Strava, the social network for athletes, have revealed interesting insight into marathon training and what it takes to complete a sub three-hour marathon. The company has analysed training data of over 4,000 London Marathon finishers last year, looking at the volume and quantity of training in the 12 weeks leading up to the race. They analysed how this correlated with the sub three-hour, three-four hour, four-five hour and five hour and more finishing times. They found that faster marathon finishers are not just running further, they are running more frequently each week.

Over the the 12 weeks leading up to the marathon:

Sub 3-hour finishers ran on average 42 miles per week, over 7 runs

3-4 hour finishers ran on average 27 miles per week, over 4 runs

4-5 hour finishers ran on average 18 miles per week, over 3 runs

5+ hour finishers ran on average 14 miles per week, over 2 runs

Sub 3-hour finishers record heaviest training week four weeks before the marathon, with a distance of 52 miles per week.

5+hour marathon finishers, record heaviest training week six weeks before the event with an average of 20 miles per week.

Clocking up the Miles

The data reveals that to achieve a sub 3-hour marathon runners are putting in an impressive amount of training. Over the 12 weeks leading up to the marathon, sub 3-hour finishers ran on average 42 miles per week, this is almost double the distance of 3-4 hour finishers who ran on average 27 miles per week, and three times the distance of 5-hour plus finishers who ran on average 14 miles per week.

Distance and Frequency

The faster marathon finishers are not just running further; they are running more frequently each week. On average, sub 3-hour finishers spent 5 hours and 22 minutes per week in their running shoes, split over seven runs. Compared with 3-4 hour finishers who spent 3 hours 51 minutes running per week, over four runs. The 4-5 hour finishers averaged 3 hours over 3 runs; with 5- hour plus finishers spending 2 hours 30 minutes running per week over an average of just two runs.

Peaking and Tapering

Sub 3-hour marathon finishers hit their highest training volume four weeks before the marathon. At this point runners reached their heaviest training week, recording an average distance of 51 miles over the week, split across seven runs. The following week only saw a slight drop in mileage where they recorded 49 miles, but over 8 runs. After this there is a more obvious drop in volume to 36 miles, but still running regularly, with seven runs recorded. In marathon week, the sub 3-hour finishers still clocked up 17 miles over five runs. This is only slightly less than the heaviest training week for the 5+hour marathon finishers, who peaked at six weeks before the event with an average of 20 miles per week.

Long Runs Vs Short Runs

Across all finishing times the breakdown of short runs versus long runs was very similar. Runs less than 5 miles accounted for the highest percentage of all training, making up 49% of all runs for sub 3-hour finishers, this was followed closely by runs between 5-10 miles. At the other end of the spectrum runs over 15 miles accounted for only 8% of all training for the sub 3-hour marathon finishers.

For more information on Strava, please visit strava.com