How to Train for the New York City Marathon
Patricia Bedoya
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7
min read
Cover image generated with AI — © Chubby Studio S.L.
KEY TAKEAWAY
The 2026 New York City Marathon is on Sunday, November 1. Train for it like any marathon, then add hills late in long runs, relaxed downhill practice and a rehearsal of the long race morning, because most of the course's climbing is on bridges and the hardest ones come after mile 15. Pace by effort rather than by watch pace, and taper for about two weeks.
To train for the New York City Marathon, build a normal marathon block and then add the three things this course punishes: long, gradual climbs late in the race, downhills that hammer your quads, and a start that comes hours after you wake up. The 2026 race is on Sunday, November 1. Whatever block you are in now, the job from here is to arrive rested, not to cram fitness.
This guide maps each part of the course to what it does to your heart rate and your legs, because that is what decides how the last ten kilometres feel.
When is the 2026 New York City Marathon, and what changed?
Checked on September 24, 2026, against New York Road Runners' official race pages. The race is on Sunday, November 1, 2026. It starts at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, crosses the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn, runs through Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx, and finishes in Central Park.
The 2026 course has a small change in the Bronx: after the Willis Avenue Bridge, runners turn onto East 141st Street and Third Avenue before crossing the Madison Avenue Bridge back into Manhattan. NYRR says it is the first course change in 15 years, in the 50th anniversary year of the five-borough route. Course descriptions written before this year are now slightly out of date.
Logistics that shape your training, from the official pages. The published start timeline sends five general waves between 9:10 and 11:30 a.m., and start times are subject to change. Official transport to the start takes an estimated 60 to 90 minutes depending on the option. Water and sports drink are on course every mile from mile 3 to mile 25, except miles 5, 7 and 9, with gel depots at miles 12 and 18. And there is no hard cut-off: runners who finish by 10:00 p.m. ET are official finishers, while the on-street schedule is built around a 16-minute-per-mile pace from the last wave.
Why is the NYC Marathon harder than it looks on paper?
Because almost all of its climbing is on bridges, and the biggest ones come when you are already tired. The race opens with the long climb up the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and a fast descent into Brooklyn. A shorter bridge takes you into Queens near halfway. Then comes the Queensboro Bridge, around miles 15 and 16: a long, quiet climb with no crowds, followed by a downhill onto First Avenue.
After that, the Willis Avenue and Madison Avenue bridges take you into the Bronx and out again around miles 20 and 21, and the final miles run down Fifth Avenue and into Central Park, which is rolling right to the finish. None of these climbs is steep. The problem is timing: the course saves its hardest work for the miles where your glycogen and your legs are already running out.
Downhills are the part people underestimate. The descents off the Verrazzano and off the Queensboro feel free, and runners bank time on both. That braking work is eccentric muscle loading, which is what leaves quads sore and heavy in the second half. Running them relaxed rather than fast is a pacing decision you can rehearse in training.
Should you pace NYC by pace or by heart rate?
By effort, with heart rate as the check. On a flat course a steady pace and a steady effort are roughly the same thing. On NYC they are not: holding goal pace up the Queensboro means a real spike in effort, and that spike is paid back with interest after mile 20. Let pace drop on the climbs, keep heart rate from jumping more than a few beats, and accept that your splits will look uneven.
The data on marathon pacing is blunt. In 91,929 finishes across 14 US marathons, men slowed by 15.6% in the second half and women by 11.7% on average, and slower finishers slowed more. Almost nobody runs NYC as a negative split, and trying to bank time in Brooklyn is the most common way to make the Bronx miserable. Set your heart rate zones from your own numbers before race week, so the ceiling you race to is yours rather than a formula's.
See which climb cost you the most
FitWoody reads your Apple Watch data and scores every run by what it cost your heart, not by distance, so a hilly long run finally reads as the harder day it was. Track your taper against your own baseline. Comes with a 7-day free trial.
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You have about five weeks left. What should they look like?
From late September, the big work is nearly done. Plan your last long run around three weeks before the race, then taper. A meta-analysis of tapering studies found the best results came from a taper of about two weeks in which training volume dropped by 41 to 60%, while intensity stayed where it was. In practice that means shorter runs with a few short, sharp efforts left in, not two weeks on the sofa. Your training load should be visibly falling through those two weeks.
The weeks before the taper are where NYC-specific work pays. Put your hills in the final third of long runs, when you are tired, because that is when the Queensboro and Fifth Avenue arrive. Include a few controlled downhills to prepare your quads. What you should not do is add a big new session now to make up for missed weeks: a sudden jump in load five weeks out costs more than the fitness it buys. If you have been ill or skipped a stretch, come back at a lower level than you left and let the block be a little smaller.
How do you train for the bridges without a bridge?
Find any long, gentle incline: a road climb of a kilometre or two, a multi-storey car park ramp, or a treadmill set to a low incline. Run it at marathon effort rather than marathon pace, and watch how much your pace falls when your heart rate holds steady. That gap is roughly what the Queensboro will cost you, and knowing it in advance stops you from chasing the number on your watch.
Practise the other half too. Run the downhill after each climb relaxed, with short, quick steps, and resist the urge to make up time. On race day that one habit protects your quads for the last 10K.
How do you handle the late start and the long wait?
Plan your morning backwards from your wave. A runner in the last wave can easily be awake five hours before starting, between the journey, security and the start village. Rehearse that on a long run: wake early, eat when you would on race day, and start running two or three hours later. It shows you whether you need a second small snack.
Layers matter as much as food. The start village is outdoors in November, and NYRR collects discarded clothing for donation, so bring old warm layers you are happy to leave behind. Also note the clock: daylight saving time ends in New York on November 1, 2026, so clocks go back an hour on race morning. If you are travelling, set your alarm on a phone that updates automatically.
If you sleep badly the night before, do not panic. One short night before a race is normal and rarely decides the result. The nights earlier in the week matter more, so protect those from the Monday.
What should your watch tell you in race week?
Look for trends, not single numbers. Resting heart rate and HRV should settle during the taper, but travel, nerves and a busy expo all push them around. A higher resting heart rate two nights before the race after a long flight is expected, not a warning. What matters is whether your numbers sit near your own baseline across the week.
FitWoody is an iOS app for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch that turns your watch data into a clear read on how your body is doing. In a marathon block, the useful parts are cardiac load, which scores every run by what it cost you internally so a hilly long run reads as harder than a flat one, training load tracked against your own baseline so you can see the taper actually happening, and recovery baselines built from HRV, resting heart rate and sleep. Flyover then replays the run along its route, so you can see which climb cost you. An Apple Watch is required, and it informs rather than diagnoses.
What if you are aiming for 2027 instead?
If you are not already entered for 2026, the realistic goal is the 2027 race. NYRR lists several routes in: the non-guaranteed drawing, its 9+1 program for members, time-qualifying standards, official charity partners, international tour operators, and guaranteed entry for runners who have finished 15 or more New York City Marathons. Dates for 2027 had not been announced when we checked, so watch the official Run in 2027 page rather than any third-party calendar.
Whichever route you take, the advice above holds: build your base, add climbs late in long runs, rehearse the long morning. Showing up to the start healthy is the biggest win of the whole block.
Frequently asked questions
When is the 2026 New York City Marathon?
The 2026 TCS New York City Marathon is on Sunday, November 1, 2026, according to New York Road Runners. It starts on Staten Island, crosses all five boroughs and finishes in Central Park. Daylight saving time also ends in New York that morning, so clocks go back one hour.
Is there a time limit for the New York City Marathon?
There is no strict cut-off. NYRR's schedule keeps the course open on the streets for runners holding about a 16-minute-per-mile pace from the last wave, and anyone who finishes by 10:00 p.m. ET is recorded as an official finisher. Slower runners may be moved to the sidewalk or offered the sweep bus.
Is the New York City Marathon a hilly course?
It is not steep, but it is not flat either. Most of the climbing is on bridges: the Verrazzano-Narrows at the start, the Queensboro around miles 15 and 16, and two smaller bridges into and out of the Bronx near mile 20, followed by a rolling finish in Central Park. Training hills late in your long runs prepares you for exactly that.