The training programs we develop at Marathon Grit are for beginners who are gearing up to running their first half marathon, marathon, or ultra. We place special emphasis on training whilst avoiding injury. This is why we incorporate strength training, rest days, and cross-training (like rowing, yoga, Pilates, or swimming) in our plans. If you would like to run a half marathon, marathon or ultra, comfortably and without injury, and you have never trained on a program before – we have a free solution for you right here.

Caroline’s Top Tip: Before you delve into your free program read our blog post on Different Training Types to get a better understanding of the sessions you might encounter in your plan and why they are important.

Let’s now take a closer look at each of our free training plans for beginners.

It might seem unbelievable to you that in 3 months you could be running your first half marathon, but you better believe it. Our social runner to half marathon training plan has all the building blocks you will need to reach the finish line comfortably and with a proud smile on your face.

Want to hear the good news first? You start the week with a rest day! Mondays are recovery days after your long runs on a Sunday. This will allow your muscles to recover and prepare them for the coming week’s training. Tuesdays and Thursdays are used to build midweek mileage. On these days you are required to run at a comfortable, sustainable pace with distance increasing in small increments from one week to the next. Wednesdays are a quasi-rest day but don’t think you are off the hook, you still need to lace up for a short distance trot around the neighborhood.

On Fridays, you’ll be getting stronger with 30 minutes of strength training which becomes 60 minutes as you start approaching race day. Saturdays are for barbeques, shopping, and children’s parties (and maybe even having a bit of wine, cheese, and crackers, or whatever tickles your fancy). You guessed it! Rest day number 2 for the week-yay!

On Sundays, you will be completing your long run for the week. The distance of this run increases week on week until you reach the 10-mile mark in week 10 after which we take our foot off the gas, and you start tapering towards race day.

If up to now, the word ‘marathon’ conjured up images of scrawny, cray-crays AKA not you, toeing the start line, think again; Anyone can run a marathon. With our free marathon training plan, you can build up to the distance in only 16 weeks.

The program is built around the weekend-long run which, on our training schedule, happens on a Saturday. You need to commit to this run even if it means getting up before sunrise on what was traditionally your day for a lie-in. Week 1 requires you to run only 6 miles but by week 11 you’ll be running your furthest distance on this plan – 19 miles.

Caroline’s Top Tip: When completing long runs solo, at an easy pace, it helps listening to podcasts or audiobooks to pass the time. Try Jason Koop’s, Koop Cast for some inspirational ultra-talk and interviews with the big shots.

On Sundays, we loosen your tight muscles with a little cross-training and then we bulk them up with strength work. Your legs might still be tired after the long session on Saturday, but this is a good thing. Good how? How can strength training on tired legs benefit me? Doing strength work on tired legs will benefit you on race day when you’ll need to continue running even when your legs are already loaded from the miles you’ve completed.

Mondays are for meetings, weekly grocery shopping, and the odd Martini, oh and book club of course. That’s why we have made Mondays a rest day on our plan. The same goes for Fridays when we allow you to take a breather before taking on your weekend long run, on Saturday.

What about the rest of the week? We are getting there. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we run easy distances ranging from 1.5 miles to 5 miles as you get more settled into the plan. These runs should be done at a relaxed pace, and you should be able to maintain a conversation with your running buddy without gulping for air. On a Wednesday we kick it up a notch. Get your favorite playlist ready and hit the road at race pace for a slightly further mid-week session.

That covers the week! -you can do this.

Oh boy, you’re still reading. This must mean you’ve conquered the marathon. Wowza! Congratulations from Marathon Grit! You’re a true gritter now. But what’s next? Yes, as runners we are never truly satisfied. After crossing the finish line, we swear we will never again subject ourselves to the suffering of running a marathon again, and then, as if by magic, a few weeks later we have forgotten all about that promise and we are scrolling the internet looking for something new to challenge us. So, an ultra-next then? Let’s see how our free ultra-marathon training plan will get you there.

Like the marathon training plan, our ultra-marathon training plan combines strength training, long runs, and cross-training as a base to getting you fit enough for an ultra. What is new, are the hill sessions that you are required to run most Tuesdays. Hill repeats will make your legs stronger which will make you more comfortable over the last stretch come race day.

We also brought in more speed work on this program. Speedwork will push your threshold and make you cardio-vascularly fitter over time. On the day after your long runs, we cleverly introduced hiking into the program. Hiking is a great way to recover tired legs whilst still working and adding to your training volume. The hiking will slowly progress into run-hiking until you reach a point of doing two long runs on a weekend at 15 weeks to go till race day.

Caroline’s Top Tip: If you are feeling excessively tired or your legs have not adequately recovered before your next training day, take 2 days off the program, and do yoga, Pilates, or swimming to allow for muscle recovery before tackling another session.

That’s it, “ordinary chap”! Go and build your Rome. We hope you enjoy these free programs. Please feel free to drop us a line and let us know how it is going!