Marathon FIRST Advanced – 16 Weeks

About the plan

A 16-week plan for an advanced runner who wants to run a good marathon training three days per week. The method is FIRST/Furman: three runs per week, all of them quality — one interval session, one threshold workout and the long run. No filler runs, because anyone with three days cannot waste any. The other four days are rest or the sport you already practice. Marathon pace is rehearsed five times over the plan, in blocks that grow from 30 to 70 minutes within the midweek workout — this is the work that defines the result on race day. The long run goes from 75 to 165 minutes. The FIRST marathon that already existed is intermediate level and requires a base of 37 miles (60 km) per week; this one starts at 19 miles (30 km) and is the advanced level that was missing for those with three days. Weeks 4, 8 and 12 are lighter, the last two are the taper and week 16 ends at the race. Paces come from your times in the magic calculator; update the reference race time in your profile before starting so that threshold, interval and race paces come out calibrated.