine to 70.3 long-course triathlon and a whole new discipline ladder.
The Marathon · 42.2km is available as a coached sixteen-week plan for runners with a half marathon in their legs and the time to do the work.