Train for
Breaking 3 hours in the marathon
Three hours is the amateur marathon benchmark. It is 6:52 per mile, 4:16 per kilometre, for 26.2 miles, and roughly two or three percent of marathon finishers manage it. Getting there is rarely a speed problem.
The pace
| Split | Time | Per mile | Per km |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10K | 42:38 | 6:52 | 4:16 |
| Half | 1:29:53 | 6:52 | 4:16 |
| 30K | 2:07:53 | 6:52 | 4:16 |
| Marathon | 2:59:50 | 6:52 | 4:16 |
The supporting times
Sub-3 sits on a fitness that shows up at every distance. If you are missing these, the marathon is not the problem to solve first.
- 5K around 18:30. You have plenty of speed. Sub-3 will come from endurance.
- 10K around 38:30. The classic marker. A 38:30 10K runner who trains properly for the marathon breaks three.
- Half around 1:25. Comfortable margin. A 1:25 half predicts roughly 2:58 with marathon-specific work behind it.
- Half around 1:30. Exactly on the line. It will take a well-built block and a good day.
Why it is a volume problem
Most runners chasing sub-3 already have the leg speed. A 1:28 half marathon is not the barrier. What breaks at mile 22 is aerobic durability, and that is bought with mileage over months, not with harder intervals.
The realistic range is 50 to 70 miles a week at peak, which is 80 to 112km. Runners do it on 45 and it is a fight. Runners who get there on 65 and stay healthy tend to run it comfortably and then wonder why they waited so long to add the volume.
That mileage has to be mostly easy. At 60 miles a week with two hard sessions, roughly 50 of those miles are genuinely easy running, around 8:15 to 9:00 per mile. Runners who cannot bring themselves to run 8:45 when their marathon pace is 6:52 do not make it, because the hard days stop being hard enough.
The sessions
- Long run with marathon pace. The decisive one. Progress toward 20 miles with 12 to 14 at 6:52. Doing that three weeks out, and finishing it feeling like there was more, is the single best predictor.
- Threshold. 5 to 8 miles total at roughly 6:20 to 6:30 per mile, as a continuous tempo or as cruise intervals. Once a week through the build.
- VO2max, sparingly. 5 x 1000m at 5K pace, every second or third week during base and early build. It keeps the top end honest so marathon pace stays a comfortable fraction of it. It is not what makes the marathon.
- Doubles. The usual way to get from 50 to 65 miles a week without a fourth hard-feeling day. Two easy 5 mile runs beat one 10 mile run for accumulating volume you recover from.
Frequently asked
- What pace is a sub-3 marathon?
- 6:52 per mile or 4:16 per kilometre. Most people target 6:48 to give themselves 90 seconds of margin.
- What weekly mileage for a sub-3 marathon?
- 50 to 70 miles a week at peak. It has been done on less; it is far more reliable at 60 than at 45, and the difference shows up entirely in the last 10K.
- What half marathon time do I need for sub-3?
- About 1:25 to 1:27 for comfort, 1:29 to 1:30 if the marathon block has been built properly. A 1:30 half with low mileage behind it does not predict sub-3, it predicts about 3:10.
- How long does it take to go from 3:10 to sub-3?
- Usually a year, sometimes two. The ten minutes is aerobic capacity and durability, and both are built on a timescale of seasons.
Your block, written
Put a date on it and Shed builds the weeks.
Shed takes your goal, your race date, and the days you can actually run, then writes every session between here and the start line. It reads each run off your Apple Watch the same day and moves what needs moving. No spreadsheet, no guessing at paces.
Get your plan on iPhoneMore in training
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How many weeks, how many miles, and the three mistakes that end most attempts.