How I Trained to Run a Sub 4 Hour Marathon

My running story!

It is estimated that less than 1% of the world’s population have run a full marathon (42.2km) in any given year. So, taking on this epic fitness challenge is definitely not to be taken lightly. But with great effort comes great reward and I believe it’s a powerful self-learning experience to explore our physical capacity

I first began about 5 years ago, starting mostly with 5km and then building up to having ran 3 half-marathons. I finally decided to take on the big one, with an aim to complete the event in under 4 hours. Unfortunately, my first attempt, I came 15 minutes short of this goal but was determined to come back the next year and hit my target.

This time around I made some adjustments to my training and approach to race day, which helped me to finish the marathon comfortably (although it didn’t feel easy at the finish line) under the 4-hour mark. The following was how I trained to get myself into the best fitness possible to achieve my sub hour 4 goal.

I will preface this training program by saying that there are many ways you can train for a marathon and no one way is best but with some expert guidance and dedication you can use these ideas to help with your own training regime.  

Training Schedule

Your level of running/exercise experience will dictate how much time you will need to invest in training for your marathon. If you have little to no experience, somewhere around 6 months or more may be needed to slowly build up your running fitness. For myself, having run the previous half and full marathons I felt around 4 months was sufficient. Below is how a typical week would look.

Running Training

The program would begin with lower distances and intensities, then and gradually increase until it would peak approximately 3-4 weeks before the marathon before starting to reduce (a.k.a. tapering). Each running session had a different goal which included:

• 800m intervals: running at 8-9/10 intensity for 800m then rest, starting with 2 sets, progressing to 4 sets at peak, before tapering down to 2 sets by the end of the program.
• Goal pace: running distance at goal pace (e.g. 5:27/km for sub 4 hour marathon), beginning at 6km, building to 11km, tapering back to 5-6km.
• 5km run: I would take part in local park run, choosing a pace that felt good.
• Long slow run: this session is all about getting in the kilometers, running at 1-2 min/km slower than goal pace, started at 11km, building to 30km at peak

Now it is important to remember that life gets in the way and it is not possible to follow the program every week to the letter. This time was no different. I would have to be flexible when needed (e.g. run long slow run on a Saturday) and shouldn’t be worried if you don’t hit your targets every week. Consistency without being perfect will still get you the results you want, without trying to push your body to the limit.

Strength Training

This is something that is largely overlooked by the running community, due to the belief it takes time away from running, makes the body too fatigued or impact running performance. However, strength training has been shown to be very beneficial to tendon health and may reduce overuse injury risk to the achilles, patella and gluteal tendons. The gym program I used below is by no means the only exercise options to target key lower limb joints but can be a starting point.

If you are still unsure of how to structure a strength program or enjoy the idea of doing strength training with others, be sure to check out our Trailblazers strength class designed specifically for runners held right here at the Move Clinic!

Whether you’re a long-time runner thinking of taking up the sport, hopefully this blog will give you some tips to get the most of your training. And remember not to fall behind on your strength training!

Have fun out there!

Andrew, Physiotherapist