Marathon Training Plans by Phase
Free phase-specific marathon plans from KenyanRunning. Use them as standalone resources or combine them with 1:1 coaching for the full training arc.
Base Building
Week-by-week structure for the aerobic foundation phase before the buildup proper begins. The most-skipped phase of marathon training, and the one that determines whether the rest of the block holds together.
Read the plan →Evergreen guideLong Run Progression
How to build the long run from 8 miles to marathon-ready, organized by current distance brackets. Pacing by effort, marathon-pace inserts, and the named failure patterns that derail blocks.
Read the plan →3 weeks before race dayMarathon Taper
Week-by-week structure for the three taper weeks. Volume drops, intensity holds, neuromuscular sharpness stays. Avoid the most common taper mistakes.
Read the plan →Final 7 daysRace Week Prep
Day-by-day plan for the seven days before race day. Workouts, mental prep, fueling, race-day-eve specifics. Kenyan-style calm: protect the work, don't prove a point.
Read the plan →A 16-week plan tells you what to do. It cannot tell you what to do when life changes.
Phases are honest about what a static plan can do.
A taper or race-week guide is a complete, useful asset on its own. A 16-week plan is a substitute for coaching for the entire block, which is a different promise, one we are not going to fake.
The hard part of training is the in-between.
The phases sit on either side of the work that needs human judgment: peak volume, workout integration, adaptation when the buildup gets messy. That part lives with your coach. The phases live with you.
Kenyan coaching is not a phase.
The reason we coach in monthly blocks is because the value is in the week-by-week reading of your training. Not in writing you a long plan and waving goodbye. The phases here are the parts you can run alone. The rest is where we earn our fee.
The plans are good. A coach is the connective tissue.
KenyanRunning matches recreational runners with elite Kenyan coaches for $79/month. Your coach reads your week, adjusts when life happens, and protects you from the decisions that quietly destroy marathon blocks.