Why More Time on Your Feet Could Help You Stay Strong in the Second Half of a Marathon
The final miles of a marathon can expose a gap that your training doesn’t often reveal. You may have the fitness to reach mile 20, but by that point in the race, your muscles have absorbed hours of impact, your form begins to unravel, and every step requires more effort than it did earlier.
Training your body to stay engaged through accumulating fatigue can make the difference when these factors try to slow you down miles from the finish line.
The good news is, fading in the final miles isn’t inevitable—you can maintain your strength and effort all the way through the finish line.
Although there’s no single magical workout to get you there, weaving this simple strategy throughout your marathon build can help you develop the resilience you need to stay strong across all 26.2 miles.
Build Endurance by Staying in Motion
Thinking beyond mileage and more about time on feet—the total time spent running, walking, or doing any mildly active movement—is a crucial ticket to stronger running, especially toward the end of long-distance races, RRCA-certified run coach, certification instructor, and principal lecturer at Coastal Carolina University, Christine Rockey, previously told Runner’s World.
Staying active between workouts helps promote blood flow in the body without the heavy impact of running, Rockey says. Over the course of marathon training, this low-intensity effort keeps the body engaged while giving the muscles and joints a break.
While adding movement around your runs is useful, you can also make time on feet a deliberate part of your training. Walking for extended periods of time could actually help runners prepare for race day, Chris Twiggs, chief training officer of Galloway Training Programs, previously told Runner’s World. “You want to try to simulate what you’re going to go through,” Twiggs says.
While you’re not operating at race effort, focusing simply on duration instead of distance allows you to account for weather, hills, pace, and how your body feels on a given day because the goal isn’t hitting a mileage number at any cost; it’s getting out there for a set amount of time.
This approach does not mean you should abandon your long runs, marathon-pace sessions, or any other quality workouts in your training plan, though. Those sessions still provide the race-specific training needed to run 26.2 miles. Instead, use time-on-feet to work on your resilience on the days between those harder efforts.
How to Implement More Time on Feet in Your Training
Start by looking for low-intensity ways to stay active outside of your formal workouts. Doing chores around the house, walking the dog, strolling through the grocery store, or taking an easy bike ride all add movement to your day without creating the same stress as another run, Rockey says.
You can also build time-on-feet directly into your running workouts, particularly when conditions aren’t great. For example, Steve Mura, a run coach with New York Road Runners, previously told Runner’s World that runners could adjust both their distance and pace in the heat, prioritizing time on feet by switching to a shorter duration or a run/walk approach, rather than focusing on pace and powering through a tough run and risking injury.
That said, more time on feet isn’t always better. Suddenly adding substantial walking mileage on top of marathon training can create enough mechanical stress to compromise key workouts, increase soreness, and potentially contribute to overuse injuries, Jason Machowsky, RD, CSCS, a clinical exercise physiologist, registered dietitian, and strength coach, previously told Runner’s World. Treat extra time on feet as part of your overall training load, increase it gradually, and scale back when it begins interfering with your recovery or running performance.
Remember, the goal is to work on the ability to keep your body moving for a long time. By adding purposeful time on feet while protecting the quality of key workouts, runners may reach the marathon’s final miles with more energy—and a better chance of finishing strong.
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.