4 Marathon Workouts to Run a Faster Marathon Time

Do you want to run a faster marathon? These marathon workouts can help you improve your strength, stamina, mental fortitude, and speed, as well as build your confidence to shave time off your marathon personal record. You can do all these workouts on the road, treadmill, or track, and there are variations for all levels of marathoners.

The beginner workouts are ideal for those running less 25 miles per week. Those following the intermediate workouts should be running 25 to 35 miles per week, and advanced should be doing 35+ weekly miles. If advanced runners want to add more mileage, they can always increase the distance of their warm-ups or cooldowns.

1. Power Hour

This is a 60-minute run where you’re alternating between marathon pace and easy (recovery) pace every minute. If you have to run on a treadmill, this run definitely helps the time go faster because you’re focused on the next change of pace.

Here’s what to do:

Start with a 5-minute warm-up and then run at marathon pace for 1 minute, and then easy pace for a minute, and continue that pattern until you’ve been running for 60 minutes.

Beginners: If you’re early in your marathon training, you can do a 30- or 40-minute version of this workout.

Intermediate: You can start with a 50-minute workout if you think 60 minutes is too much, and then add 5 more minutes each week until you get to 60 minutes.

Advanced: Change the easy pace interval to 30 seconds, if you want a more challenging workout.

2. Hill Repeats at 10K Pace

Hill repeats are a staple for faster marathon training because they help runners build strength and confidence. Even if you’re not running a hilly marathon, you should do some hill running to develop the endurance, strength, resilience and mental toughness that’s necessary for marathon running.

The hill repeats should be done at your 10K race pace or a pace that feels “comfortably hard”. You shouldn’t be able to easily carry on a conversation when doing them.

Here’s what to do:

Start with a 5- to 10-minute warm-up of easy running and then find a gradual slope. Run uphill for one minute at your 10K race pace, then turn around and run down at the same effort level (keep in mind that the same effort on the downhill will translate into a faster pace).

One complete repeat includes an uphill and downhill, so 10 repeats would be 10 uphills and 10 downhills. All levels should finish with at least a 5-minute cooldown of easy running or walking. Advanced can increase the length of their warm-up or cooldown if they want a longer workout.

Beginners: Try this workout once a week. Start with five repeats and add another one or two repeats each week, working your way up to 10 repeats.

Intermediate: Start with 10 repeats and add another one or two repeats each week, working your way up to 15 repeats.

Advanced: Start with 12 repeats and add another one or two repeats each week, working your way up to 20 repeats max.

3. Mile Repeats

Doing mile repeats will not only build your strength and speed, you’ll also get a lot of practice running a little faster than your target marathon pace for a certain distance, which will help sharpen your pacing skills. Repeating this workout once a week will also build your confidence because the first few repeats will start to feel easier as you progress through the weeks.

You’ll want to start doing 1 mile repeats once a week, about 8 to 10 weeks before your race. Here’s what to do:

1. This workout is best done on a track, where you can run a measured 1600m. Most tracks are 400m, so two laps would equal 1600m (about a mile). If you don’t have access to a track, you can measure out a mile on a road or running path using a GPS watch or an app such as MapMyRun or RunKeeper. You can also do this workout on a treadmill, where it’s easy to track your distance and pace.

2. Warm-up with two laps (800m) of slow running or walking. Then, run 1 mile at about 10 seconds faster than your realistic target marathon pace.

3. Recover (at an easy pace) for 400m (1 lap of the track) in between repeats. Make sure your breathing and heart rate have recovered before you start your next repeat. Beginners should start with two 1-mile repeats and advanced should start with four.

4. Add another 1-mile repeat the following week. Try to maintain that same pace (10 seconds faster than your realistic target marathon pace) for each one. If you couldn’t maintain the pace for the last repeat, stick to the same number of repeats the following week, rather than bumping up.

Beginners: Max out at four 1-mile repeats.

Intermediate: Top out at six 1-mile repeats.

Advanced: Work your way up to eight 1-mile repeats.

4. Progression Runs

Some marathoners stay steady with their pace until the last five or six miles of the race, where they crash and burn. Progression runs force you to practice holding back a little because you need to save something for the end so you can finish strong. They’ll also improve your mental strength to push through discomfort toward the end of a race. You can incorporate progression runs into your weekly long runs, so they can easily be added to any marathon training schedule.

Beginner: You should be doing your weekly long runs at a comfortable pace, ideally about one to two minutes slower than your goal race pace. Once you have about eight weeks left to go in your marathon training schedule, you can introduce progression runs. During every other long run (so, every two weeks), try picking up the pace to marathon pace for the final mile.

Intermediate: Run at your easy long run pace (one minute to 90 seconds slower than goal race pace). When you have two to four miles left to go, pick up the pace to goal marathon pace. You can do this type of progression run for every other long run.

Advanced: Run at your easy long run pace (one minute to 90 seconds slower than goal race pace) for the first two-thirds of your mileage. Then increase your speed to race pace for the final third of your long run. If you can pick it up to faster than race pace for the final mile, go for it. (But don’t forget to cool down with a slow jog for a few minutes once you’re done.)

You shouldn’t do progression runs for every long run, since they’re obviously a bit harder on your body than long runs at your easy pace. You can do them for every third long run for the first half of your training season, and then every other long run for the second half.

More Advice to Run a Faster Marathon

Running coach, avid runner, and fitness writer Christine Luff is an RRCA-certified running coach and ACE-certified personal trainer. Founder of the website Run for Good and author of the book Run for Good: How to Create a Lifelong Running Habit, she coaches runners, from beginners to advanced, who are training for races, from 5Ks to marathons.