Marathon Training Schedule Planner

Check the plan setup

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Training guardrails

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Training profile:

Start with the runner type that best matches the next race cycle.

Race date:

Choose the marathon date you want the schedule to peak toward.

Plan length:

Use the number of weeks available from your first training week to race week.

weeks

Distance unit:

All entered distances and schedule rows use this unit.

Current comfortable long run:

This becomes the first-week long-run anchor before progression and cutbacks.

Current weekly distance:

Use your repeatable recent weekly average across easy runs, workouts, and long runs.

Runs per week:

Most first-pass plans use 3 to 5 runs; add a sixth only if you already tolerate it.

runs

Long-run day:

Choose the weekday that normally holds your longest run.

Peak long run:

Use a conservative target that fits the plan length and current long run.

Weekly increase cap:

Use a lower cap when returning from time off or when soreness is already high.

Cutback frequency:

Every third or fourth week is common for a simple draft schedule.

Taper length:

Use 2 to 4 weeks depending on race history, plan length, and recovery needs.

weeks

Calendar start time:

Applies to generated run events in the calendar export.

Normal run event length:

Long run and race events expand automatically from distance.

min

Strength support:

Keep this on when you want the weekly focus to reserve support work.

Week	Long-run date	Phase	Long run	Weekly total	Focus	Copy
{{ row.weekLabel }}	{{ row.longRunDateLabel }}	{{ row.phase }}	{{ row.longRunDisplay }}	{{ row.weeklyTotalDisplay }}	{{ row.focus }}

Week	Day	Session	Distance	Cue	Copy
{{ session.weekLabel }}	{{ session.dayLabel }}	{{ session.title }}	{{ session.distanceDisplay }}	{{ session.cue }}

Check	Status	Evidence	Adjustment	Copy
{{ row.check }}	{{ row.status }}	{{ row.evidence }}	{{ row.action }}

{{ calendarText }}

{{ jsonPayload }}

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A marathon schedule turns one fixed race distance into many smaller training decisions. The race is 42.195 km, or about 26.2 miles, but the path to it depends on the running a person can repeat, recover from, and build on week after week. The longest pre-race run matters, yet it should sit inside a weekly pattern that leaves room for easy mileage, rest, strength support, sleep, and ordinary life.

Current base fitness is the anchor. A runner who can comfortably repeat four runs a week and a 14 km long run starts from a different place than a runner returning after illness or time off, even when both have the same race date. Recent training history changes how fast the long run can rise, how much total weekly distance should support it, and how gentle the taper should be.

Marathon schedule planning terms
Planning term	What it answers	Common mistake
Current base	What weekly running and long-run distance are already repeatable.	Using a one-off best week instead of a sustainable recent average.
Peak long run	The longest pre-race rehearsal before tapering begins.	Treating the peak run as a test marathon rather than a recoverable workout.
Weekly total	How much distance is spread across the whole week.	Letting one long run carry most of the training stress.
Cutback week	A lower-load week that lets the previous block settle.	Skipping recovery because the lower number looks like lost progress.
Taper	The final reduction in load before race day.	Stopping nearly everything or training hard too close to the start line.

Several ordinary scheduling problems can make a neat week count misleading. A race may be chosen before enough base is in place, the long-run day may need to move around work or family time, the runner may switch between miles and kilometres, or a missed week may arrive late in the block. Each change alters the relationship between current base, peak target, and recovery runway.

Cutback weeks and taper weeks serve different jobs. A cutback week sits inside the build and gives the body a chance to absorb the last few weeks before the next push. The taper comes after peak training and reduces fatigue while keeping enough rhythm to avoid feeling stale. Both can look like lost progress on paper because the numbers drop, but both protect the work already done.

A schedule can organize dates and distances, but it cannot diagnose readiness. Pain history, terrain, heat, travel, shoe changes, missed sleep, illness, medication, and coaching priorities can all make a mathematically tidy plan too aggressive. Treat any generated plan as a review draft, then adjust it when the body, calendar, or coach gives better information.

How to Use This Tool:

Start with the anchors that cannot be inferred: the race date, the number of weeks available, the unit you actually use in your running log, and the recent distances you can repeat without needing several days to recover.

Choose Training profile. Use First marathon finish for a conservative finish-oriented cycle, Steady base builder for aerobic volume without heavy workout emphasis, or Intermediate with workouts when quality sessions are already part of training.
Enter Race date, Plan length, and Distance unit. The planner works backward from race week, and every distance shown later follows the selected unit.
Set Current comfortable long run and Current weekly distance from recent repeatable training. Do not use an unusually high week, a race effort, or a long run that left you limping or unusually depleted.
Set Runs per week, Long-run day, and Peak long run. These controls decide how much load is concentrated in the longest run and where day-level sessions land on the calendar.
Use Advanced when the default build needs adjustment. The weekly increase cap limits normal build jumps, cutback frequency controls recovery-week rhythm, taper length sets the final reduction, and the calendar fields shape exported events.
Read the warning area before trusting the table. Warnings usually mean the base is thin, the plan is too short after taper weeks, the requested peak is unreachable under the cap, or the long run is too large a share of the week.
Review Schedule Calendar first, then use Session Pattern to see how easy runs, shakeouts, quality work, long runs, and race day are placed across the week.
Use Training Guardrails, Load Progression, and Phase Week Mix to check whether the plan shape is sensible before copying rows, downloading tables, exporting charts, or importing the Calendar ICS output.

Interpreting Results:

The headline summary gives the plan length, marathon distance in the chosen unit, peak long run, peak weekly distance, run frequency, taper length, and cutback rhythm. Read it as a feasibility snapshot. It reports what the draft produced, not whether every session is appropriate for the runner.

Schedule phases explain why a row rises, drops, or changes shape. Build rows move toward the peak targets. Cutback rows deliberately reduce load. Peak marks the largest pre-race rehearsal week. Taper rows lower load while preserving rhythm. Race uses the marathon distance for the final long-run entry.

How to interpret marathon schedule outputs
Result area	What it is useful for	What to double-check
`Schedule Calendar`	Week-by-week long-run date, phase, long run, weekly total, and focus cue.	Look for abrupt jumps, travel conflicts, and peak weeks that do not match real recovery.
`Session Pattern`	Day-level placement of easy runs, shakeouts, quality work, long runs, and race day.	Make sure hard or long days are not stacked in a way your history cannot handle.
`Training Guardrails`	Status checks for runway, base ratio, progression, peak load share, frequency, recovery rhythm, and calendar coverage.	Treat `Review` and `Adjust` rows as reasons to revise, not as small footnotes.
`Load Progression`	A chart comparing the long run and total weekly distance across the plan.	Check whether total weekly distance rises with the long run instead of leaving one day overloaded.
`Phase Week Mix`	A chart showing how many weeks are spent in build, cutback, peak, taper, and race phases.	Confirm that the taper and recovery pattern fit the race date rather than crowding the build.

Two red flags deserve special attention. First, a long run that is a large share of the weekly total can concentrate too much stress into one session. Second, a short runway can make the table look complete while quietly capping the achieved peak before taper. In both cases, safer revisions usually mean extending the plan, lowering the peak target, adding easy support mileage, increasing run frequency only if already tolerated, or getting a qualified coach to adapt the block.

Exports make the draft easier to review, but they also make it feel official. Before importing the calendar file, check race-week logistics, local holidays, tune-up races, travel, weather season, and any weeks that need to move because of work or family commitments.

Technical Details:

A marathon block can be modeled as weekly load targets that rise, pause, peak, and taper. Distances are normalized for calculation and displayed in the selected unit. The central relationship is the share of weekly distance held by the long run: the longest pre-race run should be supported by enough easy and supporting mileage that it does not become almost the whole training week.

Build weeks interpolate from current long-run and weekly-distance anchors toward peak targets. Cutback weeks reduce the previous hard build load instead of advancing it. Taper weeks use preset fractions of the peak load, and race week substitutes the official marathon distance for the final long-run entry. Because the model is deterministic, the same inputs produce the same schedule, warnings, tables, charts, calendar text, and JSON output.

Formula Core:

\begin{array}{rcl} profile share & = & clamp (base profile share - 0.025 \times (runs per week - 4), 0.32, 0.50) \\ peak weekly distance & = & \max (current weekly distance, \frac{peak long run}{profile share}) \\ build progress & = & \frac{hard build index}{hard build count - 1} \\ capped hard-build long run & = & \min (ideal long run, previous hard long run \times (1 + increase cap)) \end{array}

Marathon profile share assumptions
Training profile	Base long-run share	Planning effect
`First marathon finish`	`0.44`	Allows a larger long-run share for a conservative finish-focused block.
`Steady base builder`	`0.41`	Uses a middle share for aerobic volume with controlled growth.
`Intermediate with workouts`	`0.38`	Assumes more supporting mileage around quality work and long runs.

For example, a 32 km peak long run with the first-marathon profile and four runs per week uses a share of 0.44, so the peak weekly distance target is at least 72.7 km before display rounding. If the previous hard-build long run was 24 km and the weekly increase cap is 10%, the next hard-build long run is capped at 26.4 km even when the straight-line progression target is higher.

Phase and Taper Rules:

Marathon schedule phase rules
Phase	Rule used	Boundary to understand
`Build`	Hard build weeks move from current anchors toward peak targets.	The increase cap can prevent a requested peak from being reached in time.
`Cutback`	Every third or fourth build week can drop to about 76% to 78% of the last hard build load, bounded by the current base.	No-cutback mode removes this planned recovery pattern and is flagged for review.
`Peak`	The final hard build week before taper is marked as the peak rehearsal.	Peak weekly distance may be lower than requested if earlier caps limited growth.
`Taper`	Two-week, three-week, and four-week tapers use descending fractions of peak load.	The taper lowers distance, not the need to monitor fatigue and soreness.
`Race`	Race week assigns 42.195 km to the race entry and keeps only limited supporting distance.	The race row is a calendar placeholder, not a prediction of performance or pacing.

Taper long-run factors are 0.62 for a two-week taper, 0.72 then 0.48 for a three-week taper, and 0.82, 0.64, then 0.42 for a four-week taper before race week. Weekly totals are kept above the current base floor where needed, so a taper can still look higher than expected for a runner whose current base is close to the selected peak.

Guardrail Boundaries:

Marathon training guardrail boundaries
Guardrail	`On track`	`Review` or `Adjust`
Training runway	`>= 14` total weeks.	`12-13` weeks is `Review`; shorter is `Adjust`.
Current base ratio	Current long run at `<= 43%` of weekly distance.	`44-52%` is `Review`; above `52%` is `Adjust`.
Long-run progression	Achieved peak long run reaches at least `98%` of the target and the largest positive jump stays within the cap.	Otherwise the schedule asks for review, usually because the peak is too ambitious for the runway.
Peak load share	Peak long run at `<= 42%` of peak weekly distance.	`43-48%` is `Review`; above `48%` is `Adjust`.
Run frequency	Four or more runs per week.	Three runs can be marked `Review` or `Adjust` when the peak long run is high.
Recovery rhythm	A planned cutback every third or fourth week.	No planned cutbacks is `Review`.

Calendar event durations are estimated from distance and event type. Race events are at least 180 minutes, long runs are scaled from distance within a bounded range, and ordinary runs use the selected normal event length unless distance requires more time. These durations help block a calendar; they are not pace targets.

Safety and Privacy Notes:

Marathon training is high enough load that pain, illness, heat, sleep loss, nutrition problems, and prior injuries matter more than a neat table. Stop running and seek qualified medical advice when pain changes your gait, worsens during a run, does not improve with rest, or appears with swelling, numbness, chest symptoms, dizziness, faintness, or unusual shortness of breath.

The schedule calculations, tables, charts, calendar text, and JSON are created from the values entered in the browser. The planner does not need a server-side lookup or account profile to build the schedule, but it also does not store medical context, diagnose readiness, or adapt automatically after missed sessions.

Use the exported files as planning aids. Review them before sharing with a coach, importing into a calendar, or turning them into reminders that might pressure you to run through warning signs.

Worked Examples:

First marathon with a steady base. A runner enters an 18-week plan, 40 km per week, a 14 km current long run, four runs per week, a Sunday long-run day, and a 32 km peak. The draft can build toward peak week, but the runner should still watch the base ratio because 14 km is already a meaningful share of 40 km.

Too little runway after taper. A runner chooses a 12-week plan with a four-week taper. Only eight weeks remain for build and cutback work, so the guardrails may call for review even if the table has a row for every week. A better revision is usually a lower peak target, a longer plan, or a less ambitious race goal.

High peak with only three runs. A 20 mile peak long run on three runs per week can place too much stress on the long-run day. Adding a fourth easy run may spread the load, but only if the runner already tolerates that frequency. Otherwise, lowering the peak long run or using coach-guided run-walk structure is safer than forcing the same mileage into fewer sessions.

Calendar review before import. A runner sets a 7:00 start time and downloads the calendar file. Before importing it, they move sessions around a work trip, mark a tune-up race, and adjust race-week shakeouts so the calendar matches real logistics rather than a generic week pattern.

FAQ:

Should the peak long run be the full marathon distance?

Usually no. Many marathon plans peak below race distance so the runner can recover and keep the rest of the week intact. The race week itself is where the full marathon distance appears.

Why does weekly distance matter if the long run is the main session?

Weekly distance shows how much support surrounds the long run. When the long run is too large a share of the week, one day carries most of the stress, and the plan may be harder to recover from than the weekly total suggests.

Why did the schedule stop short of my requested peak?

The weekly increase cap can prevent a straight-line jump from being used. If the requested peak needs more runway than the cap allows, the warning area and guardrail table will point that out.

Can I remove cutback weeks?

You can select no planned cutbacks, but the recovery rhythm guardrail will ask for review. Skipping cutbacks should be based on coaching history, not on wanting the weekly totals to rise faster.

Do the session durations predict pace?

No. Calendar durations are placeholders for blocking time. Use your own pace guidance, effort zones, terrain, weather, and coach instructions when deciding how long a session will actually take.

Can this replace a coach?

No. It is a planning draft built from visible inputs and rule checks. A coach can adapt the plan for injury history, race goals, workouts, terrain, fueling, strength work, and how fatigue changes during the block.

Glossary:

Current base: The recent weekly running and long-run distance a runner can repeat without unusual recovery cost.
Long run: The longest run in a training week and the main endurance anchor for the marathon block.
Weekly total: The planned distance across all runs in a week, including easy runs, workouts, shakeouts, and the long run.
Cutback week: A lower-load week placed during the build so the body can absorb previous training.
Peak week: The highest pre-race training week before tapering begins.
Taper: The final reduction in training load before race day, intended to reduce fatigue while keeping running rhythm.
ICS: A calendar file format used to import the planned run events into many calendar apps.