16-week marathon plan on 4 sessions — target 4:30

16 weeks4 sessions a weekTarget 4:30597 km of training, race day aside

A 16-week marathon plan on four sessions a week for a 4:30 finish: an accessible start, every pace given, long run building to 25 km.

This plan is for you if…

Already running three times a week for at least six weeks, without pain.
Able to run for 1 hour without stopping, however slowly.
Have run a half marathon under 2:12, or a 10 km under 1 hour.
Able to give 4 to 6 and a half 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 4:30

Pace	min/km	What it feels like
Easy	7:19 – 7:53	The pace most of this plan is run at. If you cannot hold a conversation, it is too fast.
Long run	7:26	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	6:18	Race-day pace — the one that produces the target time.
Half-marathon pace	6:03	Half-marathon pace: race day if that is your distance, otherwise the marker just above race-day pace.
Threshold pace	5:48	The pace you could hold for about an hour in a race.

All 16 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

Base28 km

Set the rhythm of the weeks. Nothing hard, genuinely: sixteen weeks let the aerobic base come before any speed, and that is the only real advantage over a twelve-week plan. 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 run40 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
3
Easy run49 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
4
Long run10 km
10 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 2

Base33 km

Threshold enters, in two ten-minute blocks.

1
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Threshold blocks56 min
2 × 10 minutes at Threshold pace, 3 min recovery.
3
Easy run49 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 3

Base35 km

First meeting with marathon pace, in short blocks.

1
Easy run45 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 run14 km
14 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 4

Base29 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 run44 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
4
Long run11 km
11 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 5

Build39 km

The development block opens at half-marathon pace, between threshold and marathon 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 run16 km
16 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 6

Build43 km

The long run now carries race pace, four kilometres to begin with.

1
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Threshold blocks69 min
3 × 10 minutes at Threshold pace, 3 min recovery.
3
Easy run56 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 6 strides.
4
Long run18 km
18 km, the last 4 at Marathon pace.

Week 7

Build43 km

Thirty continuous minutes at race-day pace, and six kilometres at that pace at the end of 20 km.

1
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Marathon pace60 min
30 continuous minutes at Marathon pace.
3
Easy run55 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 5 strides.
4
Long run20 km
20 km, the last 6 at Marathon pace.

Week 8

Build36 km

A second down week. At this level your 10 km is run at threshold pace: run this session as a timed 10 km if you want to reset the whole table against something you have actually run.

1
Easy run40 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Threshold blocks63 min
3 × 8 minutes at Threshold pace, 3 min recovery.
3
Easy run49 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
4
Long run15 km
15 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 9

Specific44 km

The specific block. Volume climbs again, and everything converges on race pace.

1
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Half-marathon pace blocks60 min
2 × 12 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 run21 km
21 km, the last 6 at Marathon pace.

Week 10

Specific46 km

Threshold in two fifteen-minute blocks, and eight kilometres at marathon pace inside the long run.

1
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Threshold blocks68 min
2 × 15 minutes at Threshold pace, 4 min recovery.
3
Easy run56 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 11

Specific48 km

Forty continuous minutes at race-day pace. This is the session that teaches most about what the target is worth.

1
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Marathon pace70 min
40 continuous minutes at Marathon pace.
3
Easy run55 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 5 strides.
4
Long run24 km
24 km, the last 10 at Marathon pace.

Week 12

Specific37 km

A third down week, the last one. It sets up the peak that follows.

1
Easy run40 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Threshold50 min
20 continuous minutes at Threshold pace.
3
Easy run49 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
4
Long run18 km
18 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 13

Specific50 km

The peak, and the dress rehearsal: twelve kilometres at race-day pace at the end of a long run that stays under three hours.

1
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Threshold blocks75 min
3 × 12 minutes at Threshold pace, 3 min recovery.
3
Easy run55 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 5 strides.
4
Long run25 km
25 km, the last 12 at Marathon pace.

Week 14

Taper39 km

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

1
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Marathon pace55 min
25 continuous minutes at Marathon pace.
3
Easy run51 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 6 strides.
4
Long run18 km
18 km, the last 6 at Marathon pace.

Week 15

Taper31 km

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

1
Easy run40 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
2
Marathon pace50 min
20 continuous minutes at Marathon pace.
3
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 5 strides.
4
Long run12 km
12 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.

Week 16

Race16 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.