How I Ran a Sub-3 Hour Marathon Without a Long Run

Two years of short runs, long walks, and consistent hybrid training

Earlier this year, I ran a 2:58-hour marathon in Sydney. This was despite never having run more than 23 km prior to the race. Here’s how I was able to progress to this point over the course of two years.

1. My regular running began when I moved to Sydney in June 2023 and joined a run club. Prior to that, I was running around 6.9 km a week and was able to run 5 km in about 20–22 minutes.

The run club I joined in Sydney made a big difference. Before moving, I was averaging 5–10 km of running a week and could run 5 km in 20–22 minutes.

2. I was able to quickly add volume after initially joining the run club. My training increased to 30 km a week over the first two months and hit 70 km for the first time just nine weeks after starting with the group. This initial jump from under 10 km of weekly volume to 40 km was probably the hardest part of what would become a two-year training block.

Joining a run club helped me gain consistency and build up to regular 30+ km weeks. The club met on Tuesdays and Saturdays for easy social runs, and on Thursdays for a track session. Run club volume was around 25 km each week.

I was thrilled with my first-ever run longer than 10 km, which happened about one month after joining. This felt like a huge accomplishment!

3. I continued to see steady increases in weekly volume over the next 18 months, peaking at 115 km in a single week. Average volume for the two-year block leading to the marathon was 59 km per week.

My highest-volume week (115 km) was about five months before the marathon. Volume dropped to around 50 km per week in the three months leading up to the race.

4. In addition to running about an hour a day, I also did a lot of walking and some strength training. Walking was my main activity at about 1.5 hours a day. I strength trained roughly two to three times per week. Muscle mass increased during this time, weight remained fairly stable, body fat decreased slightly.

My daily steps increased drastically after moving to Sydney in June 2023. I now average around 22,000 steps a day. Walking is one of my main forms of transport since I don’t have a car.

5. I very rarely did long runs. Prior to the marathon, I had never run more than 23 km in a single session. In the three months leading up to the race, my longest runs were a 14 km race (3:57 min/km) and a 23 km time-on-feet practice run (6:45 min/km) two weeks before the marathon.

Most weeks, my longest run was less than 10 km, and most of my runs were under 5 km. I prefer to run frequently—often two to three times a day. For example: a 3 km run to meet a friend for coffee, followed by a 1 km run and a 2 km walk home.

6. I saw steady improvements in pace across all intensity zones. Zone 2 pace improved from around 5:45 min/km to about 5:00 min/km, and threshold pace improved from around 5:00 min/km to 4:00 min/km.

I saw very steady improvements in pace across all intensity zones.

7. Zone 1 was my dominant training zone. I accumulated 340 hours of training volume in the year leading up to the marathon—76% of it at Zone 2 or lower, and only 7% at Zone 4 or higher (mostly from races or the weekly track session).

Vast majority of my training volume was zone 2 or lower

Zone 1 and Zone 2 were by the far the biggest buckets of volume every month.

9. I ran a 14 km race at 3:53 min/km three weeks before the marathon, which gave me confidence that I could hold sub-3-hour marathon pace.

My race results in the half marathon, 10 km, and 14 km distances gave me further confidence that a three-hour marathon was within reach.

10. I woke up as late as possible on marathon day to maximize sleep and reduce disruptions to my normal schedule. I got up at 5:35 a.m. for a 6:31 a.m. start and arrived at the start line just as my group was leaving. I skipped breakfast since a big meal felt like too much of an unknown. I took one gel on the train to the start line and six more during the race. My energy levels felt great throughout—there was no sense of hitting a wall or bonking.

11. My pace was eventually limited by muscular tightness. I felt great aerobically the whole way, but around the 30 km mark I noticed subtle pain in my hamstrings and calves. This limited my ability to push, especially on the downhills. Despite this I was still able to hold on for a sub-3 hour marathon!

Pace dropped slightly on the downhill segment around kilometers 38–39 as I began to feel muscular issues in my calves and hamstrings.

I’m now in an off-season and am back to muscle-building mode, while also trying to gain proficiency in other endurance activities like swimming and rowing.

I believe that more cross-training will help me to build an even bigger aerobic engine for next year!