With the Irish Life Dublin Marathon approaching, new WHOOP data offers insight into how runners prepare for one of Ireland’s biggest mass-participation sporting events, and the growing role of technology in understanding performance, recovery, and wellbeing.
Runners in last year’s event almost tripled their running time as the race drew closer, rising from 98 minutes 20 weeks before the event to a peak of 259 minutes three weeks before race day.
The median runner’s longest training session lasted three hours and 13 minutes, while 66 per cent completed a run of at least two hours in the crucial final weeks of preparation. That compared with just eight per cent at the beginning of the training period.
Perhaps just as revealing was what happened when the hard training stopped.
By the final week, running volume had fallen to 48 per cent of its peak, reflecting the established practice of tapering ahead of a major endurance event.
The figures offer a fascinating snapshot of the preparation behind an event that brings together elite athletes, committed club runners and thousands of recreational participants on the streets of Dublin each October.
Early 2026 data suggest runners continue to balance physical effort with adequate recovery.
Regular runners are recording a median of 101 minutes of running per week, with WHOOP users averaging a 62 per cent Recovery score and 7 hours and 13 minutes of sleep each night by the three-week mark.
Sleep Performance, a measure of how much of an individual’s calculated sleep requirement they’ve met, improved from 80 per cent to 82 per cent over the training period.
The research also challenges the idea that marathon preparation is simply about putting in more miles.
Three weeks before the event, 67 per cent of regular runners incorporated cross-training into their schedules, most commonly strength and conditioning work. The median runner was still recording five non-running days each week.
Wearable technology has rapidly evolved from basic step counting and heart-rate monitoring into a sophisticated means of measuring how individuals respond to training, sleep, and everyday demands.
Mass-participation events provide a particularly interesting environment for studying those behaviours. Unlike professional sport, where athletes have access to dedicated coaches, medical teams, and performance specialists, recreational runners largely manage their own training and recovery.
Personalised data brings high-performance monitoring into everyday participation, while aggregated information can reveal broader patterns that were previously hard to measure.
It also has implications for event organisers, sponsors and brands looking to build longer-lasting relationships with participants.
The marathon may take place on a single Sunday, but preparation stretches over months, creating opportunities to engage around training, nutrition, equipment, recovery and personal achievement.
The Irish Life Dublin Marathon is already a major fixture in Ireland’s participation sport calendar, with a title sponsorship that connects the event to a wider conversation around health, fitness and active lifestyles.
WHOOP’s findings add another dimension to that conversation, showing how preparing for a marathon is increasingly shaped by information as well as determination.
The data reflects WHOOP users rather than the entire Dublin Marathon field, but the patterns are still revealing.
With race day approaching, the figures suggest that the final challenge for many runners is no longer about doing more. It is about making the most of the work they have already put in.
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Image Credit: Shannon Airport
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