How to Follow a Marathon or Half Marathon Training Program Even When Everything Goes Wrong

When you’re preparing for a race, a good training plan is key . Having a plan will help you schedule all of your runs, including the right mix of long runs, speed work, and easy runs so you can hit the start line strong and ready. But what if the plan doesn’t match your life? You got sick and missed a week or realized too late that you started on the wrong date. Or the plan calls for something you just can’t do on schedule, like a tune-up race.

“What should I do???” I hear you cry. Well, don’t worry. I’ll tell you what you do: you do your best to stick to the plan without letting guilt or nervousness take over. Missed workouts are a thing of the past, and you will move on without trying to make up for them. For the most part, anyway. Let’s look at a few scenarios in which you might have questions. But first, let’s zoom out to see the big picture.

Understand What Your Training Plan Is Trying to Achieve

Before we can talk about whether or not a particular run is worth doing outside of a schedule, we need to get our bearings and understand what each part of the training plan is trying to do. I’m going to outline the steps of a typical marathon training program, and they apply to most rigorous training programs, including half marathons. There are several different stages throughout the 12-18 week plan, and they look something like this:

Start

What it is: A few weeks during which you run the same number of miles per week as you were used to doing before you started this program. At this point in the program, the program will encourage you to maintain a consistent training regimen and add extra distance to your long runs and perhaps additional speed work or strength training that you have previously neglected. This may or may not feel like a separate phase; perhaps this is just the beginning of the build.

How you’ll feel: You’ll feel pretty good at this stage.

Your main priority at this stage is to stick to the program and prepare for the work ahead.

Assembly

What it is: A nice long stretch designed to increase mileage, both long term and overall mileage for the week. This is the longest phase of the program and can last anywhere from six to eight weeks.

How you’ll feel: You’ll feel some fatigue, muscle pain, and maybe some blisters or minor injuries, but these are usually fairly mild and you’ll feel fine overall.

Your main priority at this stage is to monitor your growth and take care of your body (good nutrition , shoes , etc.) so that you can stay healthy and continue training.

Peak

What it is: This is about three to four weeks when the mileage is highest, the training is the hardest, and fatigue really starts to catch up with you. If it’s a marathon program, you’ll probably run over 18 miles. If your race is a half marathon or less, you’re probably doing long runs that are longer than your race.

How you’ll feel : Somewhere between “pretty hard, but I’m holding on” and “honestly, I feel like crap.”

Your main priority at this stage : survival.

Cone

What it is: After all that hard work, you finally get a break. Long runs suddenly become much shorter, and you’ll find yourself running far fewer miles than during your peak. This phase often lasts about three weeks for a marathon and one to two weeks for a half marathon. For shorter races, this may be just a few easy days so you can rest before the race.

How you’ll feel : This is often when you feel the worst because all that fatigue has built up but you haven’t had enough of a break to feel rested yet. It’s also normal to go a little crazy when you start to wonder if your preparation was really good enough and if you’re really ready for the race. But it’s all part of the plan, and if you stick to it, you’ll feel like a million bucks on race day.

Your main priority at this stage : recovery. Or to put it another way: stick to the damn program and resist the temptation to run an extra 20 miles or train at race pace “just to make sure” you can.

General rules for changing your training program when life gets in the way

Keeping these steps in mind makes it much easier to know what to do if something disrupts your schedule. Here are some very general rules to follow at each stage:

• It’s okay to reschedule your workouts . For example, if you can’t go for a long run on Saturday, reschedule it for Friday or Sunday.

• Prioritize your “key” workouts (long runs, speed work) and try not to skip them. If you have to miss a run due to scheduling or life circumstances, make it an easy run.

• Don’t try to make up for missed workouts , especially if you get sick and/or have to miss a few workouts. Continue where you left off. And give yourself some grace in the first few days back – relax and do the best you can.

• Make sure the program ends on competition day . The taper works real magic if you time it right, and the peak is what sets up the taper. Don’t waste these last few weeks.

• Nobody is perfect . If you manage to complete 90% of the program as written, you are still on track and will do great in the race.

It’s clear? Now let’s look at some specific issues. These are all taken from running forums, subreddits, and anecdotes from coaches about what questions they get most often. A coach or experienced friend is the best resource as they know you and you can discuss the specifics of your situation, but if you’re just looking for general advice, here’s:

I started the program too early and now I have extra time to fill. Should I repeat some weeks?

It depends on where you are in the program. Don’t repeat weeks in a cone. This means a short and sharp decrease in mileage. Stretching will rob it of its strength. (Tapers are magic, I swear.)

You also don’t want to repeat tough weeks at your peak. Remember that this is the most tedious part of the program and you are just trying to hold on and not let it kill you. If the program is designed for one 20-mile training run, it is foolish to try to run two in a row.

(Of course, there are exceptions to these rules. Some people may benefit from a longer taper, or have the physical fitness to run a very long run and recover from it without too much trouble. But I try to stick to the general advice, and most people, who say, “Screw it, I’ll do an even bigger run” will end up regretting it.)

So what can you do? I would recommend the following approaches in the following order of preference:

1. Extend the initial or building stages . You can, of course, repeat week five of the 16-week program without worrying. Feel free to make repeat weeks a little different, perhaps by dropping the distance a mile or two or doing hills instead of track repeats. Just try to stay in the spirit of what this stage of learning is trying to achieve.

2. Add reduction weeks during peak or late stages of construction . If you are already in the peak phase when you notice a setback with your schedule, add an easy week in between the hard weeks. For example, the Level 3 Boston Marathon program calls for running 17-20 miles in week 16, followed by 18-20 miles in week 17. a short break. Or let’s say you follow Hal Higdon’s program , which alternates between 20- and 12-mile runs during your peak. Add an extra repeat of this cycle, perhaps running 16 or 18 miles instead of another 20 mile run (since multiple 20 mile runs are a lot ), and then complete the 12th run as per the pattern.

When in doubt, make the added week easier than the weeks before and after it. Your body will appreciate the extra recovery.

What if I don’t need to participate in the “tuning race”?

Some training plans include a race in the middle of the program. A marathon program may force you to run a half marathon in the middle of your workout. A half marathon can help you run 10K.

Ideally this will be a real race. You’ll register for the My Town 10K and you’ll have to figure out all the logistics of your race day: how early to get up, what to eat, whether you want to carry your phone with you, and so on. You’ll also experience the pressure of the timed course (with no free breaks for water breaks) and the adrenaline rush of the crowd cheering you on.

Dealing with all this nonsense is half the battle in the tune-up race. The other half is being able to see how fast you can actually run, and then using that result to decide what pace to take for your big race. (Enter your race time here to see predicted times for other distances.)

But there may not be a 10K in your city this weekend. Here are, in my opinion, the best options:

1. Find a race of the correct (or similar) distance on another weekend . This is not usually a part of a training program where time is of the essence. If you can get the full race day experience a week or two earlier or later, go ahead and switch things up to make it happen.

2. Run a time trial. It’s just a race that you run on your own. There will be no crowds or a bib distribution table, but you will still be able to test your fitness over the programmed distance. Reward yourself with a stale bagel after the verisimilitude race.

3. Just go for regular long runs. Typically, a training run will replace your long run on the weekend. Look at the weeks before and after a race on the calendar and ask yourself, “If there wasn’t a race here, what would it be instead?” Make your best guess and then do it.

What if I have 12 miles programmed, but I really want to run a 5K or join a friend for a short run that day?

This is the opposite of the dilemma described above. There are no races planned, but you still want to take it. Or some other scenario in which you will run but will not complete the programmed distance.

The simplest answer is to do a long warm-up and cool-down. Three very easy miles before the 5K shouldn’t ruin your race; in fact, you’ll probably feel pretty warmed up by the time you get to the starting line. And then you can run the remaining six miles as an extended recovery period.

Same idea if you’re going for a run with a friend. If they want to run an easy five miles, you can run seven miles before they show up, run the last five miles with them, and then go to brunch together.

If the race is longer, say 10K, you can also consider it a tune-up race. Ride to the fullest and don’t worry about making up the mileage. Depending on where you are in the program, races and long runs may be too difficult to recover from.

You wouldn’t want to do this every week, but once or twice in your training plan isn’t the end of the world.

I missed my longest run and now it’s time to slow down! Should I run 20 miles fast?

You already know the answer to this question: no. The cone is designed for recovery. Also, oh my goodness, you have no idea how many people skip their last 20 miles and then do just fine in the marathon.

I did all my long runs, but some of them went really poorly. I think I can repeat my last 16 miler, but do it better this time. How can I…

It’s great that you don’t do that.

What if I’m a special snowflake and I think these rules don’t apply to me?

Honestly: you may be right. A standard program will not necessarily suit everyone. Just promise me something: no matter what “bad” decisions you make, learn from them . You may be thinking that a shorter taper would suit you. If you really want to test this hypothesis, make the cone smaller! Take notes. And then see how you do in the race.

Just remember that this kind of self-experimentation works best if you do the program as written the first time and then tweak it the next time you run. You learn how to respond to training, which is an incredibly valuable skill as you grow as an athlete.

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