How to train to run a marathon (without quitting the gym)

How to train to run a marathon, short version: 16 to 20 weeks, four or five runs a week, almost all of them easy, one long run that grows to around 18 to 20 miles, one quality session, one or two strength sessions, and a two to three week taper. Then you run 26.2 miles slower than you want to for the first half.

The long version matters because the marathon punishes shortcuts more than any other common race distance. And because most marathon plans are written for people who do nothing else. If you lift, and you'd like to still be able to lift in four months, you need a plan that knows both exist. That's either the rules below, or an alternative to Runna for hybrid athletes that schedules the two together.

How to train to run a marathon: what it actually takes

Strip away the folklore and marathon training has six parts:

1. ›A base. You need to be running consistently before the build starts.
2. ›Easy volume. The majority of your weekly running, at conversational pace.
3. ›The long run. One per week, growing slowly, peaking a few weeks before race day.
4. ›A small amount of quality. Marathon-pace work and tempo runs, mostly.
5. ›Strength work. Kept, not chased.
6. ›A taper. Volume comes down hard before race day.

If you want all six laid out week by week with the lifting already slotted in, that's a marathon plan that keeps your strength work. The rest of this guide explains why each piece is there.

One thing first. If you've never raced anything, a marathon is a bold first entry. Racing a 5K or a half along the way teaches you pacing, gives you a fitness benchmark, and is a lot more fun than finding out everything at mile 20. 5k training explained is a decent warm-up act, and the same easy-heavy structure carries straight through to the marathon.

How long to train for a marathon

Most marathon plans run 16 to 20 weeks, and that assumes you're already running. Hal Higdon's Novice 1 marathon plan, one of the most widely used first-marathon schedules, is 18 weeks with four runs a week and a longest run of 20 miles.

If you're starting from zero running, add months, not weeks, in front of that. The answer to how long does it take to train for a marathon depends almost entirely on where you start, and that post breaks it down by starting point.

The weekly structure

A typical marathon week in the middle of the build, for someone who also lifts:

The scheduling rules:

• ›Long run and quality session at least two days apart.
• ›Lower-body lifting on an easy day, ideally the day after the quality run, never the day before the long run.
• ›Nothing heavy the day after the long run. It's the hardest session of the week, even when it's slow.

Four runs a week is a sensible floor for a first marathon. Five or six gets more experienced runners further. For a hybrid athlete, running volume is the thing that has to give least, so the lifting adjusts around it.

Easy running: the boring bit that does the work

Most of your marathon training should be easy. Genuinely easy. You can talk in full sentences, you could keep going for a long time, and it feels slower than you think "training" should feel.

This is where the marathon gets built: the aerobic engine, the durability in your legs, the ability to burn fuel efficiently for hours. Runners who run every easy day at medium effort end up too tired to hit their quality sessions and too slow on race day to show for it.

As a coaching rule of thumb, around 80% of your running time should be easy. To work out what easy, marathon pace and tempo pace actually are for you, start with pacing your goal time. Easy pace is often a minute or more per mile slower than marathon pace. That's normal, not lazy.

The long run

The long run is the marathon session. Everything else supports it.

How to build it:

• ›Start from your current longest run, not from where you wish it was.
• ›Add about a mile most weeks. Every third or fourth week, cut it back for recovery.
• ›Peak around 18 to 20 miles, three weeks out. Most plans don't take you to 26.2 in training. The cost in recovery isn't worth it.
• ›Run most of it easy. Later in the build, some long runs finish with several miles at marathon pace. That's where race pace becomes familiar.
• ›Practice your fueling. Long runs are dress rehearsals for race-day food and drink. If you're going to take gels on the day, take the same ones on long runs.

What you eat the night before and the morning of matters too. Underfuel a 20-miler and you've wasted the session. A guide to what to eat before a long run covers the basics.

Quality sessions: less than you think

One quality session a week is enough for most first and second marathons. Your options:

• ›Marathon-pace runs. A few miles at goal pace inside a longer run. The most specific session there is.
• ›Tempo runs. 20 to 40 minutes at "comfortably hard". Raises the pace you can sustain.
• ›Intervals. Useful early in the build. Less important than they are for 5K or 10K racing.

What you don't need: three hard sessions a week. The marathon rewards consistency over heroics. A plan that leaves you too cooked to do the long run properly has its priorities backward.

Keep lifting: 1–2 strength sessions a week

The marathon is where most hybrid athletes give up the gym, and where most of them shouldn't.

Running is the priority during a marathon build. Lifting supports it. In practice:

• ›Two sessions a week in the base and early build. One lower, one upper or full body.
• ›One or two in the peak weeks. When long runs are 16 to 20 miles, one well-placed session is often enough to hold strength.
• ›Heavy-ish, low volume. A few hard sets of squats, deadlifts or lunges, plus calf and hip work. Not a bodybuilding split.
• ›No PR attempts. You're maintaining, not peaking.
• ›Lower-body work as far from the long run as possible.

The case for keeping it: a systematic review by Blagrove and colleagues (2018) found strength training improved running economy by 2–8% in the studies that measured it, across runners of different training levels, with body composition not negatively affected. They suggest two to three sessions a week. So you're not giving up marathon fitness by lifting. You may be gaining some. There's more detail on exercise choice in strength work for runners.

The interference worry is mostly overblown for strength and size. An updated meta-analysis by Schumann et al. (2022) concluded concurrent aerobic and strength training doesn't compromise hypertrophy or maximal strength, though explosive strength gains may be blunted, particularly when both happen in the same session. Separate them by day, or at least by several hours, and you're fine.

Common worries, answered

"Can I just wing it?" Some people do run a marathon on very little preparation. The honest answer on a marathon with no training: you might finish, but it will hurt in ways that a few months of easy running would have spared you, and the risk of getting hurt goes up. Train.

"Why am I gaining weight?" It happens to a lot of people, and it's often a mix of a bigger appetite and the classic "I ran 18 miles, I deserve the whole pizza." Understanding why you gain weight during marathon training helps you avoid panicking about the scale in week 12. If weight or eating is a concern, a registered dietitian is the right person to talk to.

"Will lifting make me slower?" Not if it's programmed sensibly, per the research above. The bigger risk is badly scheduled lifting: heavy squats the day before a long run. Any guide to marathon strength workouts worth reading should start with when, not what.

Setting a goal

First marathon? The goal is to finish, feeling as good as possible, with a smile in the photos. Run by effort. Don't pick a time from a stranger's Instagram.

Second marathon onward, your previous marathon and your recent half marathon are the best predictors. Asking what's a good marathon time is a fair question, but the most useful answer is "a bit faster than your last one, on a similar course."

If you're planning your first marathon from scratch, choose a race with a flat course, cool expected weather and enough weeks between now and race day for a full build. Picking the right race does half the work.

The taper

The last two to three weeks before a marathon, volume comes down. A meta-analysis by Bosquet et al. (2007) found a two-week taper with volume reduced by 41–60%, while keeping training intensity and frequency, was the most effective strategy across the studies it pooled. Many marathon plans stretch that to three weeks because of the size of the accumulated fatigue.

In practice:

• ›Running: fewer miles, the same number of days, some short marathon-pace efforts so your legs remember the speed.
• ›Lifting: last meaningful lower-body session about ten days out. Light upper body and mobility after that.
• ›The long run: last big one three weeks out, then shorter each weekend.

You'll feel sluggish and twitchy during the taper. Everyone does. Don't add a hard session to feel better about yourself.

Three things first-timers get wrong

Treating the finish line as the end. Marathon recovery takes longer than people expect. Plan a couple of easy weeks after the race before any hard running or heavy lifting. If something hurts beyond normal soreness, see a professional.

Going out too fast. Hitting the wall late in a marathon usually starts with an ambitious first half and too little fuel. Start conservatively, fuel early and often the way you practiced, and let the second half be where you pass people.

Overthinking race week. A shakeout run before marathon day is a short, very easy jog to loosen up, not a final fitness test. Most of race week should feel boring. That's the point.

After the marathon

Some people finish their first marathon and swear never again. Others are browsing race calendars on the train home. If you're the second type, the same skeleton of base, build, peak and taper extends further than 26.2. Asking what an ultra marathon is is how a lot of people discover that the next step is mostly slower and longer, with more food.

If your race is sooner or later than 18 weeks

You don't always get to choose your timeline.

• ›More than six months away: Use the extra time for a proper base and a strength block before the marathon build starts. That's the logic of training for a marathon in 6 months: base first, build second.
• ›About three months away: Training for a marathon in 12 weeks can work if you're already running regularly and have done a half recently. If you're starting from little, choose a later race or a shorter distance.

Either way, the structure doesn't change. Only how much time each phase gets.

How exrsz handles this

exrsz builds a periodized marathon plan from your race date, the days you can train, your level and your equipment, with running and lifting in the same plan so heavy legs and long runs don't collide. It adapts each week to how training actually went and reshuffles missed sessions so the build still lands on race day.

FAQ

How many weeks does it take to train for a marathon?

Most plans are 16 to 20 weeks for someone already running regularly. Starting from no running, add several months of base building first.

How long should my longest training run be before a marathon?

Most plans peak at 18 to 20 miles, about three weeks before race day. Running the full 26.2 in training usually costs more recovery than it's worth.

Can I keep lifting while training for a marathon?

Yes. Keep one or two strength sessions a week, lower the volume, skip PR attempts, and keep heavy lower-body work away from your long run.

How many days a week should I run to train for a marathon?

Four runs a week is a sensible minimum for a first marathon. Experienced runners often do five or six, with most of those runs easy.

How do I avoid hitting the wall in a marathon?

Start conservatively, fuel early and regularly with the products you practiced on long runs, and build enough long-run volume in training. Pacing and fueling cause most late-race collapses.