Keith and Kevin Hanson owned running shops around Detroit, and in 1999 they founded an elite group for runners just out of college. It produced Olympic marathoners Brian Sell and Desiree Linden. The plans on this page come from Hansons Coaching Services, which Luke Humphrey started in 2006 after running with that group, and from the Hansons Marathon Method books he wrote with the brothers. There are 5 of them: a beginner and an advanced plan for the marathon, the same pair for the half marathon, and a 10K from the shops for people who don't run yet.
Each plan is graded on the same 31 measures we use for every plan, with the research behind each measure linked. The ladder is strict. A C is a decent plan with gaps worth knowing about, and all 5 Hansons plans earn one. Open any plan to see what it does well, where it falls short, and who it suits.
- Plans reviewed
- 5
- Goals
- 10K, Half Marathon, Marathon
- Length
- 18–20 weeks
- Run days
- 5–6 a week
- Peak mileage
- 16–62 miles a week
10K plans
Half Marathon plans
Marathon plans
Training with Hansons
The Hansons plans are built on an idea the books call cumulative fatigue. Instead of one huge weekend run, the work is spread across 6 days of running, with no rest day before the long run, so you start it on legs that are already a little tired. Humphrey sets the long run by time on your feet and its share of the week, which is why it stops at 16 miles in the marathon plans and at 12 or 14 in the half. The brothers like to say the 16-miler isn't like the first 16 miles of a marathon but the last 16. If a 20-mile training run is what's been holding you back, that's the draw, and it's a coherent trade: the rest of the week carries the miles a longer Sunday would.
Two hard days a week do the sharpening. One brings repeats, short and quick at first, then longer ones a touch faster than goal pace. The other is what Hansons calls a tempo run, held at your goal race pace rather than the harder effort the word usually means. By the end of the beginner marathon plan, you'll have held goal marathon pace for 10 miles 3 times. Every pace comes from your goal, set from a recent race and checked again around weeks 5 to 8.
That practice is why race readiness is the strongest part of the set. The gaps sit in the build. None of the plans gives you a lighter week to absorb the work before the taper, and the beginner plans are beginner plans more in name than in shape. The beginner half climbs from 10 miles a week on 3 runs to a peak of 48 on 6, and the beginner marathon from 12 miles to nearly 58, with a big jump in week 6. Sharp jumps in weekly running raise the risk of injury. Strength work, which the books cover, is left for you to fit in.
The 10K is a different kind of plan: the shops' walk-to-jog page. Week 1 is three 30-minute walks, and every jog sits between two walks for 20 weeks.
These plans suit a durable runner with a steady base who likes a full, even week and wants goal pace to feel familiar by race day. If your weekly running is still small, read the beginner reviews closely before you commit.
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In research studies, runners on plans fit to them improved as much as or more than runners on fixed plans, and fewer of them stalled.
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