Advanced Marathon – 4 Days per Week
Magic Training
About the plan
A 16-week plan for advanced runners who want a good marathon while training four days a week. There are four runs a week: two quality sessions, a short recovery run that bridges them, and the long run. The other three days are complete rest. The difference from traditional advanced plans is not intensity — the quality sessions are the same — but base volume, which stays in the range that fits someone who trains before work. Marathon pace is rehearsed six times, in blocks that grow from 5 to 10 miles (8 to 16 km) inside a midweek workout. The long run goes from 11 to 20 miles (18 to 32 km), and Wednesday's recovery run protects your legs between the interval session and the pace workout. Three recovery weeks (4, 8 and 12) and a taper over the last two. All paces come from your times in the Magic Calculator; adjust your reference time in your profile before starting so threshold, interval and race paces are calibrated.
The plan in numbers
- Duration
- 16 weeks
- Runs per week
- 4
- Weekly volume
- 30 mi → 51 mi
- Longest run
- 20 mi
Week 1 starts at 30 mi and volume builds to 51 mi in week 13, the heaviest of the plan.
A typical week has 4 runs, and the longest session reaches 20 mi (Long, week 11).
Over the final 3 weeks volume drops from 51 mi to 14 mi so you arrive at the race rested.
Race day (26 mi) falls on Sunday of week 16; the week holds 14 mi of running before it.
Key workouts
The quality sessions that come up most in this plan:
- Interval15 sessions across 15 weeks
- Long15 sessions across 15 weeks
- Threshold9 sessions across 9 weeks
- Marathon7 sessions across 7 weeks
Who it's for
Advanced level. To start safely you should already be running about 30 mi per week and be comfortable with a 11 mi session — that is what week 1 asks for.
Week 1 — workout preview
30 mi this week
7.6 mi
5 mi
6.2 mi
11 mi
Week 13 — the heaviest of the plan
51 mi this week
9.9 mi
7.5 mi
14 mi
20 mi
Plan Structure
16 weeks · 64 workouts · 48 rest days
See the full plan
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