You’re trying hard. That’s the problem.
The free sub-4-hour marathon plan built on easy miles.
Sub-4 is 5:41 per kilometre for 42.2 km. It is won in the easy weeks. This plan spends most of them well under race pace so the long runs build you up instead of breaking you down.
For the runner chasing four hours who knows the wall is built in training, not on race day.
Why so much easy?
You can’t outrun your easy days. Run easy when it’s easy so you can run hard when it’s hard. Going medium-hard on everything, the grey middle, is where amateur runners stall and where injuries come from. This plan puts a ceiling on your easy runs and saves the effort for the one day a week that earns it.
What a session looks like
CV intervals, week 7. Every quality session in the plan is laid out this way in the app.
The plan, week by week
Free. Take it exactly as it is.
Base
Easy running, plus a time trial to set your paces. Building the engine is still the job.
Build
Quality arrives. One hard session most weeks; the rest stays genuinely easy.
Peak
The sharpest weeks. Hold the zone on the hard days, protect the easy ones.
Taper
Less volume, same intensity. Arrive fresh, not flat.
This is the flat version.
This plan doesn’t know you. It doesn’t know your Tuesday got busy, what your resting heart rate is doing, or that your last race said you’re fitter than you think.
The app does. It sets your real heart-rate zones, moves sessions when life breaks the week, and rebuilds the plan off a mid-block time trial. This page is the template. The app is the coach.
The plan above is yours. No catch.
This one is fixed. The app builds the same plan around your zones, your week and your race date, and two weeks of it costs nothing.
Download on the App StoreQuestions
What pace is a sub-4-hour marathon?
5:41 per kilometre (about 9:09 per mile), held for the full 42.2 km. The hard part is holding it late, which is why this plan protects the easy weeks that build your durability.
How many days a week is this Marathon plan?
5 days a week. Easy runs, and from the build phase a quality session in most weeks. The rest is recovery, on purpose.
Is this Marathon plan good for beginners?
It suits a runner who already runs a little and wants to stop going medium-hard on everything. If you are brand new to running, build an easy base first, then start here.
Do I need a heart-rate monitor for this marathon plan?
No. Every run has a pace band and a zone. A heart-rate monitor just helps you hold the easy days honestly, which is exactly what the app adds on top of this plan.
Can I move the sessions around?
Carefully, yes. Keep the two hardest days apart. The static plan above can’t move itself. Reshaping around the week you actually had is part of the paid tier, and it keeps the easy/hard rhythm intact while it does it.
Why is so much of the plan easy running?
Because you can’t outrun your easy days. Running easy when it’s easy is what lets you run genuinely hard on the one day that earns it. The grey middle, medium-hard on everything, is where amateur runners stall and get injured.