Your plan in four answers
Dublin Marathon has not announced its next date, so we have estimated October. Change the date below once you know it.
- Distances
- Marathon
- Terrain
- Rolling
Course
The Dublin Marathon course
A city-centre loop through Phoenix Park, the Dublin suburbs, and back to a finish near Merrion Square, known for the density of its crowd support. Gently rolling rather than flat, with the climb around Roebuck Road at about mile 22 being the section that decides how the last four miles go.
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Distances
- Marathon
- Weather on race day
- Late October in Dublin is cool, damp, and often windy: starts in the 40s, highs in the 50s, and rain at some point is more likely than not. It is decent racing weather if you dress for wet.
What to train for
A late hill and a wet-weather kit plan.
Training long runs that put a real climb around the 22-mile mark is the specific preparation this course asks for.
Sort out what you will wear in steady rain, because you will very likely need it.
Sample week
A sample Dublin 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 × 1.5 km at 5K to 10K effort, easy jog between
- Wednesday
- Easy run, 10–11 km
- Thursday Key session
- Goal-pace run, 16 km with 10 km at race pace
- Friday
- Recovery run, 6 km, or cross-train
- Saturday Key session
- Long run, 26–29 km, the last 6 km at race pace
- Sunday
- Easy run, 6 km, then 6 relaxed strides
Taper
Tapering for the Dublin 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 rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week.
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 Irish Life Dublin Marathon in October. I run [distance] a week, [days] days a week, easy pace [pace].
Dublin Marathon training questions
How long should I train for the Dublin 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 Dublin Marathon course hilly?
Rolling. A city-centre loop through Phoenix Park, the Dublin suburbs, and back to a finish near Merrion Square, known for the density of its crowd support.
What is the weather usually like at the Dublin Marathon?
Late October in Dublin is cool, damp, and often windy: starts in the 40s, highs in the 50s, and rain at some point is more likely than not. It is decent racing weather if you dress for wet.
When should I start tapering for the Dublin 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 rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week.
Do I need an account to get a Dublin 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.