Marathon Excellence Wind – 12 Weeks
John Davis
About the plan
A 12-week plan adapted from the book "Marathon Excellence for Everyone" by John Davis, aimed at runners looking for a new PR, Boston qualification, or who have two or more years of experience.
The plan in numbers
- Duration
- 12 weeks
- Runs per week
- 6
- Weekly volume
- 42 mi · 35 min → 58 mi · 7 min
- Longest run
- 20 mi
Week 1 starts at 42 mi · 35 min and volume builds to 58 mi · 7 min in week 6, the heaviest of the plan.
A typical week has 6 runs, and the longest session reaches 20 mi (Marathon, week 9).
Race day (26 mi) falls on Sunday of week 12; the week holds 27 mi · 43 min of running before it.
Key workouts
The quality sessions that come up most in this plan:
- Threshold13 sessions across 11 weeks
- Repetition12 sessions across 11 weeks
- Interval10 sessions across 9 weeks
- Marathon7 sessions across 7 weeks
Who it's for
Intermediate level. To start safely you should already be running about 42 mi · 35 min per week and be comfortable with a 9.9 mi session — that is what week 1 asks for.
Week 1 — workout preview
42 mi · 35 min this week
8.1 mi
6.2 mi · 7 min
5 mi · 28 min
6.2 mi
6.8 mi
9.9 mi
Week 6 — the heaviest of the plan
58 mi · 7 min this week
11 mi
6.8 mi
9.1 mi
7.5 mi
7.5 mi · 7 min
16 mi
Plan Structure
12 weeks · 73 workouts · 11 rest days
See the full plan
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