Your plan in four answers
New York City Marathon is on November 1, 2026, under four weeks away, so we have set next year's race in November. Change the date below if you are running this one.
- Distances
- Marathon
- Terrain
- Rolling
Course
The New York City Marathon course
All five boroughs, starting on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and finishing in Central Park. The bridges are the hills, and the Queensboro at mile 15 is silent and uphill.
Read the full course notes
Fifth Avenue and the Central Park rollers make the last five miles the hardest part of the course.
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Distances
- Marathon
- Weather on race day
- Early November in New York is usually good racing weather, cool and often windy. The bridge start can be genuinely cold during the long wait.
What to train for
Train for a course that keeps taking away recovery.
Practice long runs that finish uphill, and hold back through Brooklyn: the race is decided after mile 20, in Manhattan.
Sample week
A sample New York City 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
Taper
Tapering for the New York City 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 TCS New York City Marathon in November. I run [distance] a week, [days] days a week, easy pace [pace].
New York City Marathon training questions
How long should I train for the New York City 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 New York City Marathon course hilly?
Rolling. All five boroughs, starting on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and finishing in Central Park.
What is the weather usually like at the New York City Marathon?
Early November in New York is usually good racing weather, cool and often windy. The bridge start can be genuinely cold during the long wait.
When should I start tapering for the New York City 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 New York City 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.