20-Week Dallas Marathon Training Plan

Dallas, TXDecember 13, 2026

Start around July 26, 2026. The calendar below gives each phase a real date, then the course guidance shows where to make the build specific to Dallas Marathon.

The BMW Dallas Marathon has been run since 1971, which makes it the longest running marathon in Texas, and it is a genuinely rolling city course rather than the flat prairie run visitors expect. The route climbs and drops about 843 feet in total while never leaving a band between roughly 395 and 587 feet.

Race day
December 13, 2026
Start window
July 26, 2026
Runway
20 weeks
Course
Rolling Hills · Loop
Plan choice
Current training

Does this window fit your starting point?

Use the longer window to make the early build calmer, not to add five months of hard training. The plan should begin close to your current load, hold most running easy, and delay the biggest race-specific work until the middle of the cycle.

  • You want a longer foundation phase before marathon-specific training.
  • Your current mileage is steady but below the load you expect to carry later.
  • You prefer gradual long-run growth with regular step-back weeks.
  • You can sustain a five-month routine without turning every week into a peak week.

The 20-week Dallas Marathon calendar

These dates define the job of each phase. Your current mileage, recent longest run, experience, goal, and available days still decide the actual workouts inside them.

Foundation

Weeks 1–6

Jul 27, 2026–Sep 6, 2026

Set the routine, grow easy volume gradually, and finish each week with enough control to repeat it.

Build

Weeks 7–13

Sep 7, 2026–Oct 25, 2026

Extend the long run, introduce race-specific terrain, and keep recovery weeks on the calendar.

Peak

Weeks 14–17

Oct 26, 2026–Nov 22, 2026

Complete the most demanding race rehearsals and settle fueling, pacing, shoes, and clothing before taper begins.

Taper

Weeks 18–20

Nov 23, 2026–Dec 13, 2026

Reduce the load, keep familiar running in the week, and let the work from the previous four months show up on race day.

Make the window specific to Dallas Marathon.

Build general durability first. Add the race's hills, flat sustained running, downhill exposure, heat, or humidity in layers after the weekly rhythm is stable, then make the final long runs the most course-specific.

Read the full race guide

How to train for the Dallas Marathon

Train for Dallas on rolling terrain and pace by effort rather than by watch. The course delivers about 843 feet of climbing in small increments, so the skill it rewards is holding steady breathing while your per mile split swings 15 seconds either way. Flat treadmill work will not teach you that, and neither will a plan built around one weekly hill session.

Find a route that undulates continuously and put your longest efforts on it. Two or three of those, with the final hour at goal effort, do more for this race than any hill repeat workout, because the problem is not climbing strength. It is restraint on 40 foot risers when you feel good at mile 8.

Add descent control anyway. You give back all 843 feet, mostly in short pieces, and repeated small descents wear quads down by attrition rather than in one dramatic stretch. Practice running down at goal effort with a quick, short stride and no braking, then check how your quads feel the next morning. That soreness is the thing you are training away.

Then look at the calendar. A mid-December race means your peak weeks land in October and November, so the longest runs happen in cooler air than most people are used to. Do at least one of them at the hour the race starts, in what you plan to wear.

Dallas Marathon course facts

Course
Loop · Rolling Hills · Road/Pavement
Elevation gain / loss
843 ft gain, 843 ft loss
Highest / lowest point
587 ft / 395 ft
Marathon finishers
3,847 in 2025 (large field)
Boston qualifier
Certified Boston qualifying course
Finishers running a qualifying time
4.8% in 2025
Typical race morning
49°F at the start, 80% humidity, overcast
Race day high / low
56°F / 37°F on average

Sources

Let your current training decide the actual plan.

Current mileage, recent longest run, marathon experience, goal, and available days determine which plans rank first. After you choose and subscribe, Stride dates every workout through December 13, 2026.

Build My Plan

20-week Dallas Marathon plan questions, answered.

When should I start a 20-week Dallas Marathon plan?

The 2026 Dallas Marathon is scheduled for December 13, 2026, so the 20-week window opens around July 26, 2026. Treat that as the outside edge of the window, then line week one up with the plan's normal weekly rhythm.

Is a 20-week plan long enough for the Dallas Marathon?

Use the longer window to make the early build calmer, not to add five months of hard training. The plan should begin close to your current load, hold most running easy, and delay the biggest race-specific work until the middle of the cycle. 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.

How should I prepare for the Dallas Marathon course in 20 weeks?

Build general durability first. Add the race's hills, flat sustained running, downhill exposure, heat, or humidity in layers after the weekly rhythm is stable, then make the final long runs the most course-specific. Train for Dallas on rolling terrain and pace by effort rather than by watch. The course delivers about 843 feet of climbing in small increments, so the skill it rewards is holding steady breathing while your per mile split swings 15 seconds either way. Flat treadmill work will not teach you that, and neither will a plan built around one weekly hill session.

What if the 20-week Dallas Marathon window has already started?

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.

Is the Dallas Marathon hilly?

Rolling rather than hilly. The BMW Dallas Marathon covers about 843 feet of climbing and the same descent inside a vertical band under 200 feet, so there is no single hill to fear and no flat section to rest on. Runners who train on flat ground consistently underestimate what those short risers cost over 26.2 miles.

How big is the Dallas Marathon?

It is one of the larger marathons in Texas. 3,847 runners finished the marathon in 2025, up from 3,405 in 2024 and 1,893 in 2021. The race has been run since 1971, making it the longest running marathon in the state. Expect staffed aid stations, neighborhood crowd support and company at nearly any pace.

Put the 20-week window against your actual race.

Each page counts back from race day, maps the 4 phases to real dates, and applies the window to that course and its typical conditions.