Weekly mileage for Half Marathon Training

bshedwick

I heard someone recommending this morning that in order to train for a half marathon, you need to be running 30 miles a week. That seems awfully high to me.

I'm only topping out at around 23 miles on my longest week before my race.

Anyone else think 30 miles a week is high?

DontThinkJustRun

Ah, yeah maybe if you're trying to run it in under an hour. I trained for both my halfs in the 20-25 mile week range. Even now training for my first full I'm barely breaking 30 mile weeks. To be fair, I am not fast and a completely average runner, so if you have a significant speed goal, then yes miles are king, but if you're just looking to finish or finish in a reasonable time 23 mile weeks will be no issue.

scottb81

I think it depends on your goals. If you just want to run to finish then 23 will probably get you there. If you want to explore the limits of your individual running potential then 70+ per week for a few years will be needed.

Bottom line though is that you would run the race faster with more weekly miles.

arc918

The more mileage the better if you are really looking to perform. I always say the best thing that ever happened to my half marathons was marathon training.

The truth with half marathons is you can muscle your way to finish even if you are undertrained. Please note that this method does not work for marathons...

grinch031

Depends on the individual. I know someone who didn't train at all and finished in 1:35. I know people who run 40-50mpw and cannot break 2 hours. I think once you've run enough to establish a base, if you want to see continuous improvement, you probably want to run 30+ mpw. Even then you will eventually plateau and need to keep upping the mileage as you get better and it becomes harder to improve. Its all about your goals.

bshedwick

I've got a decent base so far, and I'm looking to run around 2:00. So not looking to break any speed goals. But might try to stay in the 20s this summer in prep for my 2nd half in October.