2025 Atlantic City Marathon training 

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

(Lao Tzu)

The 2025 Atlantic City Marathon will be my fourth full marathon.  I got this distance in my system with the 2022 Palm Beaches Marathon and continue to look to improve my training and finish time.

The 2025 Chicago Marathon was my first run at a World Major Marathon, and I loved the race atmosphere so much that I instantly wanted to give it another run.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get accepted this year but will try to get in again in 2026.  I quickly pivoted to find another October full marathon and decided to give the 2025 Atlantic City Marathon a run.

The race is described as the third oldest continuing marathon in the United States.  The race is much smaller than the 54,000+ runners in Chicago with about 1,000 finishers in 2024.  The distance is still the same and I expect a lot of crowd support on the Atlantic City boardwalk.

An added feature for this year is my friend Lauren will come over from Philly and run the marathon.  We ran the 2022 Atlantic City Rock N Roll Half marathon together and this will be the first race we are back on the same course.  It should be fun! 😊

I leveraged the Hal Higdon marathon training plan for my previous full marathons and see no reason to find a new training plan.  I set my marathon personal record (PR) in Chicago and took 25 minutes off my previous best.  I attribute this to better mental and physical preparation and not missing training sessions.  I also changed my mental approach to running by focusing on positive outcomes when running (example: less than 3 miles left instead of 3 more miles).  This seems like a very small thing, but it helped me change my focus and improved my mental approach when running. 

I’m happy to report that I hit every training session goal so far during this cycle.  I’ve included three sessions in the gym to complement my running program.  Yoga, chiropractic adjustments and massage help me keep up my running routine too.  My bedtime during this cycle has been consistent at 8:30 pm or earlier.  This was one area I needed to improve, and I have been very consistent to include Friday nights so I can get up early for my Saturday morning long runs.

Here’s my weekly mileage so far:

Week 1	30.58
Week 2	35.83
Week 3	30.86
Week 4	40.42
Week 5	40.5
Week 6	32.57
Week 7	58.2
Week 8	35.21
Week 9	*12.28
Week 10	36.16

Total                      352.61 

*Indian River State College New Student Orientation week*

I include my gym cardio miles in these numbers but have hit every running mileage point outlined in the training program so far.  I also added some extra running miles just in case I experience bad weather and can’t get out as much as I need to.  I’ve been lucky so far and have not missed a session due to the rain.  Not sure how long this luck will last but I’m putting in the necessary road work to run fast in October. 

I want to get in the 4:45 (four hours, 45 minutes) range and know my training program and mental approach will be key to running faster. 

I will provide a few more training updates as we get closer to showtime in Atlantic City.  This program has been fun so far and I’m going to put in the work to ensure I see results.

Lauren, how’s your training program going? 😊

Irie!

Calvin Williams

“Running is not about being better than someone else…it’s about being better than you used to be.”

(Unknown)