Every so often someone in this community sends over an approach that’s so stripped-down and so obviously earned that it’s worth passing along exactly as written. This is one of those times.
Liam Cotter is a Cork, Ireland native who’s been racing marathons since a chance encounter with the 2007 Cork Marathon — stuck in traffic with his wife, watching runners stream past — convinced him to line up himself the following year. Since then he’s built one of the more remarkable resumes in masters running: close to 40 marathons, more than 30 of them under three hours, seven of them under 2:50, and all six World Marathon Majors completed three times over. He’s now well past 60 and, by his own account, still finding new gears — running sub-2:50 again in 2025 and landing on the age-group podium at both Valencia and Berlin.
It was against that backdrop that he placed first in his age group at the London Marathon, which is what led to a reach-out for an interview. What came back wasn’t a highlight reel of workouts. It was a plainspoken breakdown of the exact system he’s used, in his own words, developed over years of trial and error rather than borrowed from a certification course.
Liam was upfront that he’s not positioning himself as a guru:
“I don’t like to preach as I certainly don’t have all the answers but wanted to share this with you as I know you have an interest in this kind of thing.”
What he shared instead is a framework built on four pillars — nutrition, simple stretching, simple strength work (no weights), and a running plan — with the running plan built around an acronym he calls V.I.L.M.S.
Start With Your Marathon Pace
Before anything else, Liam’s system asks you to nail down one number:
“The first task is to identify your planned Marathon Pace and then practice running at your MP or faster. Ideally up to 20% of your weekly mileage.”
Everything else in the plan is built around training your body to know that pace intimately — not just once a week, but as a recurring theme throughout.
The V.I.L.M.S. Framework
In Liam’s words, broken down letter by letter:
V = Volume
“At least 50 miles per week.”
I = Intervals
“A weekly interval session. (I.e. 5 by a mile off 2 mins rest.)”
L = Long Run
“A long run of 20 miles every second week which if possible should include 4 or 5 miles @ MP.”
M = Marathon Pace Run
“Having another weekly run at marathon pace or quicker for 30 to 40 mins.”
S = Stretching
“Incorporate a good daily stretching routine so as to remain injury free.”
The Extras That Aren’t Optional in Spirit
Two more details round out the system. First, hills:
“One last point I feel you should include at least 1500 ft of hills each week. This is not essential but will add lots of strength and reduce the risk of injury.”
Second, easy days need to actually be easy:
“The easy days should be 2 mins slower than MP.”
And if something goes wrong, the instruction is simple and immediate:
“If you get an injury take two days off immediately and do not cross train to allow recovery to kick in.”
The Philosophy Behind It
Liam is direct about why he built it this way:
“I like to keep things very simple. If you can complete 80% of this plan over a 16 week block you will achieve your target marathon time.”
No app. No tiered subscription. No mystery. Just four categories and one acronym.
The “Always Marathon Ready” Philosophy
One thing worth clarifying, because it’s easy to hear “16 week block” and picture a traditional build-and-taper cycle: that’s not really how Liam runs. When asked to elaborate, he was clear that his day-to-day training doesn’t revolve around discrete blocks at all.
“I don’t really do marathon blocks. I am always marathon ready.”
The reasoning comes down to how he’s built the routine to fit around everything else in his life:
“I have developed a training routine around my lifestyle and commitments both family and work. This routine has to be sustainable over the long haul. You have to learn to love the journey.”
That’s also why there’s no off-season. Liam runs 4 or 5 marathons a year, year-round, and prefers steady-state fitness over the peaks and valleys of a traditional build-and-taper cycle:
“I find fitness is much easier to maintain than to gain and I want to keep my body in a steady state rather than shocking it into ups and downs.”
In practice, that steady state looks like a repeating rhythm rather than a countdown to one race day: a 20-mile long run on three consecutive Sundays, followed by a fast half marathon — with one clear exception.
“I don’t run a long run the Sunday after a marathon.”
It’s the same four pillars, the same V.I.L.M.S. structure, and the same 80% completion threshold underneath — just running on a continuous loop instead of building to a single peak.
Liam Cotter shared this system directly, in his own words, because he wanted it out there for runners who might get value from it. Nothing here has been altered from what he sent — this is his plan, in his voice.