Your plan in four answers
Baltimore Marathon has not announced its next date, so we have estimated October. Change the date below once you know it.
- Distances
- 5K, 10K, Half marathon, Marathon
- Terrain
- Hilly
Course
The Baltimore Marathon course
A city-wide race weekend that runs the Inner Harbor, Druid Hill Park, Lake Montebello, and the neighbourhoods between them. The marathon front-loads its climbing, with a long grind out of the harbour early, and the flat lap of Lake Montebello arrives late enough to be a genuine relief.
- Terrain
- Hilly
- Distances
- 5K, 10K, Half marathon, Marathon
- Weather on race day
- Mid-October in Baltimore is usually cool and pleasant: starts in the 40s or 50s, finishes in the 60s. Humidity is normally gone by then, which makes this one of the better dates on the mid-Atlantic calendar.
What to train for
Front-loaded hill work and restraint.
Because the climbing comes early, the mistake is arriving at the top of the first long hill having spent a marathon's worth of effort in eight miles.
Train climbs at steady effort and rehearse holding back when the crowd noise says otherwise.
Sample week
A sample Baltimore Marathon training week
A week from the middle of the build, about six weeks out. Your plan sets the real distances and paces from your own fitness and adjusts them every week as you train.
- Monday
- Rest, or 20 minutes of mobility
- Tuesday Key session
- Hill repeats: 8 × 90 s up a steady grade, jog back down
- Wednesday
- Easy run, 5–6 mi
- Thursday Key session
- Goal-pace run, 7 mi with 4 mi at race pace
- Friday
- Recovery run, 4 mi, or cross-train
- Saturday Key session
- Long run, 10–12 mi on hilly ground, steady effort on the climbs
- Sunday
- Easy run, 4 mi, then 6 relaxed strides
Taper
Tapering for the Baltimore Marathon
Start the taper ten to fourteen days before race day. Cut your weekly volume by about a third, then by half in race week, and keep a few short efforts at race pace so your legs stay sharp. The course is hilly, so keep one short hill session in the first taper week to keep the climbs familiar.
Also in Claude
Ask Claude for this plan
Add AthleteSpace to Claude once, then paste this prompt and put in your own numbers.
Build me a training plan for the The Baltimore Running Festival (Half marathon) in October. I run [distance] a week, [days] days a week, easy pace [pace].
Baltimore Marathon training questions
How long should I train for the Baltimore Marathon?
Most runners give a half marathon twelve to sixteen weeks of focused training on top of an existing base. The plan above counts back from your actual race date, so if you have less time than that it builds the best plan the remaining weeks allow rather than pretending you have longer.
Is the Baltimore Marathon course hilly?
Hilly. A city-wide race weekend that runs the Inner Harbor, Druid Hill Park, Lake Montebello, and the neighbourhoods between them.
What is the weather usually like at the Baltimore Marathon?
Mid-October in Baltimore is usually cool and pleasant: starts in the 40s or 50s, finishes in the 60s. Humidity is normally gone by then, which makes this one of the better dates on the mid-Atlantic calendar.
When should I start tapering for the Baltimore Marathon?
Start the taper ten to fourteen days before race day. Cut your weekly volume by about a third, then by half in race week, and keep a few short efforts at race pace so your legs stay sharp. The course is hilly, so keep one short hill session in the first taper week to keep the climbs familiar.
Do I need an account to get a Baltimore Marathon training plan?
No. The plan above builds in your browser with no account, no email, and no card. Make a free account only if you want to keep it, log your runs against it, and have the coach keep adapting it as your training goes.