An 18-week marathon program that explains every run before asking you to do it. Around 100 pages covering the plan, coaching theory, strength, fueling, and race-day strategy.
Most marathons do not fall apart because the plan was too easy or too hard. They fall apart because nobody explained which runs actually mattered, what to eat during a three-hour long run, or what to do when the week inevitably goes sideways. This guide is built to answer those questions before you need to ask them.
Every session explains what it is designed to do and how it should feel, so you are never just checking a workout off a list without understanding why it is there. There is also a full chapter on adapting the plan when your week refuses to cooperate: which runs to protect, which ones to move, and how to shift the rest of the week without turning one missed session into a missed week.
Fueling is covered from everyday eating through long-run practice and race morning. The taper gets the same treatment, because the final two weeks are when a lot of runners start to doubt themselves and undo months of good training.
The strength, mobility, and plyometric work is written by the physical therapists at our Boulder clinic, who spend their week treating runners. Race day includes an actual pacing strategy, not just a finish time to hope for.
18 weeks including taper and race week. Three to four runs per week, peaking at 32 to 37 miles, with long runs reaching 18 to 20 miles. Run-walk friendly, with deloads every fourth week. Mileage is given as a range, so a difficult week can bend the plan instead of breaking it.
Note: Foundation is a mileage tier, not an experience level. You can be running your fifth marathon and still belong here if this is the amount of training that realistically fits your week.
Atomic Track Club has grown to more than 400 runners since 2022. The coaches who lead those sessions and the physical therapists who help keep those runners healthy wrote this guide. We've taken runners from their first structured workout to the start line of a marathon. We've also worked with runners who thought their fastest days were behind them and helped them achieve personal bests they had stopped believing were possible. This guide is built from those same coaching principles.
Pace charts in miles and kilometers, heart-rate and effort zones built around you, a printable training log, and an online tracker pre-filled with every run in your plan.
An 18-week marathon program that explains every run before asking you to do it. Around 100 pages covering the plan, coaching theory, strength, fueling, and race-day strategy.
Most marathons do not fall apart because the plan was too easy or too hard. They fall apart because nobody explained which runs actually mattered, what to eat during a three-hour long run, or what to do when the week inevitably goes sideways. This guide is built to answer those questions before you need to ask them.
Every session explains what it is designed to do and how it should feel, so you are never just checking a workout off a list without understanding why it is there. There is also a full chapter on adapting the plan when your week refuses to cooperate: which runs to protect, which ones to move, and how to shift the rest of the week without turning one missed session into a missed week.
Fueling is covered from everyday eating through long-run practice and race morning. The taper gets the same treatment, because the final two weeks are when a lot of runners start to doubt themselves and undo months of good training.
The strength, mobility, and plyometric work is written by the physical therapists at our Boulder clinic, who spend their week treating runners. Race day includes an actual pacing strategy, not just a finish time to hope for.
18 weeks including taper and race week. Three to four runs per week, peaking at 32 to 37 miles, with long runs reaching 18 to 20 miles. Run-walk friendly, with deloads every fourth week. Mileage is given as a range, so a difficult week can bend the plan instead of breaking it.
Note: Foundation is a mileage tier, not an experience level. You can be running your fifth marathon and still belong here if this is the amount of training that realistically fits your week.
Atomic Track Club has grown to more than 400 runners since 2022. The coaches who lead those sessions and the physical therapists who help keep those runners healthy wrote this guide. We've taken runners from their first structured workout to the start line of a marathon. We've also worked with runners who thought their fastest days were behind them and helped them achieve personal bests they had stopped believing were possible. This guide is built from those same coaching principles.
Pace charts in miles and kilometers, heart-rate and effort zones built around you, a printable training log, and an online tracker pre-filled with every run in your plan.
