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You’ve secured your marathon place, but what do you do for the months before race day training begins? Jumping straight into intense sessions too soon can lead to fatigue or injury; but doing nothing isn’t ideal either. That’s where marathon base training plans come in.

A well-structured base training phase helps you build fitness gradually, boost confidence and strengthen your body, so you’re ready to start your full marathon training plan in the best shape possible.

Running coach Laura Fountain has created these marathon base training plans to give your running purpose without tipping you into overtraining before the main build-up. In this guide, you’ll find expert advice on how to get the most from your base training, plus downloadable plans you can follow right away.

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Before you start

We’ve put together two plans that vary, depending on your fitness at the outset. Choose the plan that looks most achievable to you as well as most similar to the level of running you’ve done recently.

1. Find your easy pace

While one runner’s ‘slow’ miles might be around 10 mins/mile, another runner may have this as their goal 5K pace. Speed is all relative, and so is ‘easy’. As a rough guide though, easy runs should be 1-2 mins slower per mile than marathon pace. For those who mainly run 5K or 10K races, it’s a couple of minutes per mile slower than your PBs. You should feel comfortable holding a conversation while running.

2. Learn about strides

Strides are a great addition to your base training. They’re a form of interval training. Over time, they can help make you a more efficient runner and as they’re short stints not at maximum effort, they won’t work you too hard.

At the end of your run, find a stretch of ground free from road crossings or obstacles, around 60-100m long. Strides are about running strong with good form and faster than your usual pace but not sprinting.

For the first 15m, accelerate smoothly, then run strong for 30m. Think about running tall as though you have a balloon coming out the top of your head pulling you up. Pump your arms, concentrating on driving your elbows back, and pick your feet up. Then gradually decelerate to the end. Have a 30-second rest, then turn round and repeat for 4-6 reps.

Remember, this is not sprinting, this is running strong and you should max out at no more than 90% of your top speed.

Read: Why you need to add running strides to your training

3. Plan in some short races

This base training plan includes a 5K parkrun and a 10K race. These are a good opportunity to test your speed and a great way to keep focussed. You might be surprised how much of a difference a few weeks of regular, easy running can make to your running fitness.

As you head into marathon training, the times for the races included in your base training period will be valuable. They help in setting training paces for any tempo runs and speed workouts that you might include in your marathon plan. They can even help predict what your marathon goal should be.

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Marathon base training plans

We’ve put together two plans to help you with your marathon base training. Pick the one that most resembles your current running on Week 1.

If both of these cover more mileage then you’re currently used to, it might be worth spending your base training time slowly building your mileage. Try instead working on how to run longer distances or follow a half marathon training plan using time, not distance to build your endurance ahead of marathon training.

8-week intermediate marathon base training plan

Here is our 8-week intermediate marathon base training plan. You can follow it below, or download it in a handy chart to use on your phone or print out for your fridge.

Week 1

Monday: rest
Tuesday: easy 30 min run + strength
Wednesday: 30-min run
Thursday: cross-train
Friday: easy 30 min run + strides
Saturday: core strength
Sunday: long 45 min run

Week 2

Monday: rest
Tuesday: easy 30 min run + strength
Wednesday: 30-min run
Thursday: cross-train
Friday: easy 35 min run + strides
Saturday: core strength
Sunday: long 50 min run

Week 3

Monday: rest
Tuesday: easy 30 min run + strength
Wednesday: 30-min run
Thursday: cross-train
Friday: easy 40 min run + strides
Saturday: core strength
Sunday: long 60 min run

Week 4

Monday: rest
Tuesday: easy 30 min run + strength
Wednesday: 30-min run
Thursday: cross-train
Friday: easy 30 min run + strides
Saturday: parkrun or 5K time trial (make sure you warm up and cool down!)
Sunday: core strength

Week 5

Monday: rest
Tuesday: easy 30 min run + strength
Wednesday: 30-min run
Thursday: cross-train
Friday: easy 40 min run + strides
Saturday: core strength
Sunday: long 60 min run

Week 6

Monday: rest
Tuesday: easy 30 min run + strength
Wednesday: 30-min run
Thursday: cross-train
Friday: easy 45 min run + strides
Saturday: core strength
Sunday: long 70 min run

Week 7

Monday: rest
Tuesday: easy 30 min run + strength
Wednesday: 30-min run
Thursday: cross-train
Friday: easy 45 min run + strides
Saturday: core strength
Sunday: long 80 min run

Week 8

Monday: rest
Tuesday: easy 30 min run + strength
Wednesday: 30-min run
Thursday: cross-train
Friday: easy 30 min run + strides
Saturday: core strength
Sunday: 10K race

Want to stick this plan on your fridge door? You can access and download the full plan by clicking the button below. You’ll be joining our weekly Edit newsletter list to help support you with your training, as well as the odd promotional message, that you can unsubscribe from at any time.

Here’s a preview of what your plan will look like…

8-week advanced marathon base training plan

If you’re ready to step things up a notch, here is our 8-week advanced marathon base training plan. Here’s a preview, to help you work out which plan is right for you…

You can access and print the full plan by clicking the button below. You’ll be joining our weekly Edit newsletter list to help support you with your training, as well as the odd promotional message, that you can unsubscribe from at any time.