A 12-week marathon plan on three sessions a week for a 4:00 finish: every pace given, long run building to 26 km.
If one of these is not true, a longer plan will take you further than a short one followed halfway.
Ill, exhausted or in pain, do not run: a plan absorbs a missed session, it does not absorb an injury. Drop the easy run first — it is the least specific. If it is the quality session or the long run that goes, do not move it to another day of the same week; pick the next week up where the plan is, never where you stopped.
| Pace | min/km | What it feels like |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 6:30 – 7:00 | The pace most of this plan is run at. If you cannot hold a conversation, it is too fast. |
| Long run | 6:37 | In the firm third of the easy band, never outside it. However long it is, a long run is never run quicker than this. |
| Marathon pace | 5:36 | Race-day pace — the one that produces the target time. |
| Half-marathon pace | 5:23 | Half-marathon pace: race day if that is your distance, otherwise the marker just above race-day pace. |
| Threshold pace | 5:11 | The pace you could hold for about an hour in a race. |
The long run is 57 % of the heaviest week, against 30 to 35 % in a plan built on five or six runs. On few sessions that is arithmetic: what protects you is not the share but the duration, and no long run in this plan reaches three hours.
Three sessions, three jobs: one quality, one easy, one long — none of them is filler. Nothing hard this week even so. The easy run closes with a few strides: 20 s quick and relaxed, 40 s of jogging, no watch and no target pace.
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Easy run54 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
Long run12 km
12 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
Threshold enters, and the long run grows.
Threshold blocks56 min
2 × 10 minutes at Threshold pace, 3 min recovery.
Easy run54 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
Long run14 km
14 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
First meeting with marathon pace, in the quality session: two ten-minute blocks. The long run stays entirely easy.
Marathon pace56 min
2 × 10 minutes at Marathon pace, 3 min recovery.
Easy run55 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 5 strides.
Long run17 km
17 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
A down week. It is in recovering that the last three weeks turn into fitness.
Threshold45 min
15 continuous minutes at Threshold pace.
Easy run44 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
Long run14 km
14 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
Load picks up again. The long run now carries race pace.
Half-marathon pace blocks60 min
2 × 12 minutes at Half-marathon pace, 3 min recovery.
Easy run55 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 5 strides.
Long run20 km
20 km, the last 4 at Marathon pace.
The densest week of the phase: threshold in the quality session, marathon pace inside the long run, and 22 km.
Threshold blocks69 min
3 × 10 minutes at Threshold pace, 3 min recovery.
Easy run56 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 6 strides.
Long run22 km
22 km, the last 8 at Marathon pace.
A second down week. The body digests the two biggest ones.
Half-marathon pace blocks63 min
3 × 8 minutes at Half-marathon pace, 3 min recovery.
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 5 strides.
Long run16 km
16 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
Specific block: everything converges on race pace — thirty continuous minutes, then eight kilometres at that pace at the end of 23 km.
Marathon pace60 min
30 continuous minutes at Marathon pace.
Easy run56 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 6 strides.
Long run23 km
23 km, the last 8 at Marathon pace.
The peak: 26 km with 10 at marathon pace, a long run that stays under three hours. The quality session stays at threshold, which is what carries race pace.
Threshold blocks68 min
2 × 15 minutes at Threshold pace, 4 min recovery.
Easy run54 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
Long run26 km
26 km, the last 10 at Marathon pace.
The taper begins. Volume drops, intensity stays — that is what brings the form up.
Marathon pace55 min
25 continuous minutes at Marathon pace.
Easy run51 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 6 strides.
Long run21 km
21 km, the last 5 at Marathon pace.
Less again. The temptation to add is this week's main danger.
Marathon pace50 min
20 continuous minutes at Marathon pace.
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 5 strides.
Long run15 km
15 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
Race week. Sleep, eat, and arrive fresh on the line.
Marathon pace51 min
3 × 5 minutes at Marathon pace, 2 min recovery.
Easy run29 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
Marathon42.195 km
Race day.
Stibia exports this plan to your watch, on the days you run, with your long session on the day you choose, and the plan ending on your race date.
Create a free accountThis plan is general training material and does not replace medical advice. If it hurts, stop and see someone.