How Much Does it Cost to Train for a Marathon? - Coach Tip Tuesday

How much does it cost to train for a marathon?  

Over the years, I’ve watched athletes (including myself) embark on the path toward a goal such as a marathon without having a true understanding of what that process will cost.  Some of the athletes I coach will ask me how much they should expect to spend on something like this, but if I’m being honest, most don’t ask me.  If athletes do ask me about the cost of an event, they often don’t ask me about it (or even really think about it) until after they’ve signed up for a race.  And because less than half of Americans run a budget for their monthly finances (much less run specialty budgets for things such as this), even once an athlete has trained for and completed a race like a marathon, it’s improbable that they could tell you what it actually cost them in total to do it.

The true answer to the question “How much does it cost to train for a marathon?” is my most common answer to any questions that athletes ask me: It depends.  But while there are a variety of factors that can influence the total cost of training for a marathon, there are definitely base costs that all athletes will incur as they train for an event like this.  This week’s Coach Tip Tuesday is the first in a series of posts that are an effort to provide athletes with an accurate range of what they can expect to spend if they train for one of the four most common long course endurance events: a marathon, a half marathon, an IRONMAN, or an IRONMAN 70.3.  This week, we’re focusing on the marathon.

All prices referenced in this article are current as of the time of this writing (July 2024).‍

How Much Does it Cost to Train for a Marathon?

“Running is cheap and easy because all you need is a pair of sneakers.”  

That statement is something I’ve heard so much over the years, and while it is technically true, it’s also rather misleading, especially when it comes to training for something like a marathon.  While I can agree that running is probably the easiest endurance sport to get into since it doesn’t require a ton of specialty gear and you’re moving under your own power, training for a marathon does require more than just a pair of running shoes. 

Race Entry

Almost all races have entry fees, and marathons are no exception to this.  The price of a marathon race entry varies widely; the race’s location, size, and level of support are the main factors that influence pricing.  The average marathon entry cost is approximately $135, but prices can be as low as $50 for local, grassroots races and as high as $350 for big city marathons.

Race Travel

Related to (but separate from) the race entry fee, it’s not uncommon for athletes to travel to race at their goal marathon.  Travel costs can vary widely depending on the mode of transportation, the costs of the destination, etc.  I’ve personally spent as little as $0 to travel to a race (because the race was close to home) and as much as $5,000 (when I ran the Great Wall Marathon in China).  That being said, the average amount I’ve spent when traveling to a marathon (including transportation, lodging, and food) has been $1,200 over the years, so that’s the number I’ll use for the purposes of calculating an average cost to train for a marathon.

Running Shoes

Running shoes are the most important piece of gear in marathon training.  Over the course of a typical marathon training block (26 weeks or six months), most athletes will cover 500-800 miles in their training runs, which means that they will need at least two pairs of running shoes in training.  Failure to replace running shoes on time is one of the most common reasons runners and triathletes get injured.  

On average, running shoes last for about 350-500 miles.  How long they last is a matter of physics; the shoes are absorbing 5-7 times the body weight of the athlete, so the heavier an athlete is, the faster their shoes will break down and the more frequently they will need to be replaced.  The average pair of running shoes costs $150, but prices of running shoes can range from $120-$300 depending on the shoe’s features.

Running Clothing

What clothing one wears while running is an important consideration.  While you technically can run in any clothing, your experience will be enhanced if you are wearing comfortable, moisture-wicking fabrics and pieces of apparel that are designed for running.  Common running clothing items include: tops, bottoms, socks, sports bras, and head gear.  Depending on the season, you may also benefit from items such as gloves, jackets, or sunglasses.  The average price of common running clothing items is as follows:

Running Shirt: $60

Running Bottoms: $90

Running Socks: $17

Sports Bra: $65

Running Visor: $30

Gloves: $20

Running Jacket: $100

Sunglasses (Non-Prescription): $30

Hydration

Maintaining an appropriate hydration status is one of the three most important things that endurance athletes can do to help their training and performance.  While water is free (if you get it from a tap), the vessels to carry hydration with you while running and actual hydrating beverages (aka sports drinks) are costs that should be considered when training for a marathon.  

There are several different types of vessels that runners can use to carry hydration; the three most common are handhelds, waist belts, and running vests.  These items vary in price based on the capacity of the vessel and how it is constructed.  Prices range from $30-$200 for a running-specific hydration vessel.  While this might seem steep, I can tell you that having a vessel designed to be utilized during running is worth its weight in gold; carrying a regular water bottle in your hand during a run gets old really fast.

While hydrating with plain water would be better than not hydrating at all during a workout, water on its own does not replace the electrolytes that are lost during exercise.  As such, consuming a hydrating beverage (aka a sports drink such as Skratch Hydration) is what I recommend.  Sports drinks are formulated to replace the electrolytes lost during exercise and help the body perform better in training and recover after a training session.  Better recovery means that you get better adaptations to training (read: you get stronger and faster), so it’s really worth hydrating each and every workout.

Depending on your sweat rate, if you are properly hydrating all of your workouts, you will use an average of 10 servings of sports drink per week, which means you can expect to go through at least 260 servings of sports drink in an average 26-week marathon training cycle.  The cost for this number of servings is approximately $250.

Workout Fueling

In addition to hydration, athletes training for marathons need to be consuming fuel at regular intervals during workouts that last longer than 90 minutes.  This fuel is separate and distinct from an athlete’s daily nutrition; daily nutrition needs/requirements generally increase alongside an athlete’s training.  As training volume rises, so does the body’s need for nutritious food.  As such, the costs associated with an athlete’s daily nutrition will likely change as they train for a marathon, but how much is really difficult to quantify.
When it comes to workout fueling, athletes have more options than ever at their disposal.  There are bars, gels, waffles, and chews that are specifically formulated to be easy to transport and consume while running.  Athletes can use pockets in their running apparel or the storage that is built to hydration vessels (in my humble opinion, the hydration vest is the best option for this) to carry their workout fuel with them when they are training and racing.

Pricing for fueling will vary based on what type of fuel an athlete chooses as well as an athlete’s pacing and the duration of their workouts in training.  Based on the amount of training that the average marathon finish time (which was 4 hours, 30 minutes in 2023) requires and based on an average price per serving, the cost of fuel for 26 weeks of marathon training is $230.

Coaching & Training Plans

The path to running a marathon is a long one to say the least (both in training and in the marathon itself).  Most athletes do utilize some form of guidance - either in the form of Coaching or a Training Plan - to help them be successful on race day.

Marathon Training Plans

There are a wide variety of different Marathon Training Plans available for athletes to purchase.  These plans are available for an athlete to use as soon as they are purchased and are specifically designed to help athletes prepare for the marathon distance. They are often written based on the athlete’s experience level and the type of metrics they want to leverage (such as effort, heart rate, or pace) during their training.  Occasionally, a Marathon Training Plan is written with a specific race in mind (this tends to be true for big marathons such as the New York City Marathon or the Walt Disney World Marathon).  

However, that’s where the specificity of this type of training option ends; Marathon Training Plans are otherwise rather generic and are not personalized for individual athletes.  Because of this, this option is the cheapest way that athletes can get guidance for marathon training; the average price of a 26-Week Marathon Training Plan is $60.

Custom-Built Marathon Training Plans

Custom-Built Marathon Training Plans are designed and written specifically for an individual athlete.  They take so many factors into account, including: the athlete’s goal race, the athlete’s experience level, the athlete’s training preferences, the athlete’s goals, the athlete’s personal schedule, the athlete’s injury history, and more.  This type of training option is written for and delivered to an athlete, and then the athlete goes and follows the Custom-Built Marathon Training Plan on their own; there isn’t any feedback or guidance given to the athlete once the plan is written and delivered.  This is a nice option for athletes who are self-motivated, don’t need or want accountability, and who don’t need or want constant communication with a coach.

Because they are individualized, Custom-Built Marathon Training Plans are more expensive than “generic” Marathon Training Plans.  The average cost of a 26-Week Custom-Built Marathon Training Plan is $600.

Performance Coaching

Performance Coaching is the highest level of personalization and the most guidance an athlete can get while training for a marathon.  All of the same things (the athlete’s goal race, the athlete’s experience level, the athlete’s training preferences, the athlete’s goals, the athlete’s personal schedule, the athlete’s injury history, and more) are taken into account for an athlete on Performance Coaching, but there’s a higher level of detail because athletes have unlimited communication with their coach throughout all of their training and leading into race day.  Additionally, training is designed and written one week at a time (versus several months at a time) and can be adjusted on a very granular level (even daily) depending on how things are going in training and what things are happening in an athlete’s life.

Because this service has such a high level of personalization and communication, it is the most expensive Coaching or Training Plan option that an athlete can select.  The average cost of 26 weeks of Performance Coaching is $1,600.

Total Marathon Training Costs

As you can see, once you list out everything that you either need or that is very helpful to train for a marathon, the costs do add up.  Unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple as “get a pair of sneakers and go.”  Here’s the total average amount you can expect to spend while training for a marathon, broken down by category:

Race Entry: $135

Race Travel: $1,200

Running Shoes: $300

Running Clothing (One Outfit): $412

Hydration Vessel: $100

Hydration Beverages: $250

Workout Fuel: $230

Coaching & Training Plans: $60-$1,600 (Average: $600)

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Total Average Cost to Train for a Marathon: $3,227

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Low Average Cost to Train for a Marathon: $1,487

High Average Cost to Train for a Marathon: $5,527

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While these calculations do represent averages, the truth I’ve seen over the years is that athletes end up spending more than this.  They want more than one outfit to run in, they might want more than two pairs of shoes, they may end up purchasing other gear, etc.  

The Bottom Line

Training for a marathon does cost real money.  And even if these numbers look high or scary to you as you read this article, I hope that the cost doesn’t deter you from training for a marathon if it’s a goal that resonates with you.  As I always say to the athletes I work with: I want you to be able to go into a situation with the most knowledge possible so you can make an informed choice about what you feel is best for you.

My job as a coach is to provide information and guidance to athletes.  Sometimes that guidance and information is challenging for athletes to hear, but hearing it is better than ignoring it or pretending it doesn’t exist.  I’ve seen time and time again over the years that an informed athlete is a successful athlete.

The next time you set a goal such as running a marathon, I challenge you to list out and budget the costs ahead of time so you can be in control and make educated, wise choices throughout your training process to give yourself the highest probability of reaching your goals.