10 rules for surviving the marathon training block

The marathon block is where sub-3 is made. Not the race, not the taper, not the shoes. It's the months of early mornings, tired legs, and consistent decisions when no one’s watching. The work adds up — and so do the mistakes.

Plenty of runners start a training block with high hopes and detailed spreadsheets. Fewer reach the end fitter, healthier, and fully prepared to race. These ten rules won’t just help you survive the block — they’ll help you live it. They’re drawn from real experience, from articles written with tired legs and logged miles, not theory.

1. Protect your time like never before

If you don’t carve out space for the block, something else will take it. Sub-3 isn’t something you squeeze in around everything else. You need margin — time to run, to recover, to eat well, to sleep. That might mean setting an early alarm, rejigging school drop-offs, or shifting social plans. In one of my biggest blocks, I ran double days just to keep family weekends intact. That only worked because the rest of the week was watertight. Make space for the running, or the running won’t happen.

2. Don’t expect to feel fresh

If you’re chasing springy legs every day, you’ll spend most of the block doubting yourself. The truth is, you’re supposed to feel a bit tired. Not broken — but not bouncing either. Your legs might feel dead halfway through a block, but they’ll still carry you through hill reps and 38km long runs. When I ran my 2:45 PB, I hadn’t felt genuinely fresh in six weeks. And I didn’t need to. Don’t panic when the pep isn’t there — it means the work is.

3. Recovery is training too

You don’t get stronger during the workout — you get stronger from recovering after it. That means sleeping properly, fuelling consistently, and backing off when the plan says easy. It also means building in things like sauna use, protein-rich meals and slow barefoot walks, like I’ve done during peak mileage. These aren’t luxuries. They’re what allow your body to adapt. The more you do to help yourself recover, the harder you’ll be able to go next time.

4. Stay predictable

There’s value in rhythm. Using familiar routes. Scheduling the same sessions on the same days. It’s not about rigid perfection — it’s about building mental calm. If you always do your midweek medium-long on Wednesday morning, your body starts to expect it. If you always do strides after Tuesday’s threshold, they become second nature. This doesn’t mean doing everything identically — rotate your shoes, tweak the pace bands — but keep the overall flow steady. Predictability is underrated.

5. Build your week around the long run

The long run is the heart of the week. Not just because of its length, but because of what it represents — time on feet, fuel management, marathon specificity. When you start including marathon pace surges (like 18 x 90 seconds spaced throughout the run), these runs become even more valuable. Don’t squeeze them in underfuelled or overtired. Give them your best. Plan backwards from them. If you get the long runs right, everything else starts to slot into place.

6. Be ruthless with logistics

Laying out kit the night before. Planning your route in advance. Prepping recovery food. It all matters. These things don’t make you a better athlete — but they make it far more likely you’ll actually train like one. Every decision you make in the moment takes mental energy. Remove the friction. On school run mornings, I’ve left my shoes by the door and my gel in my sock just to save 90 seconds. Small gains in preparation lead to big wins in consistency.

7. Stop testing your fitness

The block isn’t an exam. It’s a build. If you’re trying to “prove” your fitness every Tuesday and Saturday, you’ll flatten yourself. You don’t need every threshold to be a breakthrough, or every rep to impress Strava. You need to show up, log the work, and let the trend do its thing. My strongest blocks have always included sessions where I felt flat — and didn’t care. Save the heroics for race day.

8. Don’t go it alone

Even if you’re training solo, don’t isolate yourself. When I was doing 160km weeks, it was the stray messages — “How’s it going?” or “Did you nail that session?” — that got me out the door some days. Join a club night. Run a few parkruns. Or just keep a running journal, or engage Chat GPT to keep yourself accountable. This isn’t therapy — it’s practical backup. You don’t need a crowd. But a couple of supporters helps.

9. Use mantras to ride the lows

You will wobble. There will be cold mornings and sore calves and sessions that leave you questioning the whole point. Having something short and sharp to say to yourself — a phrase like “strong legs, calm mind” or “just begin” — can cut through the noise. I often tell myself “the work is the win” when the legs feel flat. It’s not magic. It’s just a way of bringing your mind back to the task.

10. Trust the process

Blocks aren’t linear. One week you’ll feel strong, the next you’ll feel like you’ve lost it. But if you’ve built your plan with care and you're ticking off the sessions — even when tired — it is working. You don’t need every run to go perfectly. You just need to keep moving forward. The fitness comes quietly, then all at once.

The training block doesn’t care how motivated you were on day one. It rewards follow-through — the kind built on structure, grit and a few good habits done well. If you can get through the block without falling apart, and with enough in the tank to peak when it matters, then you’re not just surviving the training. You’re becoming a sub-3 runner.