There are many ways to do most things, and running a faster marathon is no exception. Before I go into detail I’ll preface the rest of the article by saying that ultimately analysing what went well and not so well in training and execution of your previous or best marathon is the best starting point.

 

More miles

There’s no denying the correlation between more miles and running faster, at least to a point. Elites commonly run 100-120 miles each week in their marathon training, but for amateur runners like us, that’s not feasible. 

Most people who ask my advice are running 30-35 miles per week in training for a marathon, so an increase in mileage would be possible and potentially absolutely the right thing to do from a physical standpoint. Although I would argue that many people could add just 3-5 miles more per week if they tried to, time can be an issue of course, so more miles isn’t always an option.

 

Run more diversely

Marathon training can be quite monotonous. When you combine warm-up and cool-down miles with your long runs, a large portion of your training miles will be at marathon pace or slower. The remaining miles then need to be at a far higher intensity if you’re going to improve. Studies suggest 75-80% at low intensity, 5-10% at moderate intensity and 15-20% at high intensity. 

People often get the first two parts right, but don’t necessarily put in enough really hard miles. These miles are key as they increase your body’s capacity to work at a higher percentage of your aerobic capacity.

 

More strength and technique work

My old favourite. I’ve written lots on these topics so feel free to check out my other posts using the search bar on the website, but essentially if you aren’t doing strength training or technique drills, get your backside in gear.

 

Better tactics

Pacing, nutrition and more training on the type of elevations you’ll face are another key factor. I’ve seen countless people do very little hill training (albeit understandably as it’s hard), get carried away in the middle miles of their marathon or fail to eat and drink anywhere near enough to fuel the massive endurance feat that a marathon is.

If you work on these elements, you actually don’t need to do more training than you are right now and if you’re missing more than one of these, you can easily reach a new marathon PB by doing largely the same training as you did for your current PB… unless you have bad luck on the day, and even then you still might manage it (I’ve been there).

 

My advice is that because we know more miles relates to faster times, do this first (with time and injury history considered). If more miles brings injuries for you traditionally then strength and technique are going to be your go-to strategy.

Look at your training and racing to figure out what you need to do. Maybe all of these are areas you could work on, so pick the one you will get the biggest improvement from that fits with your everyday life.

 

Written by Kyle Brooks, Running Coach based in Norwich, Norfolk