This article is for those occasions when, for whatever perverse reason, you’ve decided to do two marathons with 12 weeks or less between them. Though doing two (or more) marathons in rapid succession generally isn’t the best way to go after a personal best time, this article focuses on structuring your training to maximize your likelihood of success. It includes three training schedules, covering 12, 8, and 4 weeks between marathons (see pages 49–53).

The schedules in this article were written for marathoners who typically build to 60 to 70 miles per week during marathon preparation. The 12-week schedule builds to a peak weekly mileage of 67, whereas the 8- and 4-week schedules peak at 65 and 48 miles, respectively. If your mileage during marathon preparation is typically more than 70 miles per week, then scale up the volume in these schedules moderately. Similarly, if your mileage typically peaks at less than 60 miles per week, then scale the training back proportionately.

The schedules assume that you want to do your best in your second marathon. Though this might not mean running a personal best or even running as fast as in the first one in your double (or triple, or whatever), it does mean toeing the line with the intention of running as fast as you can that day. If your multiple-marathoning goal is to cruise comfortably through a second or third marathon soon after a peak effort, then ignore these schedules. Simply focus on recovering from your first one while interspersing enough long runs to maintain your endurance until your next one.

READING THE SCHEDULES

The schedules are presented in a day-by-day format. The main limitation with this approach is that it’s impossible to guess the myriad of outside factors that may influence your day-to-day nonrunning life. Work schedules, family life, relationships, school commitments, and Mother Nature all play parts in determining when you get to do your long runs and other aspects of marathon preparation. You’ll no doubt require some flexibility in your training and will need to juggle days around from time to time. That’s expected, and as long as you don’t try to make up for lost time by doing several hard days in a row, you should be able to avoid injury and overtraining.

Because of the large variation among runners in the time required for marathon recovery, you should approach these schedules with a high degree of flexibility. Also, if in your first marathon, the weather was hot, you became severely dehydrated, or you became unusually hobbled, then your recovery is likely to take longer than usual. When a conflict arises between what the schedule says to do and what your body says to do, listen to your body. With these tight time frames between marathons, your best strategy is first to focus on recovery and then worry about the other aspects of training. If you’re not able to follow the schedules closely for one reason or another, then follow the priorities discussed later in this article in choosing which workouts to do and which to skip.

For all the schedules, remember that in the first few weeks after marathon one, recovery is your primary objective and that during the last three weeks, tapering to consolidate your energy reserves is paramount. If you’re worn out or injured going into marathon two, then any extra workouts you squeezed in won’t have been worth the effort.

FOLLOWING THE SCHEDULES

Each column of the schedules represents a week’s training. For example, in the eight-week schedule, the column for “seven weeks to go” indicates that at the end of that week you have seven weeks until your second marathon. The schedules continue week by week until race week.

We have included the specific workout for each day, as well as the category of training for that day. For example, in the eight-week schedule on the Friday of the “five weeks to go” column, the specific workout is a nine-mile run with striders, and the category of training for that day is general aerobic and speed conditioning. This aspect of the schedules allows you to quickly see the balance of training during each week and the progression of workouts from week to week. Look again at the eight-week schedule—it’s easy to see that with five weeks to go until the marathon, there are four recovery days that week plus a medium–long run and two general aerobic conditioning runs (one with a bit of speed).

Looking at the row for Sunday, it’s easy to see how the long runs progress and then taper in the last few weeks before the marathon.

The workouts are divided into the following eight categories: long runs, medium–long runs, general aerobic runs, lactate threshold runs, VO₂max runs, speed, recovery runs, and (for the 12-week schedule only) marathon-pace runs. Each of these categories is explained briefly below.

Long Runs. A long run is any run of 17 miles or longer. The obvious intention of long runs is to improve your endurance in preparation for the marathon’s 26.2 miles. To gain the most from your long runs, do them at the correct intensity. Long runs shouldn’t be slow jogs during which you just accumulate time on your feet. The most beneficial intensity range for your long runs is 10 to 20 percent slower than your goal marathon race pace.

Medium–Long Runs. A medium–long run is any run of 11 to 16 miles. Medium–long runs reinforce the physiological benefits of your long runs. To gain the greatest physiological benefits, the pace for these runs should be similar to the pace for long runs.

General Aerobic Runs. General aerobic runs include any run of 10 miles or less done at a steady pace. Faster runs of this length fall into the lactate threshold category, whereas slower runs are specifically for recovery. In other words, these are your standard, moderate-effort, putting-in-the-miles runs. The intention of your general aerobic runs is to enhance your overall aerobic conditioning through boosting your training volume; these runs improve your marathon readiness, as many of the beneficial adaptations that improve endurance relate to the total volume of your training.

Lactate Threshold Runs. Lactate threshold runs are tempo runs during which you run for at least 20 minutes at your lactate threshold pace. This coincides closely with your current 15K to half-marathon race pace. Tempo runs provide a strong stimulus to improve your lactate threshold pace, which leads to similar improvements in your marathon race pace. The lactate threshold sessions are done after a two- to three-mile warm-up. The tempo runs in this article are four or five miles long, whereas we recommend tempo runs of up to seven miles when you’re peaking for one marathon. The reason for the difference is that with the short time frames of the multiple-marathoning schedules and the fact that you’ve just run a marathon, lactate threshold training isn’t as high a priority.

V̇O₂max Runs. V̇O₂max runs consist of intervals of 600 meters to 1600 meters duration, which are run at 95 to 100 percent of your current V̇O₂max pace. This coincides closely with your current 3K to 5K race pace. These sessions provide a strong stimulus to improve your V̇O₂max.

Speed. Speed runs are repetitions of 50 meters to 150 meters that improve leg speed and running form. These sessions are done after a thorough warm-up.

Pete’s 1983 Trifecta

In 1983, I ran three high-quality marathons in 17 weeks. Nine weeks after winning the San Francisco Marathon in 2:14:44, I finished second in the Montreal Marathon in 2:12:33. Eight weeks after that, I won the Auckland Marathon in 2:12:19. At the time, the last two races were personal bests.

I did a few things wrong between San Francisco and Montreal but was able to hold my body together through a combination of luck, enthusiasm, and youth (I was 26). After San Francisco, I was remarkably stiff for several days. I’m not sure whether that was from standing around in the cold for a couple of hours after the race or because it was my first marathon in almost two years. I hobbled a two-miler two days after the race and racked up 46 miles for the week. Regular massage helped to bring my legs around.

Fortunately, my body bounced back really well after that first week, and I was up to 100 miles for the third week after, including a session of eight 800-meter repeats on the track. My mileage climbed to 116 and 122 for the fourth and fifth weeks, which was about as high as I used to get back then. (I hadn’t made an Olympic team yet, so I was working full-time.) There was just enough time to fit in two tune-up races, a five-miler in 23:35 and a third-place finish in the New Haven 20K, and then it was time to taper again. Eight days before Montreal, I went to the track and did two repeats of 1600 meters in 4:24 and 4:23, which was really fast for me and a good omen. The last two weeks before the race I tried to get caught up on sleep, and I felt really ready going into Montreal.

The night after Montreal, I stayed out until 5 a.m., took an 8 a.m. flight back to Boston, and caught a cab directly to work. This didn’t help my recovery. After that, though, I settled down, and in the first three weeks after Montreal covered 48, 72, and 97 miles. Lots of sleep and weekly massages kept me injury-free, and except for the occasional “felt like hell” notation in my diary, training went pretty well.

Three weeks before the Auckland Marathon, I started my leave of absence from work at New Balance to prepare for the Olympic Trials and flew to New Zealand with my training partner, Tom Ratcliffe, who was also running Auckland. We got a bit carried away with the excitement and probably overtrained the first week there. The second week in New Zealand, I ran a 10K tune-up race in 29:12, which I was very pleased with. During the last week before the marathon, however, I could tell that my body was on a fine edge, and I decided to back off. Three days before the race, I was still feeling pretty tired. Fortunately, on race day, I felt strong and broke away after 17 miles. It had been a very positive experience in multiple marathoning that was excellent preparation for the following year’s Olympic Trials and marathon. —Pete Pfitzinger

warm-up and often toward the end of a general aerobic run or a recovery run. Allow yourself plenty of rest between repetitions so that you can run each one with good technique.

• Recovery Runs. Recovery runs are relatively short runs done at a relaxed pace to enhance recovery from your previous marathon and for your next hard workout. These runs aren’t necessarily jogs, but they should be noticeably slower than your other workouts of the week.
• Marathon-Pace Runs. Only one marathon-pace run is called for in these schedules, and it occurs in the 12-week schedule, with 6 weeks until marathon two. These sessions are so hard and require so much recovery that they don’t have a role in shorter multiple-marathoning schedules. Start the marathon-pace run in the 12-week schedule comfortably, as you would other medium–long runs, and then run the last 12 miles at marathon race pace.

MULTIPLE-MARATHONING PRIORITIES

12-Week Schedule

Twelve weeks between marathons isn’t bad. There’s a real risk, however, of either taking it too easy and gradually losing marathon-specific fitness or overdoing it and finding yourself at the starting line of marathon two feeling tired and wondering why you’re there. You need to find the perfect balance for your individual situation. The best strategy is to really take it easy for the first three to four weeks after your previous marathon to ensure that your body is fully recovered. That leaves eight or nine weeks until the next marathon, including five or six weeks of solid training and a three-week taper.

The key training time is the six-week period lasting from seven weeks to go through two weeks until the second marathon. The most important workouts (see *) during those weeks are the tune-up races with 15 and 29 days to go; the marathon-specific run with 42 days to go; the long runs with 21, 28, 35, and 49 days to go; the VO₂max sessions with 25, 33, and 39 days to go; and the medium–long runs with 24, 32, 38, 44, and 52 days until marathon two.

Eight-Week Schedule

The eight-week schedule allows you to recover thoroughly from your previous marathon, train well for about three weeks, and then taper for marathon two. Eight weeks between marathons is far less risky than four or six weeks. Even if your first marathon was hot, or if you came out of it with a minor injury, with a bit of luck you should still be okay for marathon two.

Pete’s 1984 Dynamic Double

On May 26, 1984, I ran 2:11:43 to win the Olympic marathon trials, and then on August 12, I placed 11th in 2:13:53 in the Olympics. Here’s how I approached the 11 weeks in between.

I was on a bit of a high after winning the trials, to say the least. I took the next day off and went for a relaxed swim and a pathetic three-mile shuffle two days after the race. The next day, I had my weekly massage, and my muscles weren’t too bad. Building toward the Olympics, massage each week helped keep me injury-free despite the short recovery. I ran 45 miles the week after the trials. Using the philosophy that I needed to get the training in as quickly as possible to be able to taper again and be in top form for the Olympics, I initially ran as I felt and got in 112 miles the second week and 151 miles the third week. During the second week after the trials, I started doing a few strideouts every couple of days to try to get my legs turning over. This seemed to help quite a bit.

In retrospect, I should have run 80 to 90 miles the second week and 110 to 120 the third week. Doing the amount I did showed a lack of confidence because I wouldn’t have lost fitness by doing fewer miles. In fact, if I had run a bit less mileage right after the trials, I probably would have performed better at the Olympics. But I didn’t understand that at the time.

The problem I faced was that in 11 weeks I couldn’t very well do a 4-week recovery and a 3-week taper, as that would have left only 4 weeks to train to compete against the best runners in the world. I got around that by cutting back the recovery and getting back into fairly high-quality long intervals by the fourth or fifth week post-trials. The beauty of the short recovery after the trials was that I was fit enough to do my long intervals at a good clip right away, so I didn’t need as long to build into them. For example, in the fifth week post-trials, I did a 3-mile time trial on the track in 14:02.

I did continue, however, to train according to how I felt, with flexibility both ways. For example, one day I headed out for a 15-miler, felt good, and wound up going 26. On other days, I would postpone a track workout for a day or two until my legs felt like they could give a good effort without getting injured.

I tapered more for the Olympics than for the trials. This was somewhat necessitated by tightness that I developed in my back during the last three weeks before the race. I had also realized that I had trained a bit too hard in the weeks after the trials and that my energy level needed time to come up a notch. This is a very subjective matter, but I could tell during my training runs that a bit of zip was missing and it was better to cut back and regain my strength. I did this by making my easy days—in terms of speed and distance—easier. I also trimmed the volume of my long runs and my speed workouts. This taper became my model to follow for the rest of my racing career.—Pete Pfitzinger

The key training weeks are those that end with four, three, and two weeks until the second marathon. The most important workouts (see *) during those weeks are the tune-up race with 15 days to go; the long runs with 14, 21, and 28 days to go; the lactate threshold session with 30 days to go; and the medium–long runs with 18 and 24 days until the marathon. Try to avoid doing more than the schedules call for, as eight weeks between marathons doesn’t leave you much room for error.

Four-Week Schedule

The four-week schedule is about as compact as you can get. This program consists of two weeks of recovery merging into two weeks of taper. The objective is to get you to the starting line injury-free, fully recovered from your previous marathon, and still in top shape. The mileage for this program starts at 25 miles and builds to 48 miles during the third week. Unfortunately, that’s also the penultimate week before the marathon, so mileage and intensity building abruptly halt and merge into a taper.

The most important workouts (see *) are the medium–long runs with 10 and 14 days until marathon two, and the VO₂max session with 12 days to go. If you need to do two marathons four weeks apart (and “need” is a relative term), then this schedule should maximize your chances of success.

RACING STRATEGIES

Set a clear goal for the second (or third, fourth, etc.) marathon you’re running within a brief time frame. Otherwise, you might very well find yourself a few miles into it already wondering, “What am I doing here?” Being able to state what you want to accomplish in your multiple marathoning will provide en route direction and motivation. The longer that you’ve allowed between marathons, the more precisely you should be able to state your goals for marathon number two (beyond “to get through it”).

Once you’ve picked your goal, map out the splits you’ll need to hit. Throughout our book, Advanced Marathoning (from which this article is adapted), we stress the merits of showing restraint early in the marathon to maximize your chances of being able to run a strong second half. That advice is especially pertinent if you’ve already finished one marathon within the last 12 weeks. Your multiple-marathoning experience will almost certainly become a self-fulfilling death march if you run too fast early in the race in the hope of building a cushion against an inevitably slower second half.

Wait until the week before your second marathon to decide on a time goal. Be realistic, taking into account how your recovery from your first one went; the quality of your long runs, tempo runs, and interval sessions in the interim; and whether you’ve felt your energy level rise during your taper for marathon two.

Also consider the circumstances of your previous marathon. For example, if you ran a huge PR off of negative splits, then there’s probably room for improvement this time around. Or say you wilted over the last 10K the last time around and realize in retrospect that this was because of a too-aggressive first 10 miles; you should be able to make another attempt at your goal time for the first marathon. If, however, you prepared with monk-like devotion for 24 weeks for your previous marathon and shaved three seconds off your lifetime best in your 28th marathon, and your second marathon is four weeks later, well, sorry, but this probably isn’t the time to try for a 10-minute PR.

If you’ve never consciously tried to run a marathon with negative splits, this might be the occasion to do so. Give yourself the first several miles to get an accurate feel for how your body is responding to the challenge you’ve set for it, and pick up the pace only when you’re fairly confident that you can sustain it to the end.

AFTER THE MARATHON

If you’ve just run two or more marathons within a brief time span, your best strategy for future success is to take a well-deserved break. (You might also want to check what they’ve been putting in your coffee at work.) A few weeks of no running or easy training will help your body to recover and your mind to develop new challenges. You have little to gain by rushing back into training, and your risk of injury is exceptionally high at this point, owing to the reduced resiliency of your muscles and connective tissue after running multiple marathons.

12 Weeks Between Marathons

Weeks to go
	11	10	9	8
Monday	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training
Tuesday	Rest or cross-training	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery 6 miles	General aerobic + speed 8 miles w/ 10 × 100-meter strides
Wednesday	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery 5 miles	General aerobic 9 miles	Medium–long run 12 miles
Thursday	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Recovery 4 miles
Friday	Recovery 5 miles	General aerobic + speed 7 miles w/ 8 × 100-meter strides	General aerobic + speed 9 miles w/ 8 × 100-meter strides	Lactate threshold 9 miles w/ 4 miles at 15K to half-marathon race pace
Saturday	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery + speed 5 miles w/ 6 × 100-meter strides
Sunday	Recovery 7 miles	General aerobic 10 miles	Medium–long run 13 miles	Medium–long run 16 miles
Weekly mileage	22	32	42	54

Weeks to go
	7	6	5	4
Monday	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training
Tuesday	V̇O₂max 9 miles w/ 6 × 800 meters at 5K race pace; jog 2 minutes between	General aerobic + speed 8 miles w/ 10 × 100-meter strides	Recovery 6 miles	V̇O₂max 9 miles w/ 6 × 600 meters at 5K race pace; jog 90 seconds between*
Wednesday	Recovery 6 miles	Medium–long run 15 miles	V̇O₂max 10 miles w/ 4 × 1200 meters at 5K race pace; jog 2½ minutes between*	Medium–long run 11 miles*
Thursday	Medium–long run 13 miles*	Recovery 6 miles	Medium–long run 15 miles*	Recovery + speed 6 miles w/ 6 × 100-meter strides
Friday	General aerobic + speed 8 miles w/ 10 × 100-meter strides	Medium–long run 13 miles*	General aerobic 9 miles	Recovery 5 miles
Saturday	Recovery 6 miles	Recovery + speed 7 miles w/ 6 × 100-meter strides	Recovery 6 miles	8–15K tune-up race*
Sunday	Long run 18 miles*	Marathon-specific 15 miles w/ 12 miles at marathon race pace*	Long run 20 miles*	Long run 17 miles*
Weekly mileage	60	64	66	59

Weeks to go
	3	2	1	Race week
Monday	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest
Tuesday	Recovery 6 miles	V̇O₂max 9 miles w/ 6 × 600 meters at 5K race pace; jog 90 seconds between	General aerobic + speed 8 miles w/ 8 × 100-meter strides	Recovery 6 miles
Wednesday	V̇O₂max 11 miles w/ 6 × 1000 meters at 5K race pace; jog 2 minutes between*	Medium–long run 11 miles	Recovery 5 miles	Dress rehearsal 7 miles w/ 2 miles at marathon race pace
Thursday	Medium–long run 15 miles*	Recovery + speed 6 miles w/ 6 × 100-meter strides	V̇O₂max 9 miles w/ 3 × 1600 meters at 5K race pace; jog 2 minutes between	Recovery 6 miles
Friday	General aerobic 9 miles	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery + speed 5 miles w/ 6 × 100-meter strides
Saturday	Recovery 6 miles	8–10K tune-up race*	General aerobic + speed 7 miles w/ 10 × 100-meter strides	Recovery 4 miles
Sunday	Long run 20 miles	Long run 17 miles*	Medium–long run 13 miles	Second marathon
Weekly mileage	67	59	47	28 (6 days prerace)

* = Key workout in 12-week schedule

8 Weeks Between Marathons

Weeks to go
	7	6	5	4
Monday	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training
Tuesday	Rest or cross-training	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery 6 miles	General aerobic + speed 8 miles w/ 10 × 100-meter strides
Wednesday	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery 5 miles	General aerobic 9 miles	Medium–long run 12 miles
Thursday	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Recovery 4 miles
Friday	Recovery 5 miles	General aerobic + speed 7 miles w/ 8 × 100-meter strides	General aerobic + speed 9 miles w/ 8 × 100-meter strides	Lactate threshold 9 miles w/ 5 miles at 15K to half-marathon race pace*
Saturday	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery + speed 5 miles w/ 6 × 100-meter strides
Sunday	Recovery 7 miles	General aerobic 10 miles	Medium–long run 13 miles	Long run 17 miles*
Weekly mileage	22	32	42	55

Weeks to go
	3	2	1	Race week
Monday	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest
Tuesday	Recovery 6 miles	V̇O₂max 9 miles w/ 6 × 600 meters at 5K race pace; jog 90 seconds between	General aerobic + speed 8 miles w/ 8 × 100-meter strides	Recovery 6 miles
Wednesday	V̇O₂max 10 miles w/ 5 × 1000 meters at 5K race pace; jog 2 minutes between	Medium–long run 11 miles*	Recovery 5 miles	Dress rehearsal 7 miles w/ 2 miles at marathon race pace
Thursday	Medium–long run 15 miles*	Recovery + speed 6 miles w/ 6 × 100-meter strides	V̇O₂max 9 miles w/ 3 × 1600 meters at 5K race pace; jog 2 minutes between	Recovery 6 miles
Friday	General aerobic 9 miles	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery + speed 5 miles w/ 6 × 100-meter strides
Saturday	Recovery 5 miles	8–10K tune-up race*	Recovery + speed 6 miles w/ 8 × 100-meter strides	Recovery 4 miles
Sunday	Long run 20 miles*	Long run 17 miles*	Medium–long run 13 miles	Second marathon
Weekly mileage	65	59	46	28 (6 days prerace)

* = Key workout in 8-week schedule

4 Weeks Between Marathons

Weeks to go
	3	2	1	Race week
Monday	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Rest
Tuesday	Rest or cross-training	Recovery 6 miles	V̇O₂max 8 miles w/ 5 × 800 meters at 5K race pace; jog 2 minutes between*	Recovery 6 miles

Weeks to go
	3	2	1	Race week
Wednesday	Recovery 5 miles	General aerobic 8 miles	Recovery 5 miles	Dress rehearsal 7 miles w/ 2 miles at marathon race pace
Thursday	Rest or cross-training	Rest or cross-training	Medium–long run 15 miles*	Recovery 6 miles
Friday	Recovery 6 miles	General aerobic + speed 8 miles w/ 8 × 100-meter strides	Recovery 4 miles	Recovery + speed 5 miles w/ 6 × 100-meter strides
Saturday	Recovery 6 miles	Recovery 5 miles	Recovery + speed 5 miles w/ 8 × 100-meter strides	Recovery 4 miles
Sunday	General aerobic 8 miles	Medium–long run 12 miles*	Medium–long run 11 miles	Second marathon
Weekly mileage	25	39	48	28 (6 days pre-race)

* = Key workout in 4-week schedule

This article was adapted with permission from Advanced Marathoning (Human Kinetics, 2001) by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas. For ordering information, go to www.humankinetics.com.