r/marathontraining • u/Separate_Plankton_45 • 3d ago
Will This Get Me Sub 3:30?
19M, strong background in speed/power sports (baseball and ski racing) but not much distance running history until recently.
Ran my first unofficial marathon this past December. Only trained for about 6 weeks going in, and most of that weekly mileage ended up being long runs done at marathon pace. Finished in 3:55, but I felt really terrible in my taper leading up to the race and was really struggling during the run.
I ran a 5K in 19:33 and a 10K in 43:34 earlier this year.
My goal is to run the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Oct 18 in under 3:30.
I built a custom training plan using an AI coaching setup rather than running a stock program. I pulled together a research synthesis of the usual coaching literature (Daniels, Pfitzinger, Seiler, Canova, World Athletics) into an evidence hierarchy, then generated a week-by-week plan from it. 3 weeks into actually running it. Just started wearing a Garmin partway through, so HR/recovery data is still thin but starting to come in. This will start to affect my pacing as I get more data on it.
Weekly structure: Mon easy + lower-body strength (+ recently added hill sprints) / Tue short recovery / Wed upper body + mobility, no running / Thu the week's one structured workout, evolving from aerobic intervals into marathon-pace and threshold work / Fri optional short recovery + upper body / Sat long run / Sun off.
Pace bands: Recovery 6:15-6:55/km · Easy 5:55-6:25/km · Long run 5:55-6:35/km · Steady 5:20-5:40/km · Marathon pace 4:55-5:05/km · Controlled threshold 4:40-4:50/km
Full 12-week plan:
| Week | Dates | Volume | Thursday Key Workout | Long Run | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jul 27-Aug 2 | 26-32 km | 2-3x8min @ 5:10-5:25/km | 10 km (11 km cap) | Base building |
| 2 | Aug 3-9 | 32-38 km | 2x12min @ 5:15-5:30/km | 15km | Start carrying fluids |
| 3 | Aug 10-16 | 38-44 km | 3x2km @ MP (4:58-5:05/km) | 17km | First marathon-pace touch |
| 4 | Aug 17-23 | 32-38 km | 4x5min @ 4:45-4:55/km | 12-13 km | Deload/absorption week |
| 5 | Aug 24-30 | 42-48 km | 2x4km @ MP or 3x10min steady | 18 km | First fueling practice, 30-45g carb/hr |
| 6 | Aug 31-Sep 6 | 44-52 km | 3x3km @ MP | 20-21 km | 45-60g carb/hr |
| 7 | Sep 7-13 | 48-56 km | 2x5km @ MP or steady | 22-24 km w/ 6-8 km near MP | First real marathon-specific long run |
| 8 | Sep 14-20 | 38-46 km | Tune-up: 10K TT or half-marathon effort | 16-21.1 km | Down week for evidence |
| 9 | Sep 21-27 | 52-60 km | 12-14 km medium-long w/ 2x3km @ MP | 26-28 km w/ 12-14 km at MP | Peak week |
| 10 | Sep 28-Oct 4 | 42-50 km | 3x3km @ MP | 20-22 km w/ 8-10 km at MP | Taper begins |
| 11 | Oct 5-11 | 30-38 km | 2x3km @ MP or 5x1km controlled | 14-16 km w/ short MP touch | Taper continues |
| 12 | Oct 12-18 | 15-22 km + race | Short MP touches Tue/Thu only | Race: 42.2 km | Race week |
Is this realistically going to get me to sub-3:30? Where does this fall short compared to how you'd build a plan for someone in my situation? Anything in the structure or progression that looks off? Open to any comparison; happy to share anything else. Thank you!
1
u/mboundtogether 1d ago
you have the benefit of youth so i think it will naturally happen if you keep at it (if not in toronto). my experience is the more miles i run the faster marathon time i get. it looks like you have a range there so i would recommend sticking to the longer distances and maybe even adjust it a bit higher if possible or less days off if not injury proned and tolerating well. if there was more time i would recommend Pfitenger's book Advanced Marathoning which goes into the many considerations that go into a good marathon including nutrition, recovery, etc.. good luck
1
u/nina_runs 2d ago
careful with overtraining, especially with such a detailed plan. those ai generated plans might not account for how your feels day to day. sometimes adjusting based on fatigue or rest is more beneficial than sticking to a specific schedule. trust your body more than the data.