Beginner Marathon – 5 Days
Magic Training
About the plan
A 16-week plan to complete your first marathon training 5 days a week: four runs and one strength session for legs and core. Progression is conservative, with recovery weeks in every cycle, and the long run builds from 1 hour to 2:50. The quality day starts with running drills and short hills, moves through threshold and ends with marathon-pace blocks, so you arrive at the start line knowing the race pace well. The weekly strength session follows the training phases and reduces load during the taper.
The plan in numbers
- Duration
- 16 weeks
- Runs per week
- 4
- Weekly volume
- 2h 29m → 5h 10m
- Longest run
- 2h 50m
- Strength sessions per week
- 1
Week 1 starts at 2h 29m and volume builds to 5h 10m in week 13, the heaviest of the plan.
A typical week has 4 runs, and the longest session reaches 2h 50m (Long, week 13).
Strength work comes in once a week, in sessions of about 23 min.
Over the final 3 weeks volume drops from 5h 10m to 1h 3m so you arrive at the race rested.
Race day (26 mi · 10 min) falls on Sunday of week 16; the week holds 1h 3m of running before it.
Key workouts
The quality sessions that come up most in this plan:
- Long15 sessions across 15 weeks
- Threshold8 sessions across 8 weeks
- Repetition4 sessions across 4 weeks
- Marathon3 sessions across 3 weeks
Muscles worked most
- Glutes
- Abs
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
Who it's for
Beginner level. To start safely you should already be running about 2h 29m per week and be comfortable with a 1h session — that is what week 1 asks for.
Week 1 — workout preview
2h 49m this week
35 min
20 min
29 min
25 min
1h
Week 13 — the heaviest of the plan
5h 40m this week
55 min
30 min
45 min
40 min
2h 50m
Plan Structure
16 weeks · 79 workouts · 33 rest days
See the full plan
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