You can get away with either the red-green builder method or the two-column method in marathon, since time is not a factor.
Ultimately, doing well at marathon involves knowing all the methods of constructing gold and silver blocks. In addition, knowing when to do damage control, that is, clearing lines instead of building partial blocks in order to reduce the height of pieces, is important.
At the most advanced level, knowing how to manufacture setups for spin maneuvers is a must. The easiest setup typically involves a yellow, pink, or purple as the spinning piece.