A full 21-week build to a sub-3:30 marathon — every run, strength session, and recovery day, base through race day. The Today button always lands on today\'s session.
It shows how a sub-3:30 marathon build looks inside Elite Metabolix — a week-by-week calendar, tappable sessions, exercise demos with form cues, a plain-language glossary, and a 30-second daily check-in. Your real plan is built around your goal, schedule, history, and how you respond week to week. Apply to get yours →
Elite Metabolix covers training, fueling, and recovery only. Anything medical — pain, injury, bloodwork, medication — stays with your physician or another licensed provider. Never run through pain; when in doubt, get it checked.
A balanced week — quality midweek, long run on the weekend, easy running and lower-leg strength around them — from base through race day. Volume climbs gradually with a planned down week every 3–4 weeks, because steady beats heroic in a marathon build. Tap a week, then any day.
Fueling for a marathon comes down to three things: eating mostly whole foods day to day, getting enough protein to stay durable, and timing carbohydrate around the running. This is the reasoning, not a rigid diet.
The everyday plate leans Mediterranean: more fiber and whole grains, fish and plants, olive oil over butter, fewer refined-carb and fried foods. It's a habit, not a restriction. (Anything medical — bloodwork or medication — stays entirely with your physician; we don't touch those.)
A bigger runner has higher absolute needs and more tendon load per stride. Protein stays high (~1.8–2.0 g/kg, roughly 165–185 g/day) to protect muscle and support connective-tissue repair through a heavy build.
Carbohydrate is the fuel for long miles. We periodize it — more on long-run and quality days, less on easy and rest days — so the tank is full when the work demands it. Eat enough to train well; under-fueling a marathon build is how injuries and stalls happen.
Anchor carbs around the running; pull them back on rest days. Protein and the whole-food base hold steady all week. On long runs over ~75 min, practice taking carbs every 30–40 min so race-day fueling is rehearsed.
Training, fueling, and recovery only — no diagnosis, no lab interpretation, no medical management. Bloodwork, any injury or medical condition, and any medication or supplement decisions stay with your physician, sports-medicine doctor, registered dietitian, or PT. If their guidance and this plan ever disagree, theirs wins.
Tap any exercise for sets, a live tempo animation, and exactly how to perform it — plus an optional video demo a tap away. Calf and lower-leg work is the durability anchor; the bigger lifts build the strength to hold pace late. Keep every rep pain-free, and let your PT set anything injury-specific.