12-week marathon plan on 4 sessions — target 4:00

12 weeks4 sessions a weekTarget 4:00500 km of training, race day aside

A 12-week marathon plan on four sessions a week for a sub-4-hour finish: every pace given, long run building to 28 km.

This plan is for you if…

Already running four times a week for at least three months, without pain.
Able to run for 1 h 15 without stopping, comfortably.
Have run a half marathon under 1:55, or a 10 km under 52 minutes.
Able to give 5 to 7 hours a week to training, long run included.

If one of these is not true, a longer plan will take you further than a short one followed halfway.

If you have to skip a session

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.

Your paces for 4:00

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.

All 12 weeks, session by session

The long run is 50 % 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.

Week 1

Base36 km

Set the rhythm of the weeks. Nothing hard: even at this level the aerobic base comes before any speed is added. One easy run a week closes with strides — 20 s quick and relaxed, 40 s of jogging, no watch and no target pace.

1
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
3
Easy run59 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
4
Long run12 km
12 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 2

Base39 km

Threshold enters, in two ten-minute blocks.

1
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Threshold blocks56 min
2 × 10 minutes at Threshold pace, 3 min recovery.
3
Easy run54 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
4
Long run14 km
14 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 3

Base42 km

First meeting with marathon pace, in short blocks.

1
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Marathon pace56 min
2 × 10 minutes at Marathon pace, 3 min recovery.
3
Easy run55 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 5 strides.
4
Long run17 km
17 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 4

Base34 km

A down week. It is in recovering that the last three weeks turn into fitness.

1
Easy run40 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Threshold45 min
15 continuous minutes at Threshold pace.
3
Easy run49 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
4
Long run13 km
13 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 5

Build46 km

Half-marathon pace opens the development block, and the long run carries its first kilometres at race pace.

1
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Half-marathon pace blocks63 min
3 × 8 minutes at Half-marathon pace, 3 min recovery.
3
Easy run55 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 5 strides.
4
Long run20 km
20 km, the last 4 at Marathon pace.

Week 6

Build51 km

The densest week of the phase: half-marathon pace in three blocks, eight kilometres at marathon pace, and 22 km.

1
Easy run55 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Half-marathon pace blocks69 min
3 × 10 minutes at Half-marathon pace, 3 min recovery.
3
Easy run61 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 6 strides.
4
Long run22 km
22 km, the last 8 at Marathon pace.

Week 7

Build41 km

A second down week. The body digests the two biggest ones.

1
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Threshold blocks63 min
3 × 8 minutes at Threshold pace, 3 min recovery.
3
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 5 strides.
4
Long run16 km
16 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 8

Specific52 km

Specific block: forty continuous minutes at race-day pace, then eight kilometres at that pace at the end of 24 km.

1
Easy run55 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Marathon pace70 min
40 continuous minutes at Marathon pace.
3
Easy run56 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 6 strides.
4
Long run24 km
24 km, the last 8 at Marathon pace.

Week 9

Specific57 km

The peak, and the dress rehearsal: twelve kilometres at race-day pace at the end of 28 km — 2 h 53, the same duration the 4:30 plan peaks at over a shorter distance. It is the time on the legs that counts, not the kilometres.

1
Easy run55 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Threshold blocks68 min
2 × 15 minutes at Threshold pace, 4 min recovery.
3
Easy run59 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
4
Long run28 km
28 km, the last 12 at Marathon pace.

Week 10

Taper48 km

The taper begins. Volume comes down and so does the specific work: recovery is what brings the form up.

1
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Marathon pace60 min
30 continuous minutes at Marathon pace.
3
Easy run56 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 6 strides.
4
Long run22 km
22 km, the last 5 at Marathon pace.

Week 11

Taper37 km

Less again. The temptation to add is this week's main danger.

1
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Marathon pace50 min
20 continuous minutes at Marathon pace.
3
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 5 strides.
4
Long run15 km
15 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 12

Race17 km

Race week. Sleep, eat, and arrive fresh on the line.

1
Easy run35 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Marathon pace51 min
3 × 5 minutes at Marathon pace, 2 min recovery.
3
Easy run29 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
4
Marathon42.195 km
Race day.

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This plan is general training material and does not replace medical advice. If it hurts, stop and see someone.