Personalized plan
Built from your history, your goal and the days you can actually run.
Marathon Training Plan
A marathon training plan is a 12 to 20 week progression that builds your weekly volume and long run so you can cover 42.195 km (26.2 miles) at a sustainable pace. Rutz is an AI running coach app for iPhone that builds your marathon plan backwards from race day and writes each week from the training you actually completed.
How to train for a marathon
The marathon is won in the months, not on the day. Success comes down to three things: consistent weekly volume, a long run that builds patiently toward 30-35 km, and the discipline to keep easy days easy.
A good block moves through phases. Base: mostly easy running, growing week by week. Build: marathon-pace work and tempo sessions join the long run. Peak: your biggest weeks, three to five weeks out. Taper: volume drops, legs come back.
Things will go wrong. You'll get a cold, a deadline, a wedding. A static plan treats that as failure. Rutz treats it as information — the next week is rewritten around where you really are, and a load guard stops you cramming missed kilometres back in.
Why Rutz
Why train for your marathon with Rutz?
Your plan. Your week. Written for the runner you are today.
Guidance after every run
A coach's read on each session, plus a chat when you have a question.
Load you can absorb
A built-in guard caps how fast your weekly load can climb, so you build without boiling over.
Tracking and insights
Pace, heart rate, efficiency and trends — turned into plain language, not another dashboard.
Four steps
How to get started
01
Join the waitlist
Rutz is in private beta on iPhone. Save your spot and we'll email you when it's your turn.
02
Set your goal
Tell us the race, the date and how many days you can run. First 5K or a marathon PB — both count.
03
Start training
Sign in with Intervals.icu. Your history loads, your first week lands, and every run after it gets a coach's read.
04
Show up ready
Each week is written from the last one. You get fitter, the plan gets sharper, race day gets closer.
Key sessions
The workouts that matter for a marathon
Every session in your plan has a job. These four do the heavy lifting at this distance.
Long run to 30-35 km
Built patiently over months. Time on feet matters more than pace; most of it is genuinely easy.
Marathon-pace long run
The defining session: 12 to 20 km at goal pace inside a long run. It is where you learn whether the goal is realistic.
Medium-long midweek run
A second, shorter long run of 16-22 km. Quietly the biggest difference between a finishing plan and a racing plan.
Fuelling rehearsal
Every run over two hours doubles as nutrition practice — 60 to 90 g of carbohydrate an hour, with the exact products you'll race on.
New to the terminology? Every workout type is explained in the running workouts glossary.
Timelines
How many weeks do you need?
How long you need depends on where you're starting. Rutz works backwards from your race date — these are the timelines that fit most runners.
12weeks
12 week marathon training plan
For experienced runners already running 40+ km a week with a long run near 20 km. A compressed build — it works only if the base is already there.
16weeks
16 week marathon training plan
The classic. Enough time for base, build, peak and a three-week taper. Right for most runners with a half marathon behind them.
20weeks
20 week marathon training plan
First marathon, or returning from a lay-off. A longer base and more recovery weeks, so the volume arrives gradually and you arrive healthy.
Marathon training tips
Nutrition
Aim for 60-90 g of carbohydrate an hour in the race, and rehearse it on every long run over two hours. The wall is a fuelling problem.
Strength and cross-training
Two strength sessions a week protect you through the high-volume weeks. Bike or swim when your legs need a break but your lungs don't.
Pacing
Run the first half with your head, the second with your legs. Even or slightly negative splits are how nearly every marathon PB is run.
Form
Tall posture, quick cadence, relaxed shoulders. Strides after easy runs keep form sharp when fatigue builds.
Recovery
Sleep is the most powerful training tool you have. Eight hours in peak weeks is not a luxury.
Gear
Race in shoes with 50-100 km on them. Nothing new on race day — not socks, not gels, not breakfast.
Work out your target pace with the pace calculator or browse every finish time on the marathon pace chart.
Looking for an app to run this plan for you? See how Rutz works as a marathon training app and why an adaptive training plan holds up when a week goes wrong.
Marathon training: your questions, answered
How long is a marathon?
A marathon is 42.195 kilometres, or 26.2 miles.
How many weeks do I need to train for a marathon?
Most runners need 16 to 20 weeks. Experienced runners with a strong base can prepare in 12. If you are new to running, spend a few months building to a comfortable 10K before you start the clock.
Should I follow a 12, 16 or 20 week marathon plan?
Pick by your current base, not your ambition. Running under 25 km a week: 20 weeks. Around 30-40 km a week with a recent half marathon: 16 weeks. Over 40 km a week with long runs near 20 km: 12 weeks can work. With Rutz you don't pick a template — you give it your race date and it builds the phases backwards from there.
What marathon time should I aim for?
A rough guide is your recent half marathon time doubled, plus 10 to 20 minutes. A 2:00 half suggests roughly 4:10 to 4:20. For a first marathon, finishing strong is a better goal than any number.
Can I train for a marathon while coming back from injury?
Get cleared by a physio or doctor first. Return with easy running only, add volume before intensity, and be ready to move your race. No plan or app replaces medical advice.
Can I train for a marathon in 10 weeks?
If you're already running 40 km a week with long runs of 20 km, ten weeks can get you to the finish — adjust the goal to completing, not racing. If not, the honest answer is a later marathon, or a half marathon now.
Do I need to do strength training to run a marathon?
You don't need it to finish, but it's the cheapest injury insurance there is. Two 20-30 minute sessions a week focused on glutes, calves, hamstrings and core is enough.
What should I race before my first marathon?
A half marathon is the natural stepping stone, and a 10K before that. Each builds the base for the next.
How is an adaptive marathon plan different from a static one?
A static plan is a fixed calendar: miss a week and you're behind. An adaptive plan like Rutz keeps the race date and the phases fixed, but writes each individual week from your actual training, so the plan is always built for the runner you are today.
Your next start line starts here
Rutz is in private beta on iPhone. Join the waitlist and we'll email you when it's your turn.
Join the waitlist