Marathon | 5 months to go training plan

The following programme is part of a six-month training regime for a marathon. See the full programme here.

With five months to go the following plan will help you to build strength and increase aerobic capacity to cope with increased training load and to help avoid injury.

By the end of this month you should...

Be able to perform a minimum of 12km at a steady pace without stopping and should have a baseline for your 10km from which you will base future pace sessions. You should also be able to complete a minimum of 12 repetitions of each of the bodyweight exercises in a circuit format with little or no rest between each exercise.

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:

• 12-15 reps Push up
• 12-15 reps Body weight row
• 12-15 reps Squats
• 12-15 reps Jump lunge
• 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