Many runners sabotage their progress with common mistakes—like increasing mileage

Training for a marathon is an ambitious and rewarding goal, but it is also where many runners unintentionally undermine their own success. Whether you are preparing for your first marathon or chasing a personal best, mistakes in training can lead to stalled progress, injury, or a disappointing race-day experience. Understanding these common pitfalls—and how to avoid them—can make the difference between merely finishing and performing at your best.

Below are the most frequent mistakes runners make when training for a marathon, along with practical guidance to help you train smarter and more sustainably.

1. Doing Too Much, Too Soon

One of the most common errors is increasing mileage or intensity too quickly. Many runners feel motivated early in the training cycle and push beyond what their body is ready to handle. While enthusiasm is valuable, rapid increases in volume often lead to overuse injuries such as shin splints, plantar fasciitis, or stress fractures.

What to do instead:
Follow gradual progression principles. Weekly mileage increases should be conservative, and recovery weeks should be built into your plan. Consistency over time is far more effective than short bursts of excessive training.

2. Ignoring Easy Runs and Recovery

Runners often believe that every run needs to be hard to be effective. This leads to turning easy runs into moderate efforts and hard workouts into maximal ones. Over time, this approach compromises recovery and limits adaptation.

What to do instead:
Easy runs should feel genuinely easy. They support aerobic development, improve running economy, and allow your body to recover between harder sessions. Recovery is not a weakness; it is a critical part of performance improvement.

3. Training Without a Clear Purpose

Many runners follow generic plans or randomly select workouts without understanding why they are doing them. This lack of structure can result in missed adaptations and inefficient training.

What to do instead:
Every run should have a purpose—whether it is building endurance, improving speed, developing marathon-specific fitness, or promoting recovery. A well-structured plan aligns workouts with your current fitness level, goals, and race timeline.

4. Neglecting Strength and Mobility Work

Marathon training is not just about running. Skipping strength training and mobility work leaves runners vulnerable to imbalances and breakdowns, especially as fatigue accumulates later in the training cycle.

What to do instead:
Incorporate regular strength training focused on the hips, glutes, core, and lower legs. Mobility and stability work can improve running mechanics, reduce injury risk, and enhance overall durability.

5. Fueling and Hydration Mistakes

Many runners underfuel during training or wait until race day to experiment with nutrition. This often results in energy crashes, poor recovery, and gastrointestinal issues during the marathon.

What to do instead:
Practice fueling during long runs. Learn what types and amounts of carbohydrates work best for you, and develop a hydration strategy that accounts for sweat rate and environmental conditions. Nutrition should be trained just like fitness.

6. Skipping Rest Days or Ignoring Fatigue Signals

Runners are often conditioned to “push through” discomfort, but there is a critical difference between training stress and warning signs of injury or burnout. Ignoring persistent fatigue, soreness, or declining performance can derail an entire training cycle.

What to do instead:
Listen to your body. Planned rest days and flexible adjustments are signs of intelligent training, not lost fitness. Long-term progress depends on staying healthy and consistent.

7. Racing the Marathon in Training

Some runners approach long runs and workouts as mini race simulations, running them too fast or with excessive intensity. This leads to accumulated fatigue and reduces peak performance on race day.

What to do instead:
Train with discipline. Marathon pace work should be controlled and intentional, not all-out. Save your best effort for race day, when it matters most.

8. Lack of Individualization

No two runners are the same. Generic plans do not account for individual differences in background, injury history, lifestyle, recovery capacity, or goals.

What to do instead:
The most effective marathon training is individualized. Plans should adapt to your data, schedule, and responses to training. Personalization allows you to maximize gains while minimizing risk.