Running a better Marathon in 2025...

I came late in life to running, being one of the Covid lockdown running generation. A keen swimmer before the pools closed in that time, I was 62 years old when I decided to put a little under 12 months work into training for and then running my first full road Marathon late in 2024. But despite careful preparation some mental health issues and some basic preparation flaws meant that my result at this marathon, which I finished, could be best described as sub-optimal.

My plan, (after about a week of wallowing in self pity), was to profit from this relatively poor first result, learn from the experience and then run a much stronger marathon in 2025. I have documented the training, all the hard work on this page as I progressed towards the Sydney Marathon in August 2025, just a few months before I turned 65.

Perhaps this journey that I will document on this page will be useful for you, or perhaps even just a little entertaining? If so please let me know...

12 month plan...

I divided the year into three preparation stages that came close enough to a full 12 months of preparation:

1. Base Training (4 months): A solid training period that aims to establish a really good, strong, base from which to run the upcoming two long races of 2025. Note: This builds on a 3,000km total running distance for 2024 with no significant injury.
2. Half Marathon Prep (3 months): In this period I will improve on the preparation I had done previously for a Half Marathon race with careful use of speed work and longer long runs.
3. Marathon Prep (4 months): 16 weeks of focussed preparation for my second Marathon with a higher base mileage and less of a spike in total distance.

Something new this year is that although I will be running hard in the Half Marathon it is really only part of the preparation for the full Marathon at the end of the year. This gives me functionally 7 months preparation for the Marathon.

Base Training...

16 weeks of solid base training are intended as a foundation for all of my training in 2025. This plan will go from October 2024 through to January 2025, so over the long, hot and humid Australian summer:

So what am I doing differently this time, how have I profited from my poor performance at the 2024 Sydney Marathon? The bulk of the changes in this base period are:

1. Strength and Stability: I have increased these sessions from 2 per week to 3 and on the Wednesday this session importantly is the first session of the day. I have cleaned up my home gym plus the equipment in it as an acknowledgement of the importance of strength work. I will need to return to 2 sessions per week when the weekly distance starts ramping up.
2. Base Mileage:My previous preparation certainly increased my total running distance appropriately but my baseline was low to start with. Consequently I am increasing my base mileage to eliminate the more severe spiking in distance that I saw in last year's Strava total mileage graph. I am achieving 60kms per week in this base training period and there will be nothing heroic about these kilometres but consistency will be there. Total distance for 2024 was just above 3,000kms and this is most definitely a good total from which to springboard into a strong Marathon preparation.
3. Psychological Work: I had a diffcult year with my mental health in 2024 and this profoundly impacted both my training and racing. I have been doing the required work with a really good psychologist and although there is more work to do I now know what I need to do.

So the base period is over with the only real difficulties being some broken ribs after a fall and a sprained ankle while wheel-barrowing concrete. Lesson learned there: no more concrete shifting! Significant enough injuries but I managed. And next there was the Half Marathon preparation:

Half Marathon prep...

Time moves so quickly and it was even a little frightening when I came so quickly to the Half Marathon plan. I am following a commercial plan with the following basic outline:

A few obvious changes from the base training: I have increased the total volume by about 10kms per week as well I will be working in a cycle of 3 build weeks followed by a deload week. I have also eliminated the more 'social' runs as well as eliminating all of the trail running so I can focus purely on the required road work. Boring or focused? I am not sure... Some other major changes from 2024:

1. A 'B' Race: On week 7 of the preparation I ran a flat Half Marathon close to my home. This will be functionally a training run but also a reminder of how a race feels. I ran the first 14kms at an easy pace and then pushed harder for the last 7kms. My last formal race was in September 2024 so a freshen up was called for.
2. Psychological Work: So this appears again! I am focusing on pushing through harder spells of training rather than collapsing as I did in my 2024 Marathon. I have also managed to get my Yoga practice well and truly bedded in again and this has been a huge plus for my mental health! As Swami Satyadharma from the Ashram said to me: 'You have the tools, now use them!'.
3. Weekend of running: More than usual I have dedicated my weekends to getting some large amounts of quality kilometres in. There will usually be a 12km run on the Saturday and then a 22km long run on the Sunday making 34kms for the weekend. Partly important is stacking up the kms but more important is the dedication of the 2 days to running work.

So how did it all go? The Sydney Half Marathon was a really good, solid run on a course with road, studded wharf timbers, gravel and some reasonable hills. I ran it strongly and felt good at the end of the race. I felt psychologically a lot stronger and this was especially noted in the last kilometre or so where 2 long hills were a challenge on tired legs and tired head.

I took a goodly dose of Covid home with me from this race but where would life be without challenges. Ready now for the next phase of training: preparation for the full Marathon!

Marathon prep...

2025 is the first year that the Sydney Marathon will be run as one of the world 'Major' marathon races and it is very, very exciting that I have a place in this race, and that the great Eliud Kipchoge will also be running.

The plan will be as follows:

And in conclusion...

This document will be in production for 12 months, writing it up as I go: as a 64 year old man prepares for, and runs, his second Marathon. I hope such an approach will be useful to you, it is certainly has been a very useful tool for me to organise my own thoughts and work out the optimal training. If this approach has been at all helpful to you please let me know...