half marathons

[Deleted User]

Just did the London marathon and planning on either doing NY or Dublin and a few half marathons in between. Most people say that you should not really do more than 2 marathons a year, but what about half marathons? I don’t want to overdo it or injure myself. Any suggestions?

[Deleted User]

I tend to run around 12-15 miles most Sundays. If you race 1/2 marathons hard all the time then I guess you would become a bit 'jaded'. I do around 1/2 a dozen 1/2M races a year but would see no reason in doing many more if I had the time......

Stickless

Doesn't it depend what you make of them? If you train for them, give them your all, surely they will take a lot out of you. You can't give all that frequently.

I don't give all. What point my busting a gut to get round faster? Yippee, improvement from 2hr 26 to 2hr 20.

I really enjoy my races, but going for time would be absurd.

So I don't particularly train (although when I plan that far ahead, which is by no means always, I do taper) I run halfs as a long slow distance, which is for me what they always will be, and can't imagine they pose any more risk of injury than ordinary recreational running does.

Ian Dodds

As a general guide, if you race hard then you need to leave the same number of days as miles raced before you can race hard again. So for half-marathons, in theory you should be able to race one every 2 weeks, but the problem is you will always be in recovery, so you won't be able to do much quality training inbetween races, and you might get more injuries.

But as Stickless says, if your races are not at a flat-out pace, then you can run any amount you feel like. I've run 10 half-marathons in a year before, plus lots of 10k and 10 mile races (38 races in all) and had no problems.

Matt the Brum

1 a week