My Training Plan for the 2024 Yonkers Marathon

Training for a fall marathon means lots of hot and sweaty runs.

Curious what a marathon training plan looks like? Check out my complete 10-week training plan for completing the Yonkers Marathon on September 15, 2024. 

Important: This plan was designed to help me achieve my specific goals based on my current capabilities. This plan isn't meant to be used by anyone else. I'm just sharing what I'm up to. Please be inspired, but don't take this as advice for what you should do. Please see my post How to Create a Run Training Plan if you would like your own plan. 

Weekly Overview

• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: barre3 in the morning

• Sunday: Long run day

• Mileage Build-Up: Gradual increase each week with a mix of easy runs, hill workouts, and long runs

Training Plan

Week 1 (July 8 - July 14)

• Monday: Easy run 3 miles + barre3

• Tuesday: Easy run 3 miles + barre3

• Wednesday: Easy run 3 miles + barre3

• Thursday: Rest + barre3

• Friday: Hill repeats 4 miles (Warm-up, 4-6 hill repeats, cool-down)

• Saturday: Rest or easy 2 miles

• Sunday: Long run 5 miles

Week 2 (July 15 - July 21)

• Monday: Easy run 3 miles + barre3

• Tuesday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Wednesday: Easy run 3 miles + barre3

• Thursday: Rest + barre3

• Friday: Tempo run 4 miles (1 mile easy, 2 miles at tempo pace, 1 mile easy)

• Saturday: Rest or easy 3 miles

• Sunday: Long run 6 miles

Week 3 (July 22 - July 28)

• Monday: Easy run 3 miles + barre3

• Tuesday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Wednesday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Thursday: Rest + barre3

• Friday: Hill repeats 5 miles

• Saturday: Rest or easy 3 miles

• Sunday: Long run 8 miles

Week 4 (July 29- August 4)

• Monday: Easy run 3 miles + barre3

• Tuesday: Easy run 5 miles + barre3

• Wednesday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Thursday: Rest + barre3

• Friday: Tempo run 5 miles

• Saturday: Rest or easy 3 miles

• Sunday: Long run 10 miles

Week 5 (August 5 - August 11)

• Monday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Tuesday: Easy run 5 miles + barre3

• Wednesday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Thursday: Rest + barre3

• Friday: Hill repeats 6 miles

• Saturday: Rest or easy 3 miles

• Sunday: Long run 12 miles

Week 6 (August 12 - August 18)

• Monday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Tuesday: Easy run 6 miles + barre3

• Wednesday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Thursday: Rest + barre3

• Friday: Tempo run 6 miles

• Saturday: Rest or easy 3 miles

• Sunday: Long run 14 miles

Week 7 (August 19 - August 25)

• Monday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Tuesday: Easy run 6 miles + barre3

• Wednesday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Thursday: Rest + barre3

• Friday: Hill repeats 7 miles

• Saturday: Rest or easy 3 miles

• Sunday: Long run 16 miles

Week 8 (August 25 - September 1)

• Monday: Easy run 5 miles + barre3

• Tuesday: Easy run 6 miles + barre3

• Wednesday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Thursday: Rest + barre3

• Friday: Tempo run 7 miles

• Saturday: Rest or easy 3 miles

• Sunday: Long run 18 miles

Week 9 (September 2 - September 9)

• Monday: Easy run 5 miles + barre3

• Tuesday: Easy run 6 miles + barre3

• Wednesday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Thursday: Rest + barre3

• Friday: Hill repeats 6 miles

• Saturday: Rest or easy 4 miles

• Sunday: Long run 8 miles

Week 10 (September 8 - September 14) - Tapering

• Monday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Tuesday: Easy run 4 miles + barre3

• Wednesday: Easy run 3 miles + barre3

• Thursday: Rest + barre3

• Friday: Easy run 3 miles

• Saturday: Rest or easy 2 miles

• Sunday: Marathon

Notes:

1. Hill Repeats: Find a hill that takes about 1-2 minutes to run up at a strong effort. Walk or jog down for recovery.

2. Tempo Runs: Run at a pace that is comfortably hard, about 80-90% of your max effort.

3. Long Runs: These should be run at a conversational pace, focusing on building endurance.

4. Rest Days: Make sure to listen to your body and take additional rest days if needed to prevent injury.

This adjusted plan allows for a gradual increase in mileage while including key hill and tempo workouts to prepare for the hilly marathon course. Adjust as necessary based on how your body feels throughout the training period.

What's your favorite training day?

Olivia Lovejoy is your run bestie who shares running tips, training plans and motivation online and offers one-on-one run coaching to help new runners achieve their goals. Based in Hastings on Hudson, NY but just a click and scroll away: Instagram | YouTube | Strava | Run with me | Email me | Join my mailing list

How to find time to run

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Here are five hacks I use for saving time that can be used for running. Try them now. Thank me later. 😘

Unsubscribe from Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services to avoid mindless bingeing of TV and movies.

Simplify some meals. Daily Harvest Harvest bowls and Trader Joe's salad mixes are solid go-tos that are healthy and save time. (Bonus points if you can get your life together enough to meal prep. I’m not there right now. 😆)

Wear a watch in the shower. I promise this will result in more efficient showering. I can take an everythingshower in less than 10 minutes.

Wear your hair in braids and twists. (Literally life-changing way to look good every day with practically no effort. )

Drink less alcohol. This is going to save you from losing time due to a hangover and cut back on your body’s recovery time from runs.

Stop folding your underpants like Marie Kondo told you to.

What did I miss? How do you find time to run? 

Olivia Lovejoy is your run bestie who shares running tips, training plans and motivation online and offers one-on-one run coaching to help new runners achieve their goals. Based in Hastings on Hudson, NY but just a click and scroll away: Instagram | YouTube | Strava | Run with me | Email me | Join my mailing list

How to create a run training plan

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Harness the power of AI to create a personalized run training plan that will help you achieve your goals.

1. Set a SMART goal. 

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time bound

Example: I will complete the Yonkers Marathon on September 15th, 2024. 

Specific: I know what, what, when, and where. 

Super measurable, we’ll know it happened when I cross the finish line. 

Achievable: I’ve done two marathons before. With training, I can do one again. 

Relevant: Meaningful to me because I’m excited for the opportunity to train for the challenge of a hilly course and because it’s local to me and I like the idea of connecting with the community in this way. 

Time Bound: There’s a specific date. 

2. Ask AI to create a training plan for you. 

Go to https://chatgpt.com/

Click on “Explore GPTs” and search for the “Fitness, Workout & Diet - PhD Coach”. Some people are hesitant to use AI but this is the best way to get customized PhD level expert advice, for free, within minutes. 

Type your goal into the chat box. You’ll also want to give the AI more information about you. The more personalized and detailed information you provide it, the better the plan will be. Include any injuries or concerns it should be mindful of. Tell it about your current fitness activities, your experience-level, your preferences. 

Chatting with GPT is like having a conversation with a real life coach. If it creates a plan that you don’t like, you can tell it what you don’t like and ask it to revise the plan. 

For example, when I first asked the GPT to make a plan for me, I just typed in my goal and told it my age, weight, and my past marathon times. I also asked for pre- and post-run snack suggestions.  However, my goal isn’t time-based, so that wasn’t necessary. The plan it created from that prompt was trying to get me to do yoga, cycling, and swimming. I’m sorry, but it’s a hard NO for me on all of those. Also, the snack suggestions were a little vague, if I’m being honest. I decided I would work on the snacks later, separately when I had a clearer idea of what I wanted, as I can be a picky eater. 

I tried a couple more modified prompts, each time learning more about what I should tell GPT, and the plans got increasingly better. Finally, I told it exactly what I wanted:

“Create a training plan for a 44 year old female runner to complete a hilly marathon on September 15, 2024. Her current mileage is about 13 miles a week. She prefers for her long runs to be on Sundays. She does barre3 for strength training on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings. She does not want to do any additional cross training or strength training. She has time to run or do barre3 twice a day.”

And, you know what, the plan was PERFECTION. You know you’ve got a great plan when you read it and instead of feeling anxious, you feel somewhat challenged and very excited. 

Reach out to me if you'd like to see my plan.

Communicating with ChatGPT was a reminder that if you don’t ask for exactly what you want, you are setting yourself up to get whatever someone else thinks is good enough for you. They can’t read your mind or know your heart.

 

3. Review and adjust. 

AI can make mistakes so look over the plan closely. Some of the dates on my plan were off. It’s also a good idea to consult with your real life physician and/or physical therapist before starting the plan if you are new to running, have health concerns, or are recovering from injury. 

4. Schedule the activities.

The next part is moving the training plan onto a place where you can put it into action. I copied it into a Google document where I can look at the whole thing at once and click on the weeks. I then also scheduled each activity on my calendar at the specific ideal time that I’d like to do it. Obviously, things pop up in 10 weeks, but at least I will have it on my schedule and am able to move it around, as opposed to forgetting about it.

5. Get at it! 

Are you more motivated to run if someone who cares will check in to make sure you've done what you planned?  Let me be that person! Here's how it works: Share your training plan with me. I will check in with you to provide daily accountability and encouragement. Reach out to me if you're interested.

Olivia Lovejoy is your run bestie who shares running tips, training plans and motivation online and offers one-on-one run coaching to help new runners achieve their goals. Based in Hastings on Hudson, NY but just a click and scroll away: Instagram | YouTube | Run with me | Email me | Subscribe to my email newsletter