Spring marathon training for women over 40.

When to start training for a spring marathon

Count back 16 to 18 weeks from race day. For a mid-April marathon, an 18-week build starts in mid-December and a 16-week build in late December. For a late-March race, the 18-week build starts in mid-November, which is closer than it sounds. Put in your race date below to see your own calendar.

Common spring race windows, with week 1 starting on a Monday:

Why 18 weeks makes sense over 40

An 18-week build is our default for women over 40 because recovery, not fitness, is usually what limits the block. Hard sessions take longer to absorb, sleep can be disrupted by perimenopause, and tendons and bone adapt more slowly than heart and lungs. Two extra weeks let you take a cutback week every third or fourth week and still lose a few days to a cold or a bad patch without cramming the long runs together.

Choose 16 weeks only if you are already running about 25 miles (40 km) a week with a long run of 8 to 10 miles and no recent injuries. Before week 1 of either build, aim to have:

• Four runs a week feeling routine, most of them easy.
• A long run of 6 to 8 miles that you recover from in a day or two.
• Two strength sessions a week already in the habit, not added in week 10. See how often women over 40 should lift.

The four phases of an 18-week build

The block moves through base, build, peak, and taper. Mileage rises in small steps with a lighter week every three or four weeks, and the perimenopause adjustment is the same throughout: keep the plan, but let the day's check-in decide how hard the hard day is.

Base builds the engine and the habit. Almost everything is easy, with strides or short hills once a week to keep some speed. Build adds a tempo run or intervals and grows the long run. Peak brings the longest runs, with segments at marathon effort inside them. Taper cuts volume by roughly a quarter to a third each week while keeping a little race-pace running so you do not feel flat.

Over 50, or past menopause, many women do better with one quality session a week and a longer recovery after the biggest long runs. See marathon training for intermediate women over 50 for a sample week, and marathon training during menopause for the reasoning behind it.

Training through winter and the holidays

For a spring race, December and January are base months, which is the most forgiving place for the holidays to land. A missed run in week 3 costs almost nothing. A missed long run in week 15 costs more.

• Make the holidays a cutback week. Plan a lighter week around Christmas instead of fighting it, then resume.
• Run in daylight when you can. Lunchtime runs help with both safety and winter mood. Save the dark for well-lit routes or the treadmill.
• Use the treadmill on icy days. A fall on ice is a far bigger setback than a treadmill run. Set a 1 percent incline if you like.
• Layer for hot flashes. Many women in perimenopause overheat suddenly mid-run, even in winter. Wear layers you can tie around your waist rather than one heavy jacket. More on this in exercising with hot flashes.
• Warm up longer. Five extra minutes of easy jogging and drills before a cold-weather session is cheap protection for calves and Achilles tendons.

Strength through the block

Keep lifting from week 1 to race week. Strength work is what keeps tendons, bone, and muscle ahead of the rising mileage, and it matters more after 40, when injury risk climbs. Two heavy sessions a week through base and build, one or two lighter ones at peak, and one light full-body session in the taper. Place heavy leg work on hard running days or after easy runs, never the day before the long run.

Short sets of small jumps add bone-loading impact that steady running does not. See plyometrics for bone density and strength training for female runners over 40.

Your cycle and perimenopause across 18 weeks

An 18-week build spans four or five cycles if you still have periods, and in perimenopause those cycles may be shorter, longer, or skipped. That makes a cycle-timed calendar unreliable. A better approach:

• Plan the week, decide the day. Put two key sessions in the week, then move them a day either way based on sleep and energy.
• Expect some heavy weeks. Many women find the days before a period feel harder, with more heat and higher perceived effort. Run by effort rather than pace on those days.
• Rehearse in every phase. You cannot pick your cycle day for race day, so make sure some long runs fall on your worst days too. You will know what to expect.
• Watch sleep, not just mileage. Night sweats and broken sleep are recovery problems. A run of bad nights is a reason to swap a hard session for an easy one, not to push through.

If your runs have recently started to feel harder for no obvious reason, read why running feels harder during perimenopause before you start the block.

Fueling the long runs

Long runs are fueling rehearsals. For runs longer than about 90 minutes, sports nutrition guidance, including the American College of Sports Medicine's position on nutrition and athletic performance, suggests around 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour. Start practicing in the build phase so your gut is trained by race day. Around the long runs:

• Eat a carbohydrate-based meal before long runs and hard sessions.
• Get protein in soon after, and across the day. Most women over 40 eat less than they need: see protein for women over 40.
• Do not train in a calorie deficit through the peak weeks. Under-fueling is a leading driver of bone stress injuries.
• If you still have periods, keep an eye on iron. See iron and ferritin for female runners.

Running a spring half instead

A spring half marathon needs 12 weeks from a base of three or four runs a week, so a mid-April half starts in late January, well after the holidays. It is a strong choice if this is your first race in a while, or if perimenopause has made the last year unpredictable. See half marathon training in perimenopause and the intermediate half marathon week for women over 40.