Don’t Get Locked Into a Spring or Fall Marathon Cycle. A Run Coach Explains Why You Should Race in Other Seasons.

When choosing a marathon, most runners focus on the details of the race itself: size, location, weather, elevation, and crowd support. Those are crucial considerations, of course, but they only account for one day, compared with the months you spend training for 26.2 miles. So, you also need to factor in what those months of training could look like depending on the race you choose.Once you do that, you may realize that racing your marathon in the winter or summer actually benefits you more than racing in the spring or fall. In fact, some runners find that the PRs just out of their reach during those more popular racing windows were simply waiting for them in a different season. The missing piece? Moving the timeline of their marathon cycle to maximize factors like consistency.A run coach who’s competed in every season explains how to pick a race that sets you up to perform at the right time each year and how flipping your training and racing seasons just might lead to more fun, less stress, and even faster times.Why You Might Not Want to Race in the Fall or SpringSome of the biggest, most exciting 26.2s occur in the fall and spring—take six of the World Majors, for example. But these marathons can also come with less-than-ideal training timelines, Elizabeth Corkum, a.k.a. Coach Corky, an RRCA-, UESCA-, and USATF-certified run coach, tells Runner’s World.When race day falls in September, October, or April, you’ll likely have your most important workouts and long runs on tap for the least ideal weather of the summer and winter months: brutal heat and humidity or short days with ice and cold temperatures, Corkum explains. Many runners, though, deem these tougher training conditions a fair trade for a shot at a cool, dry day in the low 50s when they toe the starting line.Some runners would rather flip the script: Do the bulk of their training and peak mileage weeks in nicer weather, instead of hoping for ideal conditions on race day.If you don’t enjoy running as much when you’re waking up at 4 a.m. in the summer to beat the heat or waiting until the sun goes down to squeeze in miles just before bed, you may benefit from switching your main training season. Some options to consider might be the California International Marathon (CIM) in December or the Houston Marathon in January, Corkum suggests.Or, maybe you find yourself worn down from trudging through sleet and slush, bundling up for runs in below-freezing temps, logging miles in the dark when the days shorten, or simply confining yourself to the treadmill because it’s the only place that isn’t slick with ice. In that case, you might want to complete your heaviest training in the spring for a summer race. Some great options to consider are Grandma’s Marathon in June, the San Francisco Marathon in July, and the Gold Coast Marathon in July.Benefits of Racing in the Summer or WinterFor many runners, the greatest benefit of doing the bulk of their training during the fall and spring is that they enjoy the process more. They’re excited to get out the door each day to put in the miles when the weather is cool and crisp from September through November, or they’re finally catching glimpses of green and spring blooms from March through May.“The mental impact of just grinding day after day in the bitter cold or brutal heat can sometimes make running feel less fun, and I think there is some mental exhaustion that can come from doing that in summer and winter,” Corkum says. “Some people love it and they thrive on it—but many don’t.”When runners can train in the conditions they feel their best in, they’re usually able to get their miles in more consistently and the entire marathon cycle becomes more enjoyable, she adds.Once you make the switch, you may not only find that it’s less challenging for you to adhere to your training schedule but that you also have more mental energy and motivation. While these benefits are psychological, they can lead to real physiological training improvements, too.Pay Attention to When You Train and Recover at Your Best Besides the mental boost that comes from logging miles in the spring and fall, you might find that your body responds better to training in milder conditions, as well. This may allow you to train harder and recover more quickly.“October and November are months during which I sweat less and running is not as taxing,” Corkum says. “My heart rate is 5, 10, even 15 beats lower at the same effort because of the weather. And because of that, all my easy runs are even easier on my body.”Corkum has found that she can usually handle about 10 to 15 more miles each week, and this higher training load, for her, doesn’t require as much recovery as it would during the hotter months of the year. “There’s a huge benefit if we can add more mileage with less stress on the body. If we’re able to run more, that can make us much better runners,” she explains.A study of more than 119,000 runners published in Sports Medicine in 2024 backs up Corkum’s recommendation: Higher averages of easy-running mileage were associated with faster race performances. So consider which season allows you to safely and comfortably log more miles each week.Final Tips to Determine Your Best Racing SeasonRegardless of the season you choose for your marathon, good weather isn’t guaranteed. Corkum says runners should prepare for the possibility that even races like CIM, which has a strong track record for being cool and overcast, could experience an unexpected pop of heat. So, she encourages runners to incorporate some type of heat training—especially if you’re not getting much exposure to hot and humid temps during runs.“We don’t need to be running in uncomfortably hot and humid conditions every single day to be ready for a warmer race day. Passive heat training—sitting in a hot tub, bathtub, steam room, or sauna—can help us heat adapt, too,” Corkum says.Another tip Corkum gives her athletes? Do your research. “Go online to check the average temperatures and dew points of a race for the last 10 years or so. Look at the outliers, too,” she says. This information helps you determine if race day and the training season will offer the conditions you want.And finally, learn to adapt when—despite your best preparations—race day doesn’t go your way. Ask yourself how you’ll adjust your expectations, fueling, and pacing instead of forcing the effort, because that can change your experience of the day and even your finish time, Corkum says.The season for your best marathon performance will largely depend on your ability to prioritize the aspects of training and racing that feel most important to you, Corkum explains. So when choosing your marathon, consider how much emphasis you’re putting on both race day and the months of the journey.“Of course, we all want the perfect day for our marathon. But it’s the months of training beforehand that get us there feeling fit and confident,” she says. Keeping both pieces in mind can help ease race-day pressure and elevate your entire marathon cycle regardless of the time of year—or time on the finish clock.Morgan is a gear editor who has been with Runner’s World since 2017. She started as an intern ghostwriting The Warmup, a bygone version of the daily RW newsletter. Now, she tests and reviews anything you might find on runners’ feet-from crew socks and compression boots to carbon-plated super shoes. A lifelong runner and shoe geek, Morgan has been chasing the perfect pair of kicks since she joined her grade school cross-country team. Since then, she ran as a Division I walk-on for the cross-country and track & field teams at the University of Delaware, where she studied English and Biology. She has one full marathon under her belt, and has raced more halfs and 5Ks than she can count.