Your plan in four answers
Set for November 29, 2026, about 5 weeks out.
- Distances
- Half marathon, Marathon
- Terrain
- Hilly
- Taper starts
- November 11, 2026
Course
The Seattle Marathon course
A long-established late-season race around Lake Washington and the city's waterfront. Seattle's geography does the work: the course rolls constantly and the climbs, while short, arrive at points where you would rather they did not.
Read the full course notes
It is not a course anyone chooses for a personal best.
- Terrain
- Hilly
- Distances
- Half marathon, Marathon
- Weather on race day
- Late November in Seattle means cold, grey, and frequently wet. Starts in the 30s or 40s with rain are the normal case, and the wind off the water makes exposed sections feel colder than the number.
What to train for
Rolling-hill strength and wet-weather logistics.
Train the ability to run climbs at even effort rather than even pace, and sort out gloves, layers, and shoe choice for rain in advance.
The taper weeks fall in a dark, cold part of the year, which is its own discipline problem.
Sample week
A sample Seattle 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: 10 × 90 s up a steady grade, jog back down
- 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 on hilly ground, steady effort on the climbs
- Sunday
- Easy run, 4 mi, then 6 relaxed strides
Your build to race day
Taper
Tapering for the Seattle 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 hilly, so keep one short hill session in the first taper week to keep the climbs familiar. With the race on November 29, 2026, your taper starts around November 11, 2026.
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 UW Medicine Seattle Marathon and Half Marathon on November 29, 2026. I run [distance] a week, [days] days a week, easy pace [pace].
Seattle Marathon training questions
How long should I train for the Seattle 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 Seattle Marathon course hilly?
Hilly. A long-established late-season race around Lake Washington and the city's waterfront.
What is the weather usually like at the Seattle Marathon?
Late November in Seattle means cold, grey, and frequently wet. Starts in the 30s or 40s with rain are the normal case, and the wind off the water makes exposed sections feel colder than the number.
When should I start tapering for the Seattle 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 hilly, so keep one short hill session in the first taper week to keep the climbs familiar. With the race on November 29, 2026, your taper starts around November 11, 2026.
Do I need an account to get a Seattle 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.