Your plan in four answers
Set for October 10, 2027, about 50 weeks out.
- Distances
- Marathon
- Terrain
- Flat
- Taper starts
- September 22, 2027
Course
The Chicago Marathon course
One of the flattest and fastest major marathons in the world, and a regular site of world records. A loop course through the city's neighborhoods with crowds on nearly every mile.
Read the full course notes
The tall buildings downtown can interfere with GPS, so expect your watch to drift from the mile markers.
- Terrain
- Flat
- Distances
- Marathon
- Weather on race day
- October in Chicago is usually excellent for racing, though wind off the lake and the occasional warm year are both real risks.
What to train for
Flat and fast means no recovery from changing terrain: you run the same muscles for the entire distance.
Long runs at goal pace and disciplined even splits matter more here than strength work.
Sample week
A sample Chicago 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
- Intervals: 5 × 1 mile at 5K to 10K effort, easy jog between
- Wednesday
- Easy run, 6–7 mi
- Thursday Key session
- Goal-pace run, 10 mi with 6 mi at race pace
- Friday
- Recovery run, 4 mi, or cross-train
- Saturday Key session
- Long run, 16–18 mi, the last 4 mi at race pace
- Sunday
- Easy run, 4 mi, then 6 relaxed strides
Your build to race day
Taper
Tapering for the Chicago Marathon
Start the taper two to three weeks 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 flat, so pacing decides the day: rehearse your goal pace in short segments during race week. With the race on October 10, 2027, your taper starts around September 22, 2027.
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 Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 10, 2027. I run [distance] a week, [days] days a week, easy pace [pace].
Chicago Marathon training questions
How long should I train for the Chicago Marathon?
Most runners give a marathon sixteen to twenty 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 Chicago Marathon course hilly?
Flat. One of the flattest and fastest major marathons in the world, and a regular site of world records.
What is the weather usually like at the Chicago Marathon?
October in Chicago is usually excellent for racing, though wind off the lake and the occasional warm year are both real risks.
When should I start tapering for the Chicago Marathon?
Start the taper two to three weeks 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 flat, so pacing decides the day: rehearse your goal pace in short segments during race week. With the race on October 10, 2027, your taper starts around September 22, 2027.
Do I need an account to get a Chicago 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.