After conquering this year’s Tokyo Marathon in a really impressive pace, the 31-year-old pop star is faster than you think
There’s one thing we apparently did not realize about former One Directioner Harry Styles: He’s really fast.
The 2025 Tokyo Marathon is done and dusted over the past weekend, and one shocking result is not only did the pop star run in it, but he delivered a really incredible time: 3:24:07 for a marathon, with an average pace of 7:47 per mile (1.61 kilometers). That is capital-f Fast—the average marathon time for men is 4:31—considering he must also be really busy as a singer, actor, and entertainer.
Styles ran the first half in only 1:42:03, then finished the second half in 1:42:04, essentially a perfectly even split. That means not only was he fast, but he stayed consistent throughout the whole distance, also proving he was well-conditioned and prepared for the run.
Harry Styles ran the first half in only 1:42:03, then finished the second half in 1:42:04, essentially a perfectly even split. That means not only was he fast, but he stayed consistent throughout the whole distance, also proving he was well-conditioned and prepared for the run
We don’t know much about how Styles trains because his athletic feat only just blew up, but we did find a 2024 article that went into how his running coach Thibo David, former soldier and renowned performance coach, molds the English singer.
The conclusion is that Styles pretty much trains just like a pro athlete, which explains his elite marathon results—you’ll need access to weights and likely a treadmill to run on, so you’re probably better off doing this in a gym.
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First, David makes Styles go on a 30-minute slow-paced jog to warm up. You’re going to need a lot of time for this workout, and half an hour alone on a jog will require a solid block of your day to be set aside.
Then, David switches it up and makes it intense. Styles runs a single mile as fast as he could, then drops down and does 100 push-ups, 100 bodyweight squats, and 100 situps within eight minutes. Styles could do the mile in only 5:13, which is impressive, but David stresses that you should run the mile at your own pace the way you could accomplish it.
After that, the real workout begins. You’re going to do a four-round circuit of one minute of kettlebell swings, one minute of box jumps, two minutes of sandbag over-the-shoulders, and two minutes of an alternating clean-and-press, resting only a minute between rounds.
But what’s running training without actual running? Of course, Styles’ running training needs actual pavement-pounding, so he does eight rounds of a 30-45-second sprint (your choice if you want to put in an incline), resting 90 seconds in between.
To wind down, the workout calls for 15 minutes of core work, which is usually plank and crunch variations. That’s your call, as long as you work your abdominals. The workout finally finishes with stretching for as long as you need, which should just be around 10 to 15 minutes.
Harry Styles’ feat proves that if you prepare enough, not even gravity can hold you back from a marathon finish, no matter what the time on the stopwatch is
It’s worth noting that while a workout like this can definitely improve your fitness and conditioning, the reality is that not everyone will have the free time and energy to consistently exercise this way. Adopt and adapt a plan like this as you need but also be realistic with yourself—most of us don’t have the luxury of non-work time the way a Harry Styles does.
But if Styles can run a sub-3:30 or sub-4 marathon, then it also means that given enough commitment, you can, too. His feat proves that if you prepare enough, not even gravity can hold you back from a marathon finish, no matter what the time on the stopwatch is.
