It may seem weird to train for your training, but that “off-season” prep is really important. 1.) Go Into Training With Solid Base MileageĪttempting to start training for a marathon with no base mileage is a bad idea, and even worse if you have a time goal as lofty as 4 hours. These are the seven best determining factors to snag that 4-hour marathon. And everything you do properly will set you up for success. Top 7 Things You Need to Do to Run a 4-Hour MarathonĪ lot goes into marathon training. But by implementing the following recommendations and being consistent over time, it’s a goal that most runners have the means to achieve. Even many who do the work may not achieve that goal on the first go. Running a marathon under 4 hours doesn’t just happen, it takes a lot of work! (That’s a 9:09 average pace per mile or 5:41 per kilometer by the way). Run a specific amount of mileage each week.Have a fitness level that allows you to run a 9:09 average pace for 26.2 miles.Go into training with a solid mileage base.To run a marathon in 4 hours you’ll need to: I personally didn’t achieve this goal right away, but with a few tweaks to my training, I was finally able to make it happen in 2017.

Knowing that most runners complete a marathon between 4 and 5 hours, as discussed in our article, “How long does it take to run a full marathon?”, getting a sub 4-hour marathon time is something very few people will ever do.

Running a marathon in 4 hours is a time goal that many runners aim to achieve.

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