A marathon plan sized to your actual week.
Two to six days, whatever session length you can give it, periodized properly and adjusted each morning around your sleep and HRV. When race day arrives inside the block, the block becomes your taper.
Four weeks at a time, on purpose.
Most marathon plans are sixteen weeks of sessions written before they have met you. They are also, by about week six, fiction.
Paceo builds four weeks at a time. Two weeks of building, a peak week, then a deload so the block ends absorbed rather than accumulated. When you finish one, you renew into the next, and it starts a little further along than the one before.
The block is short enough to be honest about the life you are actually living and long enough to be periodized properly. And because each new block is written from the training you completed rather than the training you were assigned, a rough month makes the next block sensible instead of impossible.
The one thing that overrides the shape is your race. Tell the app how many weeks out you are, and when race day falls inside the current block, the last two weeks stop building and back off into race week freshness.
What a race does to the block.
Both blocks below start the same way. They part in week three, which is where a taper is decided rather than in the last three days.
Week three of a build block.
A five day marathon build with one lifting session. This is the heaviest week of the four; the week after it drops by roughly a third.
The same block, tapered.
When the race lands inside the block, volume comes off early and the quality work shortens rather than disappearing.
Built for the distance.
Long runs that go somewhere
The long run is the spine of the block and grows with it, rather than sitting at the same distance for twelve weeks because a PDF said so.
Quality that fits the phase
Intervals, tempo and fartlek are chosen for where you are in the block and how experienced you are, not sprinkled evenly across it.
Strength that does not wreck Tuesday
Lifting is planned against the same weekly load as the running, so a heavy lower body day never lands the night before your intervals.
A real taper
When race day falls inside your block, the last two weeks stop building and back off into race week freshness instead of deloading on the usual schedule.
Fuel for the mileage
Calorie and macro targets move with the week. Long run Sunday eats differently from rest day Monday, and the app does that arithmetic for you.
It survives real life
Tell it you are travelling, ill or wrecked. It moves the sessions that can move and protects the ones that cannot, then carries on.
From quiz to start line.
- 01Tell it about the racePick marathon as your event and say roughly how many weeks out you are. That single answer is what turns a normal block into race preparation.
- 02Tell it about your weekTwo to six days, twenty minutes to three hours a session. The plan is built to the time you actually have, which is the only version of it you will follow.
- 03Train the block in front of youFour weeks at a time: build, build, peak, absorb. Each morning the block is adjusted around your sleep, HRV and resting heart rate.
- 04Renew until race weekFinish a block and start the next one, a little further along. When the race lands inside a block, that block becomes the taper.
Common questions.
- How long is the marathon plan?
- Paceo works in four week blocks rather than handing you one sixteen week wall of sessions. You renew a block when it ends, and each one starts a notch further along than the last. If your race falls inside the current block, that block becomes your taper.
- Why blocks instead of a full sixteen week plan?
- Because nobody follows week fourteen of a plan written before week one. A block is short enough to be honest about what you can do and long enough to be periodized properly, and it is rebuilt from the training you actually completed rather than the training you were assigned.
- How many days a week do I need?
- Anywhere from two to six. More days give the plan more room to separate quality from easy volume, but a three day marathon block is a real plan, not a consolation prize.
- Does it handle the taper?
- Yes. Tell it how many weeks out your race is. When race day lands inside the block, the plan stops building after the second week and backs off into race week instead of following the usual build, build, peak, deload shape.
- Can I train for a half marathon, 10K or 5K?
- All of them. Marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K are event options, and the plan shapes its long run and quality work around whichever you pick.
- Can I lift while marathon training?
- Yes, and it is planned rather than bolted on. Strength sessions are scheduled against the same weekly load as the running, so a heavy lower body day does not land next to your hardest run.
- What happens if I get ill or miss a week?
- Tell the app, or just miss it. The daily adjustment works from your actual recovery, and when the plan and your training drift far enough apart the app rebuilds from what you did rather than pretending the missed week happened.
Shorter race? There is a half marathon plan. Lifting alongside it is strength for runners, and the morning adjustment is explained in HRV and readiness. Coaching runners through one? There is a coach side.
Get to the start line trained, not cooked.
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