I think it would be really tough to do your first marathon and then another within a month. Maybe when you are more experienced. A race takes a lot more out of you, gives your body a bigger stress, than just running. I can run a couple of 21 K or more runs in a month, but I wouldn't want to do two half marathon races in a month. Maybe six weeks, if I recovered without any injuries, but you have to be really careful not to train too hard after a race. You'll end up hurting yourself. You need some recovery time (where even if you are running, you're not training/pushing/doing speed work, etc. just listen to your body.

Use the first one as a smart long run, incorporating some HMP into it. Do not race all of it, rather maybe run the first 10 miles relaxed and the last 3.1 @ HMP. then KILL that second one. (work the first one into your training schedule perhaps)

Agree. Pick one you want to race and one you want to run. You taper first race, then got by how you feel. I raced my first half in march last year, then ran 5 more and a marathon in October. It was easily doable if you treat on as a training run and only race one.

You have probably gradually worked up to that mileage. The OP said it was her first (and second) half. I think that was the concern.

obviously, i do it wrong. i did a half in january and febraury, a 15k in march, and a half in april, may and june. lol. the may and june ones were only 2 weeks apart. the rest of the summer i am doing 5k's and 10k's working towards my september ragnar of 17.4 miles broken up over a 24 hour period. oh and i'll be doing a mud/obstacle run that is also a half distance that month as well. then another half in october. nothing is lined up yet for november and december.

how much time is needed in between halves and why?

Hi everyone,

Without giving it too much thought, I signed up for two half marathons (my first ever) within one month of each other. Any tips on how I go about recuperating from one to training (and tapering) for the other within the span of a few weeks? Thanks!

You'll be fine. I've been doing 13.1 or more miles nearly every weekend for a over 2 months. Racing is a bit different. If you push the pace you're going to feel sore for 2-4 days but with a couple weeks in between the races you should be fine. Each one is going to be different so just play it by ear and if you're feeling good by mile 10 then turn up the heat and finish it out strong. If not then just keep the pace nice and steady and count it as another good run but not necessarily a new PR effort.

I was fully recovered from my 2nd ever half in April within a week or less. My legs felt really heavy and tired and I was a little sore, but it is not that hard to recover - and I DID race it - ran much faster than my training pace. Just take it a little easy the first week - short slow runs, and then by the second weekend after, you should be ready for your long runs again. I was going to do 2 HMs 3 weeks apart last year, but I ended up having to bail on the second due to getting sick and family issues.

Not sure how long your long runs are going to get, but it would probably help if you have already run around 13 miles in training runs too. I am not a big fan of only running 10 miles like some programs have you do.

I ran my first 2 halfs exactly 5 weeks apart. I never tapered. I PR'd by over 8 minutes in the 2nd one. This year I have 5 on my calendar and 2 are in April and they're one week apart. That will be interesting to say the least. I'm just approaching it like I would my long runs; 1 per week...

Vish, I hope you did well on all three half marathons. Any lessons learned?