Imagine the immense pride that you’ll feel crossing the finish line of your first (or fifth!) marathon. Whether you just signed up for a race and are looking for a training plan, of you have stumbled across this post and are thinking “could I actually do this?” –hopefully this 6 month marathon training plan will give you confidence in yourself and help you cross the finish line of that race!
Training for a marathon over 6 months is nice because it gives you a slow, progressive increase in volume to reach your goals. You’ll start with short runs of just 2-3 miles your first week, and build all the way up to your marathon distance race.
You can jump to the training plan image and download – but please be sure to read all the info in the post which discusses how to actually use this plan, minimum fitness requirements, etc.
Disclaimer: This post was written and reviewed by Chrissy Carroll, RRCA Running Coach and USAT Level I Short Course Triathlon Coach. It is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as individual training advice. Consult a doctor prior to beginning any new exercise program.
Note: This post was first published in 2018 and has been updated in 2022.
Who is this training plan for?
This plan is for any individual that would like to finish a marathon without a time goal. It’s ideal for:
- Beginner runners doing their first marathon
- Experienced runners doing their first marathon (who do not have a specific time goal)
- Experienced runners who want a simple training plan for a marathon, regardless of whether it’s their first or fortieth race
This is not a plan for people looking to meet a certain time goal. The mileage is intentionally kept on the low side to be as beginner friendly as possible. It’s a get-you-to-the-finish-line plan.
If you’re an experienced runner looking to PR in a marathon, you’ll want a higher mileage and/or more customized plan. If you’ve already got a great base, you could try something like our 12 week intermediate marathon training plan.
What level of fitness do I need to start?
You should be healthy and able to comfortably run 2 miles right now. You also should not have any injuries or medical issues that would preclude training.
If you can’t currently run 2 miles, though, work on getting up to that point first for several months before jumping into this plan.
Or if you feel like a full marathon might be just a bit too much for you right now, check out a 20 week half marathon training plan.
Going from 2 to 26.2 miles in 6 months might seem overwhelming – but your body is amazing at how well it can adapt to training!
What is the plan structure like?
This plan is broken down into 24 weeks. Yes, I realize that might fall a week or two shorter than 6 months, but it worked out well for the structure so let’s roll with it. 😉
(If you’re looking for a plan that’s slightly shorter, you can check out a 20 week training plan here).
You’ll run 4 days per week on this plan, broken down as follows:
- Day 1 is an easy short run.
- Day 2 is variable, meaning it can be either another easy short run, a fartlek session, a marathon pace run, or a midweek long run. Descriptions of each are included below.
- Day 3 is an easy short run.
- Day 4 is your long run.
Run Workout Descriptions:
Here is a description of each type of run on this plan:
- Easy Short Runs (ESR) – These make up the bulk of your training. You’ll complete them on every Day 1 and Day 3, and on many of your Day 2’s (especially at the beginning, when building a base). They are comfortable and should be at a conversational pace. You should finish these and feel good – not overly tired, sore, or huffing/puffing. Depending on your current fitness level, you might also decide to incorporate some walking breaks into these (and that’s fine!)
- Long Runs – These are the longest run of your week. Complete them at a comfortable, steady pace. You may find that the pace feels more challenging as the runs progress and get longer, simply due to the fact that you’re covering a longer distance. Try slowing down a bit for your long runs and/or adding in walking breaks as needed if you find yourself struggling with the distance. Aim to complete the distance as written, even if you need to walk.
- Midweek Long Run (MWL) – A midweek long run is longer than your easy short runs, but shorter than your main long run. On this training plan, they range from 5-7 miles. Run this at a comfortable conversational pace.
- Fartlek – Fartlek is a Swedish term for “speed play”. For these runs, you’ll include speed intervals – but keep them fun and playful. Warm up for about 10 minutes at an easy pace. For the rest of the run mileage listed, add in bursts of speedwork as you choose to make your run challenging and fun. For example, you might run fast for one song, then recover for the next. Or you might run fast through the next 5 mailboxes, then jog for several more before repeating it again. You can find more fartlek workout ideas here if you need inspiration.
- Marathon Pace (X @ MP) – These runs are listed in your plan as X miles @ Marathon Pace (MP). For example, 4 @ MP = 4 miles at marathon pace. You should run the distance listed and pace yourself at the goal pace you’d like to run your race.
*Important – If you don’t feel comfortable doing the speedwork (fartlek or marathon pace days), just do the mileage listed each day at an easy pace. That’s fine!
Other Helpful Training Tips
Here are some additional tips that will help you as you train for your marathon over the next 6 months:
Warm Up, Cool Down, & Stretching:
- Start each run with a few minutes of walking or easy jogging to warm up. Along the same lines, give yourself a few minutes of walking at the end of a run to cool down.
- Stretch after your runs. If you struggle with tight muscles on a regular basis, consider adding foam rolling.
Strength, Cross Training, and Rest Days:
- Try to incorporate some bodyweight exercises like squats, lunges, push-ups, and bird-dogs 1-3 days a week. You can do these another time of day on the same day as a short run (i.e. run in AM, do these in PM), or you can do them on a day you don’t run. They’ll simply help maintain strength and balance out training.
- I recommend adding at least 1 day of cross training to your week, whether that’s a bike ride, yoga, swimming, or something else you enjoy. It will exercise different muscle groups and help prevent overuse injuries from running.
- Always keep at least one full rest day in your schedule.
Soreness & Injury:
- A little soreness can be normal after long runs; pain that affects your stride is not. If you experience any injury that is affecting the way you run, be sure to see a doctor for an evaluation.
Fueling:
- As you get into your longer runs, it will be important to practice good run fueling.
- Eat a carb-rich breakfast at least an hour before your long runs (8+ miles).
- On long runs lasting more than 75-90 minutes, be sure to pay attention to hydration, electrolytes, and fuel during your workout. You should aim to take in around 30-60 grams of carbohydrate per hour on runs lasting longer than this. To give perspective, two gels or a third a cup of raisins would fall in that range. Remember, you need to train your stomach just like you do your muscles during the run so that you’re prepared for race day.
6 Month Marathon Training Plan
Here’s your 6 month plan broken down week by week! You can also download a printable PDF version of this plan rather than the image. And for accessibility purposes, the entire plan is written out in plain text below the image.
Week 1:
- Tues – 2 mile easy run.
- Weds – 2 mile easy run.
- Fri – 2 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 3 mile easy run.
Week 2:
- Tues – 2 mile easy run.
- Weds – 2 mile easy run.
- Fri – 2 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 4 mile long run.
Week 3:
- Tues – 2.5 mile easy run.
- Weds – 2 mile easy run.
- Fri – 2.5 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 5 mile long run.
Week 4:
- Tues – 2.5 mile easy run.
- Weds – 2 mile easy run.
- Fri – 2.5 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 6 mile long run.
Week 5:
- Tues – 3 mile easy run.
- Weds – 3 mile easy run.
- Fri – 3 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 4 mile long run.
Week 6:
- Tues – 3 mile easy run.
- Weds – 4 mile easy run.
- Fri – 3 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 7 mile long run.
Week 7:
- Tues – 3 mile easy run.
- Weds – 4 mile fartlek run
- Fri – 3 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 8 mile long run.
Week 8:
- Tues – 3 mile easy run.
- Weds – 3 mile at marathon pace.
- Fri – 3 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 9 mile long run.
Week 9:
- Tues – 3 mile easy run.
- Weds – 5 mile midweek long run.
- Fri – 4 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 6 mile long run.
Week 10:
- Tues – 3 mile easy run.
- Weds – 4 mile easy run.
- Fri – 4 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 10 mile long run.
Week 11:
- Tues – 3 mile easy run.
- Weds – 4 mile run at marathon pace.
- Fri – 4 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 11 mile long run.
Week 12:
- Tues – 4 mile easy run.
- Weds – 6 mile midweek long run.
- Fri – 4 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 8 mile long run.
Week 13:
- Tues – 4 mile easy run.
- Weds – 4 mile run at marathon pace.
- Fri – 4 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 12 mile long run.
Week 14:
- Tues – 4 mile easy run.
- Weds – 5 mile easy run.
- Fri – 5 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 10 mile long run.
Week 15:
- Tues – 4 mile easy run.
- Weds – 4 mile fartlek run.
- Fri – 5 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 14 mile long run.
Week 16:
- Tues – 4 mile easy run.
- Weds – 6 mile midweek long run.
- Fri – 5 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 10 mile long run.
Week 17:
- Tues – 4 mile easy run.
- Weds – 4 mile fartlek run.
- Fri – 5 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 16 mile long run.
Week 18:
- Tues – 5 mile easy run.
- Weds – 5 mile run at marathon pace.
- Fri – 5 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 12 mile long run.
Week 19:
- Tues – 5 mile easy run.
- Weds – 4 mile easy run.
- Fri – 5 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 18 mile long run.
Week 20:
- Tues – 5 mile easy run.
- Weds – 7 mile run midweek long run.
- Fri – 5 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 12 mile long run.
Week 21:
- Tues – 5 mile easy run.
- Weds – 4 mile easy run.
- Fri – 5 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 20 mile long run.
Week 22:
- Tues – 5 mile easy run.
- Weds – 6 mile run at marathon pace.
- Fri – 5 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 12 mile long run.
Week 23:
- Tues – 4 mile easy run.
- Weds – 4 mile easy run.
- Fri – 4 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – 12 mile long run.
Week 24:
- Tues – 4 mile easy run.
- Weds – 2 mile easy run.
- Fri – 2 mile easy run.
- Sat or Sun – Marathon race!
Share with me: Are you ready to tackle a marathon? If you used this training plan, how did your race preparation go?
Feel free to pin this post to save for later.
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This is super helpful. It almost makes running a marathon look easy 🙂
Haha, *almost* being the key word there, right? 😉
This is so comprehensive! I’ll pass along to my runner friends!
Awesome, thanks Abbey.
I’ve pinned this and will pass along to any of my friends that are looking for a new plan. Looks solid!
Thanks so much! It’s definitely a great doable plan.
This is such a great resource! I love all the info included all in one place!
Thanks Emily!
Saving and will be using next time I get the marathon bug … and will be sharing with family and friends who need training plans.
Let me know the next time you get the marathon bug; maybe we can find a race around here together my friend!
This is a great plan and the Big Beach Marathon looks like a great race! It almost makes me miss being in marathon training mode…lol!
Haha, you can always go into training mode and join me in Alabama this January!
Wonderful post Chrissy! As a matter of coincidence, I was looking for a detailed post that explains how to prepare for a marathon and came across this blog post. I loved the fact that you broke down the entire 6-month training plan week-by-week so that it’s easy to implement. Thanks a lot for this, Chrissy.
Sure thing! Glad you found it helpful Holly!
Hi, are these days consecutive? Meaning you do the four days in a row, then take 3 off?
Hi Dan – Great question – no, avoid too many consecutive days. I’d recommend a schedule like this:
Mon – Day 1
Tues – Day 2
Weds – Rest
Thurs – Day 3
Fri – Rest / Cross Train
Sat – Day 4
Sun – Rest / Cross Train
Hi, thanks for this plan, looks great! A couple of questions:
I’m an experienced runner (3 marathons, lots of 1/2 marathons etc) for the past year, I haven’t run, but have done weights and intense cross-fit-type exercise 3-5 times per week. I’m signed up for a marathon in Jan. 2020 (hoping for < 4 hour finish) so I'll start running again. I plan to continue cross training on Mon/Wed/Sat. Based on this, which days would you suggest I run?
Thanks again!
Hi Hector! Great to hear from you, and it sounds like you’ve got a great fitness base from your weights and cross fit. Based on what you’ve mentioned, I might structure a schedule like one of these two options:
OPTION 1:
Mon – cross training + easy short run
Tues – variable distance run
Weds – cross training
Thurs – easy short run
Fri – long run
Sat – cross training
Sun – REST
OPTION 2:
Mon – cross training
Tues – easy short run
Weds – cross training
Thurs – variable run
Fri – REST
Sat – cross training + easy short run
Sun – long run
You’ll notice in both there’s one day you’d double up – I prefer this so that you still have a full rest day in the week. You can split the workouts into AM/PM or do them back to back.
Thanks so much, Chrissy. You’re providing a wonderful resource–I’ll support you however I can. I’ll keep you posted on my race-prep. All the best to you and yours!
Hello, i want to do a marathon in april 2020. I’m fit and young but don’t have experience in long distance running. I’m doing weight lifting (no cardio) 5times a week on mo-fr and doing soccer practice on wednesday and a game on saturday. How do you think my schedule should look like?
Congrats on wanting to a marathon! Without knowing full details about your age, training schedule, etc – it’s hard to give individual advice and so just keep in mind this is for informational purposes only (standard disclaimer, haha). But if it were me in that kind of scenario, I’d probably pull the weight training back to 2 days a week and sub the soccer game for a short run. So a schedule might look like:
Mon – Rest
Tues – Easy short run
Weds – Weights AM / Soccer practice PM
Thurs – Variable pace run
Fri – Weights
Sat – Soccer game
Sun – Long run
There’s different ways of approaching it but that’s just one idea. I do think it would be hard to do weights 5x/week and still train for a marathon at the same time while also playing soccer. That’d be a lot of time and competing priorities.
Love this training plan! I play Ultimate Frisbee once a week, as well as basketball once a week, which means lots of sprinting two nights out of the week. I am struggling with trying to fit that around when I should be doing my long/short runs. Any thoughts?
Basketball is Thursday and Ultimate Frisbee is Sunday.
Hi there! Great question.
Full disclosure, this is for informational purposes and shouldn’t be construed as individual advice (lol, the things I have to say for legal stuff!) — but here’s what I might do if I were in that scenario:
Mon – Easy short run
Tues – Rest OR Variable (since you’re doing basketball, you could skip the variable run or keep it in depending on your fitness level and preferences)
Weds – Easy short run
Thurs – Basketball
Fri – Rest
Sat – Long run
Sun – Ultimate frisbee
Hi there, I’m a beginner runner in my 40s and used your 20 week half marathon training plan to run my first half marathon this year. I’ve looked at a few marathon training plans, and most of them have 20 miles as the longest run – why is that, I mean why not longer? To think I have to run another 10km longer than my longest run seems a bit daunting. Is it because of the amount of time to safely build up to a longer distance?
Hi Sarah! Great question. It’s mainly because the additional time on your feet after 20 miles for training doesn’t really do much from a preparedness perspective, and only increases injury risk. That’s why most plans cap out at 20 miles. Some advanced plans will include runs in the 20-24 mile range, but that’s generally geared towards fast, experienced runners who are doing major mileage each week. If you’re looking to tackle your first full – a plan that caps at 20 will be just fine. If you can do 20, you can do 26.2 – I promise! 🙂
Hi! I’m 16 years old and I have a relatively active background as I play a lot of sports and with quarantine, I have been working out 6 days a week. I’ve gotten really into the idea of running a marathon and training for it but I am curious as to how many calories would be needed (just an average) do you think in order to train for this and stay healthy? Also, should I continue working out everyday or would that cause injuries or be too much for my body?
Hi Annabelle! Great questions! These are tough to answer because I don’t have a full picture of your medical history, height, weight, etc – all of which impact exercise recommendations and calorie needs. I would recommend seeing a Registered Dietitian in your state to help answer some of these questions for you.
As far as some general information that might help: the number of calories burned with training varies based on your weight and how many miles you’re running. At the lower end of this plan, you’ll be running 9 miles per week, while at the upper end, around 34 miles. If someone burns 100 calories per mile (just an estimate – again, depends on your weight) then they’d be looking at around 900 to 3400 calories burned during these weeks of training. To maintain their weight, these calories would be eaten on top of whatever their normal calorie needs are. All in all, that could equate to anywhere from 2000(ish) to 3000(ish) calories per day on this plan, however that wouldn’t include calories burned from other activity the individual is doing.
As far as how many days to workout – I can’t give you a definitive answer with this info, unfortunately – it depends what type of cross training you’re doing and the intensity. I do generally recommend athletes take at least 1 day a week of rest (or “active rest” – like a light walk outside or comfortable bike ride).
Sorry I can’t give more specific guidance, but if you find an RD / running coach in your area, I bet they can really dive deep into your specific situation, fitness level, medical conditions, and energy needs. <3
I just discovered this and it has me excited for a marathon in December. I’ve been considering it for awhile, but I think you just put me over the top.
One question: I’m running a half marathon 3 weeks before the full, which is the 20-mile long run on your plan. Would you recommend moving the 20-mile run before the half, or the week after, and then only have one week of a shorter run (probably 8 miles) before the full?
Hi Kiel! Great to hear from you, and glad you’re excited about doing a December marathon. It’s hard to give specific advice without knowing your full running/injury history, but there’s a few ways you could approach this. If the half marathon is just “for fun”, you could run a very easy 7 miles before starting the half, and then do the half marathon — which would be equivalent to the 20 miles. If that doesn’t work, I’d probably vote for the 20 miler two weeks out, an 8 miler one week out, and then your race. Just be careful with the back to back half and 20 – if you’re “racing” the half for real, that’s a challenge to your body, as-is the 20 miler. You don’t want to injury yourself so close to the marathon, so be sure to take one of those runs easy. 🙂
Hi, I’m training for the 2021 London Marathon. I can only make 3 days and wondered why you suggest dropping Day 2. Intuitively, I would have dropped either Day 1 or Day 3. Please advise. Thanks
Great question. For many new runners that could be following this to train for their first marathon or who don’t have much running history, I’d rather them focus on the easy mileage to reduce risk of injury. If they cut out Day 1 or 3 instead of Day 2, then two of the three days are relatively challenging in many weeks – that variable day and the long run day. I personally prefer a more conservative approach for new marathoners.
On the flip side, if someone has a solid 6-12 months of a running base and decides to follow this plan, but is limited to 3 days, then keeping day 2 and cutting day 1 or 3 may be feasible, particularly if there’s also some cross training to balance out the runs. But that would be really dependent on running and injury history.
*disclaimer – not individualized advice 🙂
Hi, thank you for this program! Do you have a link to print the yellow training calendar? Or a PDF version?
Started today! 🙂
Hi Shasta – way to get starting the plan! If you right click on the image, you can save it and print it out. If you have any trouble, just comment again or email me and I’ll get you a PDF version. 🙂
Hi Chrissy, thanks for this great detailed plan. What do you recommend for training location: indoors on treadmill vs outdoor running with this plan and can it be hybrid?
Hi there! Apologies on the delay in response – it’s been a crazy couple of weeks! I recommend training outdoors as much as possible, since that’s where the race takes place. It can be hybrid though if needed – for example, doing some shorter runs on the treadmill and some outdoors. I would personally try to do most of the long runs outdoors though. Hope that helps!
So glad I found this. I did NOT want a 16 or even 20 week plan. This will be my 3rd attempt but 1st with a plan. This time is going to work!
Woohoo, you’ve got this Anna! 26.2, here you come!