About The Training

The AIDS Marathon is a five to six month training program geared to both beginners and experienced runners.  In the past ten years, more than 20,000 people have completed our program, with 98% of them going on to complete a marathon or half marathon.  You can do it too! 

Read below to learn about our three training options:  the Regular Training Program for beginning runners and marathoners, the Intermediate Training Program for those who have already completed at least one marathon, and the Advanced Training Program for faster runners and experienced marathoners. 

This may be the best thing you do for yourself (and others!) this year, and your life will never be the same.

Regular Marathon Training Program
The Regular Training Program is open to all participants, whether you’re fast or slow.  Even if you’ve never run before, we can prepare you to go the distance.  The training schedule consists of three days of running and walking each week:  two short runs of 30 to 45 minutes on your own during the week, and a longer group run each weekend.  The group runs will start with three miles of running and walking, and then gradually increase in distance. 

(Some of our training seasons also offer a half marathon training program.  These programs start with just one mile.)

During the first three mile group run, we will help you identify a comfortable running pace and place you in a “pace group” with other runners who have the same level of conditioning.  Each weekend your pace group will meet at the training site to do your long runs together.  The group training runs will gradually increase in distance as you build up your endurance.  Each long run should be done at a comfortable and relatively slow “training pace”.  A slow training pace, with occasional walk breaks, will allow your body to recover quickly and reduce your risk of injury. 

Advanced Marathon Training Program
In addition to our regular marathon training program, the AIDS Marathon now offers an Advanced Training Program that is geared specifically towards experienced, faster runners as well as veteran marathoners who have a specific time goal for their next event.  While everyone is welcome to join our regular training program, the advanced program will be a more rigorous athletic endeavor that is not well suited for everyone.  The advanced program consists hill training, tempo runs, interval training, and gradually increasing long runs.  The advanced program is designed for two types of participants:

 

Experienced marathoners with a realistic marathon time goal between 3 hrs and 4 hrs, 45 min.

or

Experienced runners who regularly run distances of six to ten miles (at a minimum 10-minute per mile pace) and are currently running at least twenty miles per week.

If you are interested in joining the Advanced Marathon Training Program, please speak with one of our Program Reps to discuss your goals for the upcoming marathon and to make sure you meet the prerequisites for joining the advanced program.

Intermediate Marathon Training Program
The Intermediate Training Program is available to AIDS Marathon alumni and other experienced marathoners who wish to improve their marathon time, but do not anticipate running a marathon in 4 hrs, 45 min or less.  The intermediate program will be a combination of our advanced and regular training programs.