[ RACE.2026 ] 🇺🇸 New York, United States
TCS New York City Marathon Training Plan
1 November 2026
New York is the biggest marathon in the world and one of the slowest of the majors - on purpose. Five boroughs, five bridges, and a crowd that carries you through everything except the parts where you need it most.
What the course is actually like
The race crosses all five boroughs and five bridges, and the bridges are the course. None is brutal alone - the grades are modest - but they arrive at miles 1, 13, 15, 19 and 20, and the climbing accumulates precisely where a marathon hurts. The opening ascent of the Verrazzano is the highest point of the race; the Queensboro at 25-26 km is the most feared, a long, silent, spectator-free grind that dumps you onto the wall of noise on First Avenue.
The last quarter is where New York earns its reputation: a steady rise up Fifth Avenue from the Bronx, then Central Park's relentless rollers to the finish. There is no flat rhythm section anywhere - most runners come in noticeably slower than on a flat course, and that's with even pacing.
How to train for it
Train rolling, not flat. Long runs over continuously undulating terrain - where the grade changes every few minutes and you never settle - mimic New York far better than a single big-hill session. Practise resetting your rhythm after each rise, because the course never gives it back to you for free.
Do some of your hard running where nobody is watching. The Queensboro Bridge is famously quiet, and runners who depend on crowd energy lose more time there than the gradient explains. And rehearse an honest goal: a New York time is not a Berlin time, and pacing off your flat-course PB is how the Central Park hills become a death march.
Weather and what to expect on the day
Early November usually delivers cool, crisp marathon weather, but the range across recent editions has been wide - from near-freezing starts to unseasonably warm, humid days. Layers you can shed matter, and so does the long, cold wait in the start villages: you may spend hours on Staten Island before the gun.
The bridges are exposed to wind from every direction, and a headwind on the Verrazzano makes the opening climb meaner than the map suggests. Nothing about the day is controllable except your first 10K, which should feel embarrassingly easy.
Which distance are you running?
Official site: www.aims-worldrunning.org/races/10100.html
// SAMPLE BUILD
What a 12-week Marathon build looks like
A typical outline for TCS New York City Marathon. Your actual plan is built around your level, schedule and goal time - this shows the shape of the training.
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// HOW IT WORKS
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