How to Run a Faster Marathon and Smash Your Personal Best

Runners put in countless hours of training to prepare for a marathon, and yet, on race day, the event often feels like an out-of-body experience. No matter how much you plan for the big day, there’s no telling how your body will respond on race day as you tackle the 26.2-mile distance. It’s not uncommon for even seasoned runners to hit a wall during a marathon, and this unexpected slowdown can be mentally and physically devastating. For those looking to improve their performance, understanding how to run a faster marathon can help alleviate some of these race-day woes by allowing runners to train for a stronger, more efficient race. Learning how to increase athleticism can also play a key role in helping runners build the strength, endurance, and resilience needed to push through tough moments during the race. This article will offer valuable insights to help you address your goals, like improving your pacing strategy, training smarter, and developing a plan to run a stronger race day to achieve a new personal best that reflects your full potential as a marathon runner.
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How to Run a Faster Marathon and Smash Your Personal Best

Running a marathon is a big commitment, especially if you're chasing a personal best time. But the achievement when you cross the finish line after everything has gone to plan is worth all the hard work.

With that in mind, here's key advice on how to train hard and smart to achieve that elusive PB.

1. Be Realistic About Your Weekly Mileage

“There’s no hard and fast rule as to how many miles you should run each week for a successful marathon,” says Laura Fountain, marathon runner, running coach, PT, and fitness author. “While the elites might peak at more than 100 miles per week, for most people, the reality is that, even if the body could tolerate such volume, everyday day-to-day lives wouldn’t allow us the time to fit all those miles in.

“Be realistic about how much time you can devote to training and what your body can handle before you commit to a plan. Your mileage and frequency in week one of the plan shouldn’t be a big step up from what you’re doing right now.

“If you’re only managing to fit in three runs of five miles each, jumping into a training plan with five runs totalling 30 miles in its first week isn’t going to end well. You might be able to cope with this for a few weeks, but it’s likely to do you more harm than good in the long run. Add a few weeks of ‘base training’ before your plan starts so that you can build up your mileage closer to where it needs to be.”

2. Executing A Good Marathon is the Culmination Of Consistent Training Over The Previous 16, 12, Or 8 Weeks Of Training

Rome was not built in a day, and the same goes for marathon training. Marathons are a long way, and there’s no such thing as getting lucky on race day. What you put in is what you get out, the magic is made in training. Race day is simply the victory lap of all the work that’s gone into it.

It’s as simple as this. In marathons, where you execute a successful race, your training will go according to plan. If you put together consecutive consistent weeks, week after week, you’re giving yourself a good chance of having a great race and hitting your goal. You can’t just have one or two good sessions and think you’ll nail the marathon. It’s such a long distance that it will expose any weaknesses, and on race day, there is no hiding.

3. Do A Lot Of Running At Goal Marathon Pace, With A Good Chunk On Either Side Too

You need to condition your body as best as possible before race day, getting it used to exactly what that pace should feel like so that it’s not a complete shock to the system. By doing a large portion of your training at goal marathon pace, you’re also making it clear whether this is a realistic target time, based on how your body handles that speed throughout training. 

Remember: if you can hit significant portions of your runs at your target pace in training, then on race day, with tapered legs, adrenaline, and the crowd supporting you, this pace often feels much easier for a significant portion of the race.

Doing a week-long session faster than the goal race pace is also essential, as it helps your legs turn over quicker than usual. These interval or track training sessions can be classified as VO2 Max work. Doing these sessions week in and week out should ensure the marathon pace feels much easier and smoother.

Easier maintenance mileage (zone 2 runs) should comprise around 75 to 80% of your weekly training.

4. Rest Days Are Key

“Amateur runners often look to the professionals for training inspiration. They frequently neglect to take rest and recovery as seriously as the pros. Rest days are as much a part of your training as your runs, and rest should mean no running. 

“Athletes build strength by challenging the muscles, causing them to break down a little, and then providing them with enough rest to rebuild stronger. The rest and recovery is where the adaptations happen. If you don’t give your body the right conditions for recovery, you won’t gain the full benefits of training.”

5. Strength Training Will Prevent Injuries

Runners are becoming more aware of the need to work on their strength instead of just running. Stronger muscles can deliver more power to your stride, and working on core and upper-body strength can help you maintain good form when you start to tire in the second half of the race. 

Running is a unilateral movement, so we move one leg and then the other. Incorporating unilateral exercises like lunges and single-leg deadlifts into your routine is key. They’ll help improve your balance and stability while also helping you get stronger.

6. Threshold Training Will Sustain Faster Paces

Threshold sessions are a great addition to marathon training. They are a type of tempo run, working at your threshold pace to improve your speed over longer distances. “Your lactate threshold is the point at which lactic acid is produced in the muscles faster than it can be used for fuel and, therefore, begins to build up, causing you to slow down. 

For experienced runners, it’s somewhere around 10km and half-marathon pace. Add 10-15 seconds per mile to your (current) 10km pace, or 20-30 seconds per mile to your 5km pace, and you'll be close enough.

Begin with a session of 2x8 minutes at your threshold pace and 3 minutes of recovery. Over the weeks, you can build this up to 2x15 minutes at your threshold pace. 

7. Train At Your Goal Marathon Pace

While you should be doing your long runs slower than your goal marathon pace by as much as one minute per mile, it’s important to train at your goal pace for a few shorter sessions. This will improve your running efficiency at goal pace and make it easier to judge your speed. Try adding in some goal-paced tempo runs. Four to five miles of marathon pace should feel comfortable, but it will still deliver benefits. 

If you can get a good sense of your goal pace, you’ll be more likely to run an evenly paced race and be less reliant on your GPS watch. Working at a goal race pace in training will also give you a good idea of how realistic that pace is. Over the weeks, you can increase your goal-paced tempo to 10 miles, or add a couple of miles at marathon pace to the end of your long run.

8. Pace Yourself On Race Day

After months of training, you want to avoid common mistakes that could jeopardise your race. The biggest mistake of all is to go off too fast. Your legs will feel fresh from your taper, and marathon pace will feel pretty easy for the first couple of miles, which can make you think you’re invincible. But 26.2 miles is a long way to hold onto a pace that’s too fast for you. Keep your cool and ignore what the runners around you are doing. 

Try running with a pace group if they have these at your race. They’ll be led by an experienced marathon runner who is running at a comfortable pace for themselves. Get in the right starting pen for your predicted finish time. That will mean getting to the start in plenty of time to position yourself where you need to be. Position yourself correctly at the beginning, and you can set your pace straight from the off.

9. Work On Your Mindset

Your training plan isn’t just helping to train your body; it’s working on your mind too. Each long run you tick off will build your confidence for race day. Those miles spent at race pace will help you believe that your goal is within reach, while digging deep in an interval session will build the grit you’ll need in the final miles of your marathon. 

Building confidence doesn’t just come from what goes well in your training, but from overcoming what goes wrong. If you’ve had a disastrous long run where you stopped short, or a tempo run where you failed to hit your mile splits but returned the following week to try again, that’s the mindset you need to succeed in a marathon.

10. Increase Your Mileage (Gradually) for a Fast Marathon Time

Elite athletes run lots of miles because racing performance improves with increased mileage. To avoid injury, make sure your build-up is gradual. Pay close attention to your feelings and take extra recovery days if necessary. Increasing your mileage is one way to improve aerobic capacity, but not everyone can handle a bigger training load without succumbing to injury, burnout, etc. 

11. Make Easy Runs Easy and Hard Runs Hard

When I write “easy run” into a training plan, you would be amazed at how many times an athlete runs this workout only about 30-45 seconds slower than their race pace. I call this “training in no-man’s land.” If you fall into this no-man’s land of running your easy runs a little too hard, you will utilize too much energy and prolong recovery. 

You will be too tired to hit your pace on the next hard workout, or you will have to work too hard, resulting in fatigue for your subsequent workout. Make sure your easy runs are easy so that the goals of the hard sessions can be met.

12. Limit Races That Are Longer Than 15K

Racing longer distances takes away valuable training time, even if your taper is short.  You still have to recover from the hard effort, and there is always a risk of injury.  Be careful when populating your schedule with races during your marathon buildup. This is especially true of those longer than a 15k, unless you plan on running them as training races instead of a workout.    

13. Train On Terrain That’s Similar to Your Race

Although mixing up the surfaces you run on is essential, you should spend most of your training on the surface and terrain you will be racing. For example, if you train on flat surfaces in mild weather, choosing a hilly race in a humid climate might be inadvisable. 

14. Pick A Race Strategy That Suits You Best

We are all different; what works for one person might not necessarily work for another. Trying different things within training is essential to know what works best for us on race day. It’s equally important to reflect on each race, look at what went right, and learn from what didn’t go right.

The male marathon world record was run with a slight positive split, while the female world record was run with a slight negative split. This shows no right or wrong way to run this race.

In the past, equal to negative splits have often worked best for me. Running the marathon this way ensures you’re comfortable for a significant portion of the race. It’s going to get tough, but you’ve saved your legs. I will try training in the same vein as your race strategy to get my mind and body as well conditioned as possible to what will happen on race day.

15. Prioritize Recovery Time

Fitness gains occur during the recovery phase. Your muscles need time to grow stronger; help them by investing in massage, ancillary work, and baths with Epsom salts. Training adaptations occur during rest or active recovery. It takes about two weeks for the body to realize fitness gains, so marathon taper plans typically start 14-21 days from your last hard effort. Value your rest days and easy recovery workouts.

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The Best Marathon Workouts to Get Faster

Boost Your Speed with Mile Repeats

Mile repeats are an opportunity to run at or faster than the goal marathon pace without overtaxing yourself. The recovery period right after each mile allows runners to bring their heart rate down before going again. 

Doing mile repeats several times during your marathon cycle will ensure your actual goal marathon pace feels easier on race day and that your running economy, speed, endurance, and overall fitness are ready to go. 

When to do it: 

Mile repeats can be introduced to your training cycle relatively early, as long as you have at least a month of base training. Gradually build into them, though. For example, start with two to four mile repeats for the first time out, and each month increase by two repetitions, and go for no more than eight to 10 mile repeats. 

Adding these once a month will give you plenty of time to recover, and you’ll be able to return a month later and compare your fitness to the prior month by doing the same workout more than once. 

How to do it: 

• Warmup: 1 to 2 miles or 20 minutes easy, followed by 2-4 short and quick strides.
• Workout: If you don’t have a time goal, start with the repeats at a 6 out of 10 on the rate of perceived exertion scale, and build from there, topping out at no more than an RPE of 8. “It should feel challenging, but not impossible to maintain the same effort/pace for the remaining repetitions.” 

• If it’s your first time doing the workout: 
  
  • Start with 2 to 4 miles of repeats. 
  • Run 2 minutes, continuous slow recovery jog. 
  • At the end of the 2 minutes, jump right into the next mile repeat. 
  • The goal should be 30 seconds faster than GMP. You may run 45-60 seconds faster than GMP as you get fitter. 

• In a marathon buildup, mile repeats can look something like this:
  
  • Month 1: 2-4 x 1-mile repeats, with 2-minute recovery jog 
  • Month 2: 4-6 x 1-mile repeats, with 2-minute recovery jog 
  • Month 3: 6-8 x 1-mile repeats, with 2-minute recovery jog
  • Month 4:  8-10 x 1-mile repeats, with 2-minute recovery jog 
  • Taper (can be within the same month as above): 3-4 x 1-mile repeats with 90-second to 2-minute recovery jog.
• Cooldown: 1-2 miles or 10-20 minutes of slow and easy jogging.

Increase Your VO2 Max with 1,000 Meter Repeats

While many runners don’t think of the marathon distance as a fast race, including faster workouts at sub-goal marathon pace will help improve fitness. By running faster, you train different energy systems, challenge your musculoskeletal system, and develop mental toughness. Higher-intensity workouts help to improve your VO2 max, meaning you will expend less energy at a given running pace. 

When to do it:

Start incorporating this workout early to mid-season, then once a week, every two to three weeks, leading up to the month before your marathon. Progress the intervals by increasing the number and speed of 1,000-meter intervals. 

How to do it for intermediate runners:

• Warmup: 2-mile warmup, easy run @ RPE 3, plus 6 x 100-meter strides. 
• Workout: 7 x 1,000 meters @ RPE 7 or 5 K-10 K pace, with a 200-meter recovery jog between @ RPE 2. 
• Cooldown: 1-mile easy run. 

How to do it for advanced runners:

• Warmup: 2-mile warm-up, easy run @ RPE 3, plus 6 x 100-meter strides. 
• Workout: 10 x 1,000 meters @ RPE 7 or 5K-10K pace with a 200-meter recovery jog @ RPE 
• Cooldown: 2-mile easy run.

Build Endurance with Goal Pace Long Runs

Long runs are a key component of all marathon training programs, as they are crucial for developing cardiovascular and muscular endurance and will prepare your mind for the long duration of the race. By adding goal pace intervals to long runs, runners will feel more confident hitting their paces on race day, avoid going out too fast (a common mistake of marathoners), and are more likely to run to their true potential. 

When to do it:

Add this workout to your schedule mid- to late season, and perform it once a week or every other week. To progress, increase the number of your GMP miles and run fast at the end. 

How to do it for intermediate runners (18 miles):

• Warmup: 4-mile easy run. 
• Workout: 
  
  • 4 x 2 miles @ GMP (RPE 6), with 1-mile easy run between 
    
    • 2 miles @ GMP or slightly faster (RPE 6-7) 
• Cooldown: 1-mile easy run.

How to do it for advanced runners (20-21 miles):

• Warmup: 3 miles easy @ RPE 3. 
• Workout: 
  
  • 4 x 3 miles at @ GMP (RPE 6) with 1-mile easy run between 
    
    • 2 miles @ GMP or slightly faster (RPE 6-7) 
• Cooldown: 1-mile easy run.

Gain Speed Endurance with Flying Pyramids

These workouts help runners increase their speed endurance by varying the paces and distances as they run up and down the pyramid. 

When to do it: 

Introduce ladder workouts relatively early in your training cycle, with at least one month of solid base training before starting a challenging workout. Then, add this workout multiple times during a multi-month marathon cycle, even weekly. 

How to do it:

• This RPE should increase as the distances (or time duration) decrease. 
• Do this workout on a track or flat path. One lap of the track is equal to one quarter of a mile. 
  
  • 1 mile (4 laps) @ RPE 6 (approximately marathon pace) 
    
    • 400m recovery jog 
  • 0.75 mile (3 laps) @ RPE 6-7 
    
    • 400m recovery jog 
  • 0.50 mile (2 laps) @ RPE 7-8 
    
    • 400m recovery jog 
  • 0.25 mile (1 lap) @ RPE 7-8 
    
    • 400m recovery jog 
  • 0.125 mile (½ lap) @ RPE 8-9 
    
    • 200m recovery jog to get back to the start/finish line 
  • 0.25 mile (1 lap) @ RPE 8-9 
    
    • 400m recovery jog 
  • 0.50 mile (2 laps) @ RPE 7-8 
    
    • 400m recovery jog 
  • 0.75 mile (3 laps) @ RPE 6-7 
    
    • 400m recovery jog 
  • 1 mile (4 laps) @ RPE 6 
    
    • 400m recovery jog 
• Cooldown: 1 to 2 miles or 10 to 20 minutes of an easy run.

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