

If you want to not only run the half and full marathon but also race it, your body needs to be prepared.

This goes back to my principle about running the most you can without getting injured. There is a line between fatigue and soreness that you have to be careful not to cross too much though that’s what leads to injuries. Soreness and fatigue is a good thing it means your body is adjusting to the training and making progress toward recovery and getting stronger. You’ll want to be sure you have run the distance, or close to, in practice before and completed some workouts where you were running intervals faster than “easy” pace, where you wake up feeling tired and sore. You’ve been running between 6 months and a year, and it seems the next step is to sign up for a race. You’re learning what pace means, figuring out your stride and gait and making sure injuries don’t pop up in the process.

The idea here is to simply get your legs, feet and muscles used to pounding and adapting at a slow rate. You’d want to build this weekly mileage of 6-10 miles up to 20-25 miles a week for a good 6 months before you think about signing up for the half or full. Let’s say you’re new to running you just got the bug and you’re starting out with two to three miles three times a week.

It takes years and years of marathon-type training to develop your aerobic capacity to it’s fullest.” For the half marathon and marathon distance, you want to build a good foundation of mileage so when you get to the race, your body has run through that fatigue before and knows how to handle the last few painful miles. One of the greatest distance coaches was Arthur Lydiard, who once said, “Your aerobic development is a gradual thing. Much of it depends on your life schedule, how long you’ve been running, the events you wish to train for, hours of sleep you get a night and your injury disposition.Ī principle I like to use when assigning mileage to the athletes I coach is, how much can you run without getting hurt? This may sound strange, but in order to improve over time in distance running you simply have to run more. Why is it important, and what’s the right amount? Every runner is going to have their own “sweet spot” of mileage that they find works for them. This week I’m tackling a topic that comes up a lot among newer runners: What is the average weekly mileage I should run per week while training for a marathon or half marathon? What is the minimum mileage for finishing both distances in a good way? Why Mileage Matters Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!Īs a professional runner who also owns a coaching business, I’m used to fielding frequent questions from beginners to super experienced runners.
