Marathon Excellence Breeze – 12 Weeks
John Davis
About the plan
A low-mileage plan (40-50 miles per week, about 64-80 km) over 12 weeks, aimed at beginner marathoners who are still learning to train and race the distance. It requires little time and offers less taxing workouts than the higher-volume Marathon Excellence plans. Great for anyone running a first marathon, injury-prone runners, weekend athletes and those with less than two years of experience. Adapted from "Marathon Excellence for Everyone" by John Davis.
The plan in numbers
- Duration
- 12 weeks
- Runs per week
- 6
- Weekly volume
- 37 mi · 4 min → 55 mi · 4 min
- Longest run
- 19 mi
Week 1 starts at 37 mi · 4 min and volume builds to 55 mi · 4 min in week 9, the heaviest of the plan.
A typical week has 6 runs, and the longest session reaches 19 mi (Marathon, week 9).
Race day (26 mi) falls on Sunday of week 12; the week holds 28 mi · 28 min of running before it.
Key workouts
The quality sessions that come up most in this plan:
- Repetition10 sessions across 10 weeks
- Threshold10 sessions across 9 weeks
- Marathon10 sessions across 8 weeks
- Long5 sessions across 5 weeks
Who it's for
Beginner level. To start safely you should already be running about 37 mi · 4 min per week and be comfortable with a 12 mi session — that is what week 1 asks for.
Week 1 — workout preview
37 mi · 4 min this week
5 mi
5 mi · 4 min
5 mi
4.3 mi
5 mi
12 mi
Week 9 — the heaviest of the plan
55 mi · 4 min this week
6.2 mi
6.8 mi · 4 min
11 mi
6.2 mi
6.2 mi
19 mi
Plan Structure
12 weeks · 73 workouts · 11 rest days
See the full plan
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