Going the Distance

The general philosophy is to run 3 key club runs a week, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are optional easy run days ranging from 30-75 minutes, we suggest trying to get 2 of these in each week. Saturday is either a short easy run with strides, parkrun, or cross-country; don't run a hard parkrun in advance of any races. Sundays are longer runs and moderate in intensity, with some marathon-paced mileage. This 16 week schedule is designed to get you to the start line of the London Marathon.

This week:

3 weeks 6 days to go

Monday
Tuesday	Highgate. 7 miles Steady (1h11 - 1h17)
Wednesday
Thursday	2x {2x (1600m (10k pace=9'03'') [2 min static recovery]) + 3x 200m [1mi] [200m walk]} 2min rest between sets. Total 4800m-8000m hard
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	11 miles Easy (2h02 - 2h09)

Customization

The schedule shown is for a runner hoping to complete a MARATHON race in a time of 04:20:00.

No optional days selected.

Full Schedule:

Use our pace calculator to find out more about the terms used in the schedule.

Week 1

02/01/23-08/01/23

Monday
Tuesday	Highgate. 7 miles Easy (1h17 - 1h22)
Wednesday
Thursday	New Year Circuit Pyramid: 400m, 800m, 1600m, 800m, 400m (10mi) with 30sec exercises (squats, lunges, high knees, lunges, squats) followed by 90s recovery between each
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	WU + RP 10k + CD up to 10-12 miles in total

Week 2

09/01/23-15/01/23

Monday
Tuesday	Easy to Regents Park, 5x4 minutes at HM pace with 2 minute jog recoveries, easy back to Talacre
Wednesday
Thursday	3x (beginner) or 6x {600m (5k pace=3'15'') [200m jog recovery]} Total 1800-3600m hard
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	8 miles Steady (1h21 - 1h29)

Week 3

16/01/23-22/01/23

Monday
Tuesday	Highgate. 7 miles Easy (1h17 - 1h22)
Wednesday
Thursday	8x {400m (10k pace=2'16'') [200m walk]} + 4x {200m [1mi] [200m walk]}. Total 4000m hard
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	Fred Hughes 10 or 90-100min

Week 4

23/01/23-29/01/23

Monday
Tuesday	Easy to Regents Park, 5x6 minutes at HM pace with 2 minute jog recoveries, easy back to Talacre
Wednesday
Thursday	3-4x (beginner) or 5-6x {800m (10k pace=4'31'') [90s static recovery]}. Total 2400m-4800m hard
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	8 miles Easy (1h29 - 1h34)

Week 5

30/01/23-05/02/23

Monday
Tuesday	Highgate. 7 miles Steady (1h11 - 1h17)
Wednesday
Thursday	2x (beginner) or 4x {1200m (10k pace=6'47'') [2 min static recovery]} + 4x 200m [1mi] [200m walk]}. Total 3200m-5600m hard
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	WU + RP 10k + CD up 10 14 miles in total

Week 6

06/02/23-12/02/23

Monday
Tuesday	Easy to Regents Park, 4x8 minutes at HM pace with 2 minute jog recoveries, easy back to Talacre
Wednesday
Thursday	2x (beginner) or 4x {1600m (10k pace=9'03'') [2-3 min static recovery]}. Total 3200-6400m hard.
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	11 miles Steady (1h52 - 2h02)

Week 7

13/02/23-19/02/23

Monday
Tuesday	Highgate. 7 miles Steady (1h11 - 1h17)
Wednesday
Thursday	200m (3k pace=1'03'') [200m recovery], 400m (5k pace=2'10'') [2 min rest], 800m (10k pace=4'31'') [2 min rest], 1200 (10mi) [2 min rest] 1600m (HM) [3 min rest], 1200 (10mi) [2 min rest], 800m (10k pace=4'31'') [2 min rest], 400m (5k pace=2'10'') [2 min rest], 200m (3k pace=1'03'') [200m recovery]. Total 6800 hard Beginners do 200, 400, 800, 400, 200
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	13 miles Steady, 3 miles Marathon (2h42 - 2h54)

Week 8

20/02/23-26/02/23

Monday
Tuesday	Tuesday Special: Easy to Regents Park, 3x10 minutes at HM with 3 minute jog recoveries, easy back to Talacre
Wednesday
Thursday	3x (beginner) or 6x {1000m (10k pace=5'39'') into 200m [3k] [2 min static recovery]}. Total 3600m-7200m hard
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	11 miles Easy (2h02 - 2h09)

Week 9

27/02/23-05/03/23

Monday
Tuesday	Tuesday Special: Easy to Regents Park, 3x12 minutes at HM pace with 3 minute jog recoveries, easy back to Talacre
Wednesday
Thursday	2-3x (beginner) or 5x {1600m (10k pace=9'03'') [2-3 min static recovery]}. Total 4800m-8000m hard
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	WU + RP 10k + CD - up to 18-20miles in total

Week 10

06/03/23-12/03/23

Monday
Tuesday	Hampstead heath run (approx. 5.5miles)
Wednesday
Thursday	4x (beginner) or 8x {400m (10k pace=2'16'') [1min static recovery]}. Total 1600-3200m hard
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	Paddock Wood Half Marathon

Week 11

13/03/23-19/03/23

Monday
Tuesday	Highgate. 7 miles Steady (1h11 - 1h17)
Wednesday
Thursday	Reverse pyramid: 1600m (HM) [3 min rest], 1200 (10mi) [2 min rest], 800m (10k pace=4'31'') [2 min rest], 400m (5k pace=2'10'') [2 min rest], 800m (10k pace=4'31'') [2 min rest], 1200 (10mi) [2 min rest] 1600m (HM). Total 7600m Hard
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	12 miles Steady (2h02 - 2h13)

Week 12

20/03/23-26/03/23

Monday
Tuesday	Easy to Regents Park, 3x15 minutes at MP with 3 minute jog recoveries, easy back to Talacre
Wednesday
Thursday	2-3x (beginner) or 4x {2000m (10mi) [2-3 min static recovery]}. Total 4800m-8000m hard
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	13 miles Steady, 2 miles Marathon (2h32 - 2h44)

Week 13

27/03/23-02/04/23

Monday
Tuesday	Highgate. 7 miles Steady (1h11 - 1h17)
Wednesday
Thursday	2x {2x (1600m (10k pace=9'03'') [2 min static recovery]) + 3x 200m [1mi] [200m walk]} 2min rest between sets. Total 4800m-8000m hard
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	11 miles Easy (2h02 - 2h09)

Week 14

03/04/23-09/04/23

Monday
Tuesday	Easy to Regents Park, 40-60min MP tempo, easy back to Talacre
Wednesday
Thursday	30min curves & straights - 5k pace on the straights and jog recoveries on the curves
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	8 miles Easy, 6 miles Steady, 3 miles Marathon (2h59 - 3h10)

Week 15

10/04/23-16/04/23

Monday
Tuesday	Heath. 6 miles Easy (1h06 - 1h10)
Wednesday
Thursday	4 x {600m [MP] [200m easy] + 200m [3k] [200m walk/jog recovery]}
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	10 miles Steady (1h42 - 1h51)

Week 16

17/04/23-23/04/23

Monday
Tuesday	Easy to Regents Park, 3 x 6 min MP with 3 minute jog recoveries, easy back to Talacre
Wednesday
Thursday	Paarlauf (8x 400m) followed by 3x200m sprints - marathoners should skip track
Friday
Saturday
Sunday	London Marathon

Advice

It's important to be flexible out your schedule. This plan is just an outline and it is important to pay attention to how you feel. Here are some tips:

If you are ill or injured, rest.
If you miss some sessions, just let them go. Don't try and catch up and don't beat yourself up. Everyone misses some sessions, you don't have to hit every one to achieve your goal.
Don't worry if you have a bad session or even a couple of bad weeks. It happens to all of us. But if you do continue to find the schedule too tough, ease off.
All times and distances are approximate. If you're doing a tough route, run by time rather than distance as it is the effort you put in that counts not the distance.