As a First Time Marathoner How Many Times a Week Should I Be Running?

by Croucher
(Kent, United Kingdom)

I first did a half marathon last year, the Run to the Beat- I think it was in September. I have not run since then, I have now got a charity marathon place for the London Marathon. I started running straight away, I was very slow but now have got even slower.




When I did the half marathon last year my time was 2hrs and 20 minutes and the training had been very haphazard. I decided that I was going to train properly this time round, but wondering whether I am putting in a lot of junk miles.

I run 5 times a week. My time is even slower I ran 14 miles on Sunday which took me 2 hours and 48 something minutes. Should I cut this down to 4 days?


Answer by Dominique:
Hi there,
Thanks for your question about your upcoming marathon.

Running a marathon is a great goal to have.

Running five days a week is not extreme.

There is nothing wrong with being slower in training.

You may still be building up fitness compared to a year ago. Also, training runs are usually slower than actual races, so I wouldn't be too worried about not beating your half marathon time in training.

It is hard to say whether you are putting in "junk miles". Are you feeling tired and run down all the time? Do you have a lack of energy? Is the thought of doing another training run enough to make you sigh?

If so, then yes, you may be overtrained and could do with a cut in running time. If not, then I think you don't have much to worry about.

For a marathon I feel the minimum you should do is to run at least four times a week. There are plans that get you there in three days per week. Not necessarily completely bad, but if running only three, you must complement your running with sufficient cross-training on non-running days.

Even when running four days a week, cross-training is a good idea.

A good read on modern marathon training is the 100 Day Marathon Plan. Check out my 100 Day Marathon Plan review via the link.

Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Dominique

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