weekly mileage

[Deleted User]

Quick question, I'm training for the fleet half, it will be my first half marathon. Ideally what weekly mileage should I be doing??? I'm hoping for a 2 - 2.15hr finish. Currently split my runs into 2 or 3 short ones and a longer one. And doing around 20 miles per week.

Nessie

How long is it until your half? You'll probably be fine if you have done a couple of 10 milers before the race (leaving a couple of weeks betwee the last one and the race), which with 2-3 shorter runs in the week would suggest 20-25 miles a week as being a good base.

[Deleted User]

The fleet half is on 16/3. So far my longest run is the GRIM 8 mile race which was on 2/2 which I did in 1hr 18mins. I was debating if I needed to up the mileage to 25+ per week or more.

Ian Dodds

Hi ED,
No you certainly don't need to up your mileage to run a decent half marathon. I run less than 20 miles a week and did 1.29.30 for the Four Villages last month. More important than the number of miles per week is the quality of each run you do. For example, only 2 runs a week of 8 miles at your half marathon pace (tempo runs) will be better for you than 5 runs a week of 4 miles at a slower pace.

So don't be distracted by the high miles per week advocated by a lot of training schedules, as these tend to be geared towards running a marathon, which needs a lot more training than just double a half marathon.

Have fun,
Ian

Minks

Ian,

That's quite encouraging. I've always thought that I'd need to do a lot more mileage to even contemplate entering a half - I currently run about 20 miles a week.

[Deleted User]

cheers Ian, makes sense when you think about it. Being a newbie to this running lark the "high mileage per week" does get distracting. I've decided to improve my speed over the distances I do run rather than up the mileage, and stick in a 10 miler the week before the 1/2 Marathon.

Ian Dodds

Perfect ED, there's nothing more motivating than seeing your times improve over a set distance week after week. Another thing worth mentioning is that improvements don't always come steadily, so you may struggle to run any faster for a couple of weeks but then one day suddenly jump to a faster pace without even trying. That's a great feeling.

Minks

And don't be discouraged by the odd day where you feel like a lead weight and seem to have regressed rather than made progress.

Your body probably just needs a break and it's its way of telling you to slow down!

[Deleted User]

according to frank horwill you should aim to run double or treble your race distance per week spread across a veriety of sessions.......... related to your expected or desired performance. maybe you should aim for about 25-30 miles a week.

[Deleted User]

be gradual with mileage increases, i don't want to have to re-post my shinsplints cure page AGAIN!