MARATHON

A marathon plan that rebuilds itself around your week.

Sixteen weeks from today to the start line. TrainPlan sets the pace, keeps your build intact when life gets in the way, and explains what every session is for.

Join the waiting list See a sample week

Free for 30 days. Then €9.99/month or €69.99/year. Cancel anytime.

Built around your schedule, not the other way around.

Tell TrainPlan which days you can run. It builds the week from what you actually have, not what a generic plan assumes.

Adapts when your training data says it should.

Missed a session? HRV tanked? Heart rate spiked on what was meant to be an easy run? The plan rebuilds the next week accordingly, and tells you exactly what changed.

Knows a marathon isn't just about volume.

The plan respects the block structure a marathon actually needs: aerobic base, threshold work, marathon-pace specificity, taper. It doesn't collapse into 'more miles' the closer you get to race day.

SAMPLE WEEK

Here's what your week will look like.

Four running days, one strength session, two honest rest days. Most TrainPlan users train on exactly this pattern. Have more time? The plan adds. Only three days? It adapts to that too.

  1. Monday

    Rest

    Rest or mobility

    —

  2. Tuesday

    Threshold

    8 × 1 km at threshold, 2 min jog recovery

    Zone 4

  3. Wednesday

    Easy

    6 km easy

    Zone 2

  4. Thursday

    Strength

    Strength session (45 min)

    —

  5. Friday

    Rest

    Rest

    —

  6. Saturday

    Tempo

    12 km steady

    Zone 2–3

  7. Sunday

    Long

    26 km long, with 6 km at marathon pace

    Zone 2, MP block

Pace zones are tuned to your recent fitness data, not a generic formula. Early weeks are shorter; peak weeks push into the 30s.

THE BLOCK IN THE APP

The whole block, one screen at a time.

The phase timeline you're committing to, the week it produces, and the fitness it moves.

  • TrainPlan plan screen showing an 18-week marathon block with base, build, peak and taper phases on a timeline
    Your plan The full block to race day — base, build, peak and taper on one timeline.
  • TrainPlan schedule screen showing a training week and a proposed plan change with the reasoning behind it
    Schedule Your week, with the proposed plan change and its reasoning waiting at the top.
  • TrainPlan progress screen showing personal bests per distance, a weekly training load chart and completion rate
    Progress Personal bests, weekly training load and completion rate over twelve weeks.

SIXTEEN WEEKS

Four phases, one peak.

TrainPlan organises your marathon build into four distinct blocks. You'll see where you are in the cycle every time you open the app.

  1. Base (weeks 1–5)

    Aerobic mileage, conversational pace. Get your body comfortable with consistent volume before anything intense lands in the calendar.

  2. Build (weeks 6–10)

    Threshold intervals and progression runs arrive. Long runs extend toward race distance. The adaptation engine watches this phase most closely — it's where people overreach.

  3. Peak (weeks 11–14)

    Marathon-pace specificity. Long runs carry race-pace chunks. Highest volume of the block, rationale copy gets noticeably more specific.

  4. Taper (weeks 15–16)

    Volume drops, intensity stays. Taper is where runners second-guess the plan most often — TrainPlan tells you why each shorter session is shorter.

See how adaptation works

Your first marathon.

You've done a half, maybe a 20K long run. We build conservatively. A confident finish beats a heroic PB you won't hit.

Better time this cycle.

You've raced before and you want a faster day. The plan reads your last result and builds to a specific target pace.

Coming back from a niggle.

You've been told to run again. The plan respects your exclusions and ramps volume more slowly than a standard block.

Already running 70+ km/week.

The plan uses the base you've built rather than deloading you to a generic starting point.

What the plan reads

Current fitness from a test event or recent activity. HRV trends where your watch reports them. Sleep patterns across weeks, not just last night. Your rating after each session — 'how did that feel?'

What you've got to work with

Gym tier (none, home, commercial). Running shoes and treadmill availability if you share them. Cross-training sessions pick themselves from what you can reach — not what we wish you had.

What we work around

Days you can't run. Preferred session times. Injury or movement exclusions. Other races in the same block. The plan respects all of them without needing a nag.

WATCHES & PLATFORMS

Works with what you already run in.

Sync your runs automatically. TrainPlan reads heart rate, HRV, sleep, and pace to keep every session honest.

Garmin

Runs, heart rate, HRV and sleep, through your phone's health store.

Polar

Runs, heart rate and sleep, through your phone's health store.

Strava

Time, distance and calories from the runs you record in it.
See all integrations

FAQ

Marathon-specific questions.

Yes. TrainPlan adjusts the whole plan’s shape to fit a four-day week. You’re not getting a watered-down six-day plan with sessions chopped off the end.

You can start with as little as eight weeks if you’re experienced, twelve if you’re newer. The plan compresses the base phase rather than skipping it.

It adjusts next week’s long run based on what you actually completed, not what was scheduled. The plan won’t try to punish you into a longer run to make up for it.

A realistic one, based on your most recent test event or long-run data. You can override the target, but the plan will tell you if it thinks the target is aggressive.

Not before you start — the plan uses your recent activity. It will schedule a test session in week 4 or 5 to recalibrate pace zones once you’re underway.

READY?

Sixteen weeks. One plan. Race day earned.

Thirty days free. Your first marathon block is ready in under five minutes.

Free for 30 days. Then €9.99/month or €69.99/year. Cancel anytime.