18 Months to a Marathon – Doable?

Is it feasible – through hard work and determination of course – for a beginner to be ready for a marathon within 18 months?

At this point I'll be 24, is this too old?

I feel most athletes and avid runners are at their best when they are younger...

I know I'm not old but I feel I have come into this passion way too late.

– Danielle

Answer by Dom: Hi Danielle, thanks for your marathon running training question. Eighteen months is genuinely plenty of time to go from a standing start to marathon finisher, and 24 is nowhere near too old to begin. Let me show you exactly how I'd lay those 18 months out for you.

1. Are you too old for a marathon?
2. Your month-by-month roadmap to race day
3. Months 1–3: building your base
4. Months 4–9: 10k to half marathon
5. Months 10–18: marathon-specific training
6. Staying consistent for the long haul

Are You Too Old for a Marathon?

First of all, on the question of age. You are absolutely fine. Many people pick up running later in life and run their first marathon in their 30s or 40s.

A friend of mine didn't start running until his late 40s. He set his marathon PB (Personal Best) last year when he was 64 years old. So, you have plenty of time.

Even when you look at the elite runners, some of them are really quite old when they set their best times in the marathon. Like a while back we had the Ethiopian runner Haile Gebrselassie. He was the best in the world in pretty much all 5k and 10k races for years and years and years, and won almost every race he did for years. He moved from the track to the marathon in his late twenties, and it wasn't until his mid-thirties that he really hit his stride over 26.2 miles. And how! He set the marathon world record twice, in Berlin, at ages 34 and 35.

For sprinters, it is pretty much over by the time they hit 28-30. At that point the intensity of the short distances and the training starts to get to them. But you can do marathons for the rest of your life.

Your Month-by-Month Roadmap to Race Day

Now step 1 is to get you ready for marathon training. In my view, you can start doing marathon training when you can run a half marathon. That's a minimum acceptable level, I think, to then start training to finish a marathon.

Here's how I'd map your 18 months, starting from zero fitness and zero running experience today:

• Months 1–3 – get you running non-stop
• Months 4–6 – build to your first 10k
• Months 7–9 – build to your first half marathon
• Months 9–12 – consolidate, add strength work, allow for the inevitable hiccup
• Months 13–18 – a proper marathon block, built on a much stronger base than most beginners start from

That's the shape of it. Now let's get into the detail of each phase.

Months 1–3: Building Your Base

Start with the Beginners Running Program 3, which gets you ready to run 30 minutes non-stop in three months. Don't rush this bit – it's the foundation everything else sits on.

Months 4–9: 10k to Half Marathon

From there, move on to the 10k Running Program, which takes another twelve weeks and gets you ready for your first 10k. After that, you are ready to move on to the Half Marathon Running Program. By the time you finish, another three months will have passed.

So, that's the first nine months covered, if everything goes smoothly. But it's totally doable. I'd recommend doing some strength training too, to ensure you build up a resilient body.

Months 10–18: Marathon-Specific Training

In theory, you will do your first half marathon nine months from now. Let's assume a bit of delays and a few issues and let's make it twelve months.

You then still have six months to get ready for your first marathon. You can get support from somebody like me, a running coach, to get you ready for a challenge like that. See my coaching page for details.

You can also find running programs online that can get you ready for your first marathon. Just keep in mind that many of these programs start all the way at the bottom, e.g. with a long run of 3-5 miles, and then build up, quite aggressively, to get you to do one or two long runs of about 20 miles.

When you have gone through the prep I laid out before, you will be in a much better position – you will have already done a number of 10-13 mile runs. This will allow you to start off at a higher level and build up way more gradually to those 20-milers. By month 15 or so, your long run should be sitting somewhere around 15-16 miles, three purely easy runs filling out the rest of your week, and a bit of marathon-pace running woven into the tail end of your long runs from about 8 weeks out from race day.

I'd recommend reading the Marathon Training Tips page and other marathon pages on this site for further information.

Staying Consistent for the Long Haul

Eighteen months is a long runway, and the biggest risk to it isn't your age – it's losing consistency somewhere in the middle. Treat months 9-12 as a consolidation block, not dead time. Keep running regularly, even if the mileage stays flat, and use it to bank strength sessions so your body is ready for the marathon block that follows.

Whatever happens, just keep on putting one foot in front of the other. Run regularly, day after day, week after week, month after month, and you will get there.

Best of luck.

Kind regards,
Dom

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