A 16-week plan for a sub-4-hour-30 marathon at 6:24/km race pace, with 4 runs a week, building to a 60 km peak week and a 32 km long run.
Marathon
6:24 /km
16 weeks
Free & Premium
To run a Sub 4 Hour 30 Minute Marathon, you need to maintain a race pace of approximately 6:24 min/km. Your training sessions will use the following paces:
5:42-6:12
7:14-7:59
5:00-5:22
This sub 4:30 marathon training plan runs over 16 weeks. It is the 4:30 plan, the same goal people search as 4.30 or sub 4 hour 30. You can start at any point: do all 16 weeks or jump in wherever feels right.
Try our Sub 4 Hour 30 Minute Marathon plan. Congratulations on choosing your marathon plan. Whether this is your first attempt at the "full" or you're looking to achieve that new milestone, this schedule is designed to help you accomplish that. The key to success here is mileage. The aim is to be standing on the startline, 42.2km ahead of you and not feel any stress about that at all. On that basis the priority for the next 16 weeks is to get those long runs in. As great as it would be to run religiously 4 times a week for 16 weeks, we all lead busy lives and it can't always be possible. Prioritise a few hours over the weekend to get out there and clock up the easy kilometres, along with a shorter easy run during the week. Supplement the long runs with the interval and tempo sessions. These will work on improving your VO2 max, and build strength in the legs, all with the aim of making race-day as comfortable as possible.
| Week | Total km | Runs | Long run | Key session |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21.4 | 4 | 10 km | Long run |
| 2 | 32 | 4 | — | Race pace |
| 3 | 35.1 | 4 | 13 km | Long run |
| 4 | 33.2 | 4 | — | Race |
| 5 | 40.1 | 4 | 16 km | Long run |
| 6 | 42.6 | 4 | — | Race pace |
| 7 | 52.1 | 4 | 22 km | Long run |
| 8 | 48.1 | 4 | — | Race |
| 9 | 55.8 | 4 | 26 km | Long run |
| 10 | 46.7 | 4 | — | Race |
| 11 | 58.8 | 4 | — | Race pace |
| 12 | 60 | 4 | 32 km | Long run |
| 13 | 48.1 | 4 | 22 km | Long run |
| 14 | 45.4 | 4 | — | Race pace |
| 15 | 34.8 | 4 | 11 km | Long run |
| 16 | 53.2 | 3 | — | Race |
Rest
Intervals
Easy 10km
Tempo
Rest
Rest
10km Race
Rest
Intervals
Easy 10km
Progression
Rest
Rest
Long Run 26km
Rest
Intervals
Easy 11km
Progression
Rest
Rest
Long Run 32km
Pace calculator
Km and mile splits for this target only