Marathon and half marathon coaching online

Whether you are training for your first half marathon, aiming to finish 42.2 km feeling strong, or chasing a new PB, a marathon coach can help you line up with a plan that fits real life.

Instead of guessing paces and hoping a generic plan works, you get sessions that match your history, your schedule and your race profile. Your coach builds and updates your plan inside Good Coach App, so you can see what to do this week while they watch the bigger picture over months.

Why work with a marathon coach

Half marathon and marathon training are about more than piling on distance. A good coach helps you:

1. Choose realistic goal times based on your current fitness
2. Build weeks that balance easy runs, workouts and long runs
3. Progress your long run and total volume without sudden jumps
4. Use tools like pace, heart rate, power or RPE in a simple way
5. Blend strength training and mobility in so your body can handle the load
6. Adjust when life happens, for example busy weeks, illness or small injuries

This is where coaching stands out compared with a static 12 week or 16 week plan. You have someone who looks at the whole block, not only the next session.

Online coaching vs a downloadable marathon plan

Most runners start with a free marathon plan from a book or website. These plans can give a good outline, but they do not know you or your life.

A static plan:

1. Keeps going if you miss a week
2. Does not see your sleep, stress or race schedule
3. Cannot answer questions about niggles or race day strategy

With online coaching delivered through Good Coach App, you still see a clear calendar, but it is flexible. Your coach can:

1. Move or change sessions when something comes up
2. Mark key workouts and long runs so you know what to protect
3. Comment on how your long runs, tempos and easy days look in practice
4. Help you adjust expectations if training or life changes

You get the structure of a plan and the support of a person who knows what you are aiming for.

Who marathon coaching is for

Marathon and half marathon coaching can help many different profiles, for example:

1. First time half marathon runners who want to finish without walking the last kilometres
2. Runners planning their first full marathon who want to avoid common mistakes
3. Athletes who have finished a few races but feel stuck at the same time
4. Busy professionals trying to fit training into 3 to 5 days per week
5. Runners moving from road halves to longer road marathons or hilly races
6. Masters runners who need extra focus on recovery, strength and smart intensity

If you also race shorter distances, a coach can use 5k and 10k races during the block as controlled tests instead of random hard days.

How a marathon coaching block usually works

Every coach has a slightly different style, but a typical block might look like this:

1. Base phase, where you build consistent weekly volume and strength, set technical focus points and maybe add light strides or relaxed pickups
2. Specific phase, where long runs and race specific workouts grow, for example blocks at goal marathon pace or progressive tempo runs
3. Taper, where volume drops while you keep some intensity so you reach the start line fresh, not flat
4. Race and recovery, where you get support for pacing, fuelling and post race return to training

Inside the app you see your plan as a calendar. Your coach sees the same calendar plus your completed sessions from devices such as Garmin, COROS, Suunto or Polar, plus your comments and RPE. That makes it easier to tweak along the way.

Marathon and half marathon coaches available

Here are examples of coaches on the platform who work a lot with half marathon and marathon runners and coach in English. You can use them as inspiration for the section where you list trainers.

How to choose the right marathon coach

To find a good fit, look beyond pace charts and titles. Ask potential coaches:

1. Which distances and types of athletes they focus on
2. How many marathon runners they coach at the same time
3. How they usually structure a 12 to 20 week block
4. How often they review your training and send feedback
5. How they handle missed weeks, small injuries or a change in race choice

A good coach will explain their approach in simple language and show how they use the app to manage planning, comments and adjustments. Start with one training block toward a specific race, then extend if the collaboration feels right.