At 53 years old, Andrea Teague ran the fastest marathon of her life, finishing the 2026 London Marathon in 3:13:20, placing 27th in her age group. She achieved the PR while working roughly 70 hours per week as a physician and completing most of her runs on a treadmill, late at night.
To attempt a PR at 50-plus, Teague committed to five days of running per week, increased her average weekly mileage, and began adding more purposeful high-intensity workouts into her plan.
Teague’s approach, along with expert advice on finding sustainable weekly mileage, can help runners of any age work toward a marathon breakthrough. Use these key strategies to get faster as you age.
Consistency Is King
“More than anything, I credit my consistency in my training for my performance,” Teague told Runner’s World.
Teague’s relationship with running fluctuated for decades as she navigated motherhood, medical school, her ensuing career, and family challenges. When she returned to the sport more committed, she decided on running five days per week—giving herself enough time for quality training but also flexibility when work or family responsibilities disrupted her schedule.
Consistency at 50-plus doesn’t necessarily require fitting every workout into a traditional seven-day timeline. Andrew Kastor, head coach of the Mammoth Track Club, previously told Runner’s World that he often recommends organizing training in 10- to 12-day cycles, especially for runners over 50, as it allows you to have more recovery time between demanding sessions.
Rather than forcing training into a rigid regimen, Teague also worked with the time she actually had. Because morning workouts didn’t suit her, nightly treadmill efforts—sometimes finishing around 10 p.m.—became her go-to.
In addition to increasing her weekly mileage from the 40s to 50s, Teague also introduced speedwork or hillwork once a week and aimed to strength train weekly as well—additions she believes supported her personal-best performance and helped prevent injury along the way.
Experts agree on the importance of strength work: “At the end of the day, the biggest thing that plays into injury prevention at any age, but especially as we get older, is going to be your strength,” Jen Purvis, DPT, owner of Atomic Sports Physio and Performance, offering mobile physical therapy services in Valrico, Florida, previously told Runner’s World.
Kastor adds that even two 30-minute total-body sessions a week can offer benefits. Those advantages include potentially helping you stave off injuries, but also maintaining and building muscle mass, which will improve the quality of your movement.
Essentially, Teague’s breakthrough didn’t result from one exceptional workout or picture-perfect training conditions. She established a manageable training frequency—for both running and strength training—increased her weekly volume, and minimized the barriers that could have prevented her from following her training plan.
How to Build a Weekly Marathon Routine You Can Maintain
While copying her mileage won’t necessarily produce the same results, runners can apply the same principle behind it: Start wherever you’re at and build a workload you can complete week after week.
Someone beginning a traditional 16-week marathon training plan should ideally have a consistent base of 15 to 20 miles per week and feel comfortable running at least six miles at a time, Alysha Flynn, founder and coach at What Runs You and a coach for Every Woman’s Marathon, previously told Runner’s World.
After establishing a solid baseline—or if you’re already above Flynn’s recommended volume threshold—weekly mileage can increase alongside your fitness and depending on your experience level.
Beginners (runners attempting one of their first marathons) may peak at 35 to 45 miles per week over four or five running days when training for a marathon, Jeff Gaudette, owner and head coach at RunnersConnect, previously told Runner’s World. Intermediate runners (those who have completed multiple marathons and are ready for more intentional training) may reach 45 to 60 miles per week over five days, while advanced athletes (veterans of the sport with an aggressive time goal) may log 55 to 70-plus miles over five or six days.
Your training doesn’t happen in a silo, separated from your everyday life, either. Flynn recommends accounting for race goals, work hours, life stress, and recovery status when determining mileage. Two runners with similar fitness levels may need different schedules based on their individual circumstances.
Distribution of your workload should generally come with a long run at about 30 to 40 percent of your weekly mileage, Flynn says. Easy runs and structured workouts appropriate for your experience level make up the rest.
Finally, monitor how well you’re absorbing your training. Flynn notes feeling too depleted to perform well in workouts may indicate excessive volume. Gaudette similarly advises reducing mileage in response to persistent fatigue or recurring minor aches and pains. If you’re consistently completing your scheduled weeks feeling healthy and fresh, however, you may be on your way to adding more mileage to your training.
Ultimately, Teague’s example shows the mileage most likely to produce a breakthrough isn’t the biggest number you can force into one week; it’s the workload you can recover from and return to consistently.
Matt Rudisill is an Associate Service Editor who has been with Runner's World since 2025. A Nittany Lion through-and-through, Matt graduated from Penn State in 2022 with a degree in journalism and worked in communications for the university's athletic department for three years as the main contact and photographer for its nationally-ranked cross country and track & field teams. Matt was also heavily involved in communications efforts for Penn State football, men's basketball, and women's gymnastics. In his role with Runner's World, Matt has interviewed Olympians, world champions, and countless experts in the field to create service content that helps runners of all ages and experience levels train smarter and race faster. When he’s not out jogging, Matt can be found tweeting bad takes about the Phillies or watching movies.
