Advanced marathon training plans

You are in the right place if you have raced a marathon more than once, you already run five days most weeks, and you are chasing a specific time rather than a finish.

The volume here assumes your body already tolerates it. This is not a plan to step up to because the beginner one felt easy in week two: the load arrives in the middle third, not at the start, and stepping up on the strength of an easy opening fortnight is a well-worn route to an injury.

Two quality sessions a week (one tempo, one interval) on a larger aerobic base.

Intervals are the smallest of the three levers and the one most likely to be overused. The order of return is volume first, threshold second, intervals third. If you are choosing what to cut in a bad week, cut the intervals.

Count the weeks between today and your race, then take the plan that fits inside that window rather than the one that exactly fills it. A block with a spare week absorbs the illness or work trip that a perfectly-fitted one cannot.

If you are between two lengths, take the longer one. A missed week in a compressed plan forces a decision about whether to skip the long run, and that decision is where most training blocks quietly end.

If five days a week is not currently realistic, the intermediate plans deliver most of the benefit on four.

This is the advanced version: it assumes an established base and a specific goal, with an interval session most weeks, plus the long run. It runs 12 weeks, 5 days a week, starts at 24 miles in week 1 and peaks at 53 miles in the hardest week.

At a glance. runs / week 5 · peak week 53 miles · longest run 22 miles · 1 cutback week · total 408 miles.

This is the advanced version: it assumes an established base and a specific goal, with an interval session most weeks, plus the long run. It runs 16 weeks, 5 days a week, starts at 24 miles in week 1 and peaks at 53 miles in the hardest week.

At a glance. runs / week 5 · peak week 53 miles · longest run 22 miles · 2 cutback weeks · total 559 miles.

This is the advanced version: it assumes an established base and a specific goal, with an interval session most weeks, plus the long run. It runs 20 weeks, 5 days a week, starts at 24 miles in week 1 and peaks at 53 miles in the hardest week.

At a glance. runs / week 5 · peak week 53 miles · longest run 22 miles · 3 cutback weeks · total 698 miles.