Training for the 2023 Nashville Marathon

I am in the beginning of training for my first marathon, the Nashville Rock ’n’ Roll marathon, and I thought I would share my training plan.

I usually follow a Jack Daniels training approach with a few modifications. This plan is his “Novice” marathon plan with the following changes:

The plan starts with run-walking, but progresses to runs longer than I have ever run. I am running the longer option of what I would normally run or what the plan calls for. Any time the plan calls for run-walking, I am running easy.
The plan calls for marathon and threshold pace volumes that exceed his recommendations earlier in the book. In the spirit of “better to be under-trained than injured,” I am capping the volume of those workouts at the recommended amount.
I have found that training in blocks of four weeks, with three weeks “up” and one week “down”, is helpful, both physically and mentally.
I have a few races planned during the cycle. Those will replace the shorter workout for that week. The longer workout will move to mid-week.
Perhaps the silliest thing I have done recently with my training is shift what constitutes “a week” based on the race date. So for this plan, the training week runs Saturday through Friday. It is a little brain-crampy, but not as bad as my last training cycle which ended with a race on Thursday, so my training week was Thursday through Wednesday.

In the outlined plan, “E” is “Easy pace,” “M” is “Marathon pace”, and “T” is “Threshold pace”. These are 3 of the 5 training paces that Daniels outlines. Each pace is specific to an individual and their current fitness, as demonstrated in a recent race effort. “ST” is “Strides”, which are short, eased-in and eased-out, top-speed intervals with full recovery.

Intervals are noted as number of reps x interval (recovery). So “5 x 3' T (2')” is 5 reps of 3 minutes at Threshold pace with 2 minute recoveries.

View a Google Sheets version of the plan.

Week of 12/3

Saturday: 90' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 60' E
Tuesday: 35' E
Wednesday: 60' E
Thursday: 35' E
Friday: 35' E
Total minutes: 315

Week of 12/10

Saturday: 90' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 60' E
Tuesday: 35' E
Wednesday: 60' E
Thursday: 35' E
Friday: 35' E
Total minutes: 315

Week of 12/17

Saturday: 90' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 60' E
Tuesday: 35' E
Wednesday: 60' E
Thursday: 35' E
Friday: 35' E
Total minutes: 315

Week of 12/24

Saturday: 70' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 45' E
Tuesday: 25' E
Wednesday: 45' E
Thursday: 25' E
Friday: 25' E
Total minutes: 235

Week of 12/31

Saturday: 90' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 60' E
Tuesday: 40' E
Wednesday: 60' E
Thursday: 40' E
Friday: 40' E
Total minutes: 330

Week of 1/7

Saturday: 90' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 60' E
Tuesday: 40' E
Wednesday: 60' E
Thursday: 40' E
Friday: 40' E
Total minutes: 330

Week of 1/14

Saturday: 90' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 60' E
Tuesday: 40' E
Wednesday: 60' E
Thursday: 40' E
Friday: 40' E
Total minutes: 330

Week of 1/21

Saturday: 20' E + 5 x 3' T (2') + 10 ST + 15' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 30' E
Tuesday: 30' E
Wednesday: 20' E + 3 x 5' T (2') + 15' E
Thursday: 30' E
Friday: 30' E
Total minutes: 246

Week of 1/28

Saturday: 20' E + 5 x 3' T (2') + 10 ST + 30' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 40' E
Tuesday: 40' E
Wednesday: 20' E + 2 x 5' T (2') + 45' E
Thursday: 40' E
Friday: 40' E
Total minutes: 329

Week of 2/4

Saturday: 35' E + 5' T + 50' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 40' E
Tuesday: 40' E
Wednesday: 15' E + 5 ST + 5' E + 20' T + 35' E
Thursday: 40' E
Friday: 40' E
Total minutes: 330

Week of 2/11

Saturday: 35' E + 5' T + 50' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 40' E
Tuesday: 40' E
Wednesday: 15' E + 5 ST + 5' E + 20' T + 35' E
Thursday: 40' E
Friday: 40' E
Total minutes: 330

Week of 2/18

Saturday: 90' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 20' E
Tuesday: 20' E
Wednesday: 20' E + 15' T + 40' E
Thursday: 20' E
Friday: 20' E
Total minutes: 245

Week of 2/25

Saturday: 20' E + 2 x 6' T (2') + 60' E + 8' T + 15' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 40' E
Tuesday: 35' E
Wednesday: 20' E + 2 x 6' T (2') + 10' E + 2 x 6' T (2') + 10' E
Thursday: 40' E
Friday: 20' E
Total minutes: 326

Week of 3/4

Saturday: 10' E + 50' M + 45' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 40' E
Tuesday: 40' E
Wednesday: 20' E + 2 x 10' T (2') + 30' E
Thursday: 40' E
Friday: 20' E
Total minutes: 329

Week of 3/11

Saturday: 120' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 40' E
Tuesday: 40' E
Wednesday: 20' E + 4 x 6' T (1') + 20' E
Thursday: 40' E
Friday: 25' E
Total minutes: 326

Week of 3/18

Saturday: 20' E + 2 x 6' T (1') + 60' E + 6' T + 15' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 25' E
Tuesday: 20' E
Wednesday: 20' E + 10' T + 35' E
Thursday: 20' E
Friday: 20' walk
Total minutes: 247

Week of 3/25

Saturday: 150' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 40' E
Tuesday: 20' E
Wednesday: 20' E + 2 x 10' T (2') + 20' E
Thursday: 35' E
Friday: 20' E
Total minutes: 329

Week of 4/1

Saturday: 10' E + 50' M + 75' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 40' E
Tuesday: 35' E
Wednesday: 20' E + 2 x 12' T (2') + 10' E
Thursday: 40' E
Friday: 20' E
Total minutes: 328

Week of 4/8

Saturday: 135' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 25' E
Tuesday: 20' walk
Wednesday: 20' E + 3 x 6' T (1') + 25' E
Thursday: 20' E
Friday: 20' walk
Total minutes: 246

Week of 4/15

Saturday: 90' E
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: 20' E + 2 x 5' T (2') + 10' E
Tuesday: 20' E
Wednesday: 20' walk
Thursday: Rest day
Friday: 20' E
Total minutes: 174

Week of 4/22

Saturday: Race day!