16-Week Sioux Falls Marathon Training Plan

The 2027 Sioux Falls Marathon is scheduled for September 19, 2027, so the 16-week window opens around May 30, 2027. Treat that as the outside edge of the window, then line week one up with the plan's normal weekly rhythm.

Use this window when you have a running base and want several weeks before the hardest marathon-specific work begins. The extra month over a 12-week plan creates more room for gradual long-run growth and recovery. The course does not change the opening load you can handle, so choose from your current mileage and recent longest run before adding race-specific terrain.

Use the first month to establish consistency, then make long runs progressively more specific to the race's terrain and conditions. The course rehearsal should grow with the plan, not appear all at once in peak week. Train for the Sioux Falls Marathon on flat paved trail, and train your pacing rather than your climbing. With roughly 610 feet of gain across the whole distance and long stretches on the city's recreation path, nothing in the terrain will force you to change gear, which means every pacing mistake on race day is entirely yours.

Do not double weeks or cram missed mileage into the remaining calendar. Use your current mileage, recent longest run, experience, goal, and available days to choose a plan that can enter at an appropriate point while preserving the taper.

Close to it. The Sioux Falls Marathon covers about 610 feet of climbing across 26.2 miles inside a range of under 200 feet, with much of the route on the city's paved recreation trail system. There is no hill worth planning around. The challenge is pacing discipline on terrain that never changes.

It starts at 6:45 a.m. in the large parking lot east of Howard Wood Field and finishes on the stadium track. In between, the route passes through the historic district, downtown Sioux Falls, Falls Park on North Phillips Avenue, Terrace Park and Fawick Park, plus a long southern residential and trail loop.