Houston Marathon Training Plans

The festivities begin on Saturday with the We Are Houston 5K. This race was added in 2014, and follows an out-and-back loop in downtown Houston. The 5K route starts on the south side of Minute Maid Park on Discovery Green, taking an out-and-back route through the streets of downtown Houston’s business district. The 5K is a great way to warm up the legs before a longer race on Sunday or dip your toe into racing, and our customizable We Are Houston 5K training plans can help all types of runners prepare to reach the finish line successfully.

On Sunday morning, thousands of racers come together for the start of the Houston Marathon and Half Marathon. The course for the half marathon starts with the full marathon in the downtown area a few blocks north of Minute Maid Park – the home of the Houston Astros. After departing, the route threads through scenic neighborhoods including Houston Heights, Neartown, Hermann Park and Rice University, Uptown, and Memorial Park. Both the 13.1 and the 26.2 finish at the George R. Brown Convention Center downtown. The courses are USATF-certified for those focused on rankings and qualifications.

From the starting line on Congress, runners head west toward Franklin Street and then to Washington Avenue, which takes them through Houston’s Washington corridor. At approximately the 2.5-mile marker, the course turns south across Buffalo Bayou. The route crosses the bridge that’s home to the Waugh Drive Bat Colony arrives in the Hyde Park neighborhood. The course meanders toward the campus of Rice University, where the half marathon and marathon courses diverge. After passing the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the half marathon course heads north to the Allen Parkway, where runners turn east for the home stretch back into downtown for the Houston Half Marathon finish.

Once the half marathon and marathon courses split, the next nine miles of the marathon weave through the Greenway, Uptown, and West Oaks neighborhoods. This section, like all of the weekend’s racecourses, is relatively flat. Though this seems advantageous, it can actually make the relatively small rises on the full Houston Marathon course seem like major obstacles. The marathoners will face the race’s sharpest climb and descent just shy of mile 13, near the Art Institute of Houston. CTP’s Houston Marathon training plans prepare you for this feature with running workouts that include intervals and hill repeats to increase your power. Our training programs aren’t just customized for your fitness level – they’re tailored to the race you’re training for, too.

The last third of the marathon sends runners through some of Houston’s largest green spaces and follows a picturesque, winding path. The route spends almost two miles in Memorial Park, where runners pass the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center and the Memorial Park Golf Course. After the course exits the park, you’ll cross to the south side of Buffalo Bayou via the Shepherd Drive Bridge. With three miles to go, the route skirts Eleanor Tinsley Park before reentering downtown Houston, where the finish line awaits at Discovery Green.

Whether you’ve been pounding the pavement for decades or you’re brand-new to running, preparing for your race with a professionally designed training plan can help you get ready to finish strong. In addition to our standard training plans, Custom Training Plans offers couch-to-half marathon and -marathon plans that provide new or returning runners with additional conditioning workouts to support safe race training. Each of our Houston Marathon training programs, Houston Half Marathon training programs, and We Are Houston 5K training programs are made for you and your race, helping you to train smarter, not harder.