Marathon | 3 months to go training plan
- Overview
The following programme is part of a six-month training regime for a marathon. See the full programme here.
With three months to go you should be focus on improving strength with an emphasis on active recovery in order to maintain and increase training load without injury. Increase external load where appropriate in strength and conditioning sessions to continue with improvements in muscle gain and strength.
By the end of this month you should be able to...
Complete 20km at a steady pace without stopping. You should be able to complete a minimum of eight repetitions of each of the S&C exercises in a circuit format with little or no rest.
The programme
Follow the week-by-week programme below these instructions:
Runs
- Endurance = slow and steady
- Speed = 7 on the rating of perceived exertion scale
- Max effort = 9 on the rating of perceived exertion scale
Strength and conditioning (S&C) sessions
Include three sets of the following:
- 8 - 12 reps Band-resisted Push up
- 8 - 12 reps Body weight pullup or TRX pullup
- 8 - 12 reps Deadlift
- 8 - 12 reps Kettlebell squat
- 30 secs Plank
S&C1 - perform the above with 60 seconds rest between each set
S&C2 - perform the above with no rest inbetween each set
Active recovery
Complete after as many of your runs as possible:
- Use a foam roller on your IT band / quad / hips / calves
- And complete band assisted hamstring stretch / couch stretch
WEEK 1
| Day 1 | 7km speed |
| Day 2 | REST |
| Day 3 | 4 x 800m max effort; walk for 120 secs inbetween |
| Day 4 | REST |
| Day 5 | 16km endurance |
| Day 6 | REST |
| Day 7 | S&C1 |
WEEK 2
| Day 1 | 7.5km speed |
| Day 2 | REST |
| Day 3 | 4 x 800m max effort; walk for 120 secs inbetween |
| Day 4 | REST |
| Day 5 | 17km endurance |
| Day 6 | REST |
| Day 7 | S&C1 |
WEEK 3
| Day 1 | 8km speed |
| Day 2 | REST |
| Day 3 | 5 x 800m max effort; walk for 120 secs inbetween |
| Day 4 | REST |
| Day 5 | 18km endurance |
| Day 6 | REST |
| Day 7 | S&C2 |
WEEK 4
| Day 1 | 8km speed |
| Day 2 | REST |
| Day 3 | 6 x 800m max effort; walk for 120 secs inbetween |
| Day 4 | REST |
| Day 5 | 19km endurance |
| Day 6 | REST |
| Day 7 | S&C2 |
WEEK 5
| Day 1 | 8km speed |
| Day 2 | REST |
| Day 3 | 6 x 800m max effort; walk for 120 secs inbetween |
| Day 4 | REST |
| Day 5 | 20km endurance |
| Day 6 | REST |
| Day 7 | S&C2 |
Last updated Saturday 3 July 2021
First published on Saturday 3 July 2021