A Beginner Marathon Training Schedule

The first step of any beginner marathon training schedule is goal setting. There are two types of goals.

Start with a long term goal that you will work towards. This could be your first 5k, 10k or losing 15 pounds. Write it down and place it on your wall or fridge.

Then determine your daily goal. This is the stepping stone to get you out to do the running. The 10 minute rule can be a helpful daily goal. This means you must run for 10 minutes before you decide not to run.

If your goal is to run 3 time per week. If you don't feel like running on a training day the 10 minute rule still applies. You must get out there an run for at least 10 minutes. After that is perfectly okay to step inside and do something else.

This helps you to stay motivated and get out there and do the work. It's much easier to get started if you know you only have to run for 10 minutes. Once you get started it is much easier to continue.

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For the first 4 weeks of your marathon training alternate running and walking for an equal number of minutes. Continue this sequence even if it feels better to run the entire distance.

You select the number of minutes that feels comfortable for you whether it is running for 15 minutes and walking for 15 minutes or running for 5 minutes and walking for 5 minutes or running for a minute and walking for a minute. The key is to stick to the 50/50 plan.

This gives your tense running muscles a chance to settle down while you're walking. You can run just a little bit faster when you alternate running and walking. The result is less injuries and a faster progression.

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If you are training three times per week the first week should include one workout of alternating running and walking for 30 minutes total. Follow the 50/50 rule with 15 minutes of running and 15 minutes of walking total. The other two workouts can include fast walking, swimming or the bike or a combination of these activities for at least 30 minutes each time.

This will help you easy into running and prevent injury, as over 70% of running injuries happen during the first 6 weeks of training.

The second week increase your running/walking workouts to 60 minutes split between 2 days. So 2 workouts consist of 30 minutes of running and walking and one workout of 30 minutes or more of fast walking, swimming or biking.

The third week do 90 minutes of 50/50 running/walking split into 3 workouts of 30 minutes each day.

The fourth week increase your running/walking workouts to 40 minutes 3 times per week.

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Alternate hard workout with easy workouts. The easy workouts should be at an intensity that you can comfortable talk while exercising. The hard workouts should be just above the threshold for talking.

If you run 3 times per week, 2 workouts should be hard and 1 easy.
If you run 4 times per week, 2 workouts should be hard and 2 workouts should be easy.

For hard workouts alternate between short and long repetitions. The short repetitions should include one minute of running hard. The longer repetitions should be more than 2-3 minutes of hard running. So for example you could run 30 times 1 minute on one of your hard days and 6 times 5 minutes on another of your hard days.

The recovery time between intervals should be 50% of the interval time. So if you run for 6 minutes you recover for 3 minutes with easy walking.

You can cut the time to get in shape dramatically by doing repeat sessions rather than running consistently for 30 minutes at a time.

For more beginner marathon training tips visit beginner marathon training schedule.