St. George, UT · October
St. George Marathon Training Plan
A free 5k, half marathon, and marathon plan for the St. George Marathon, built around the course and your current fitness. Answer four questions and you will see every week of it. No account, no email, no card.
- Distances
- 5K, Half marathon, Marathon
- Course
- Rolling
- Usually held
- Each October
The St. George Marathon course
A point-to-point net-downhill course that starts in the Pine Valley mountains and descends nearly 2,600 feet through southern Utah red rock country to Worthen Park in St. George. It is one of the best-known Boston qualifiers in the country, and it is not uniformly downhill: the Veyo hill early on is a genuine climb and the profile undulates before the long descent into town. Registration is first-come rather than a lottery, and it fills.
Weather on race day
Early October in southern Utah means a cold, dark bus ride to a start line in the 30s or 40s, and a finish that can be in the 70s. The temperature swing over four hours is larger than almost any other US marathon.
What to train for
Downhill quad conditioning above all. The descent is long enough that quad failure, not aerobic fitness, ends most bad days here. Build downhill long runs progressively over the last two months, and do not treat Veyo as a formality: it arrives early enough to ruin the pacing of anyone who charges it.
Registration and official details: St. George Marathon official site
St. George Marathon training questions
How long should I train for the St. George 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 St. George Marathon course hilly?
Rolling. A point-to-point net-downhill course that starts in the Pine Valley mountains and descends nearly 2,600 feet through southern Utah red rock country to Worthen Park in St. George. It is one of the best-known Boston qualifiers in the country, and it is not uniformly downhill: the Veyo hill early on is a genuine climb and the profile undulates before the long descent into town. Registration is first-come rather than a lottery, and it fills.
What is the weather usually like at the St. George Marathon?
Early October in southern Utah means a cold, dark bus ride to a start line in the 30s or 40s, and a finish that can be in the 70s. The temperature swing over four hours is larger than almost any other US marathon.
Do I need an account to get a St. George 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.
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