How much is too much ?

It really depends on what your training for. eg. if your training for a sprint distance you dont want to be out running long and slow, you want to be practicing short more intense runs. So it really depends on what your training for. But if your doing it for the fitness well its good but there are better ways of improving fitness. so go for it and enjoy!!

I would suggest that you should do more than just one big training session per week. you better go
two or three times and do smaller distances.

to the 'how much' question: when you do your halfmarathon without problems afterward (hurting
legs/knees/muscels etc.) then it seems fine to me. I had problems when I increased my training to
fast before a marathon. So be very carefull when you start to train more and longer distances. Build
up slowly to get used to that.

Dani

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Dani
I would suggest that you should do more than just one big training session per week. you better go
two or three times and do smaller distances.

to the 'how much' question: when you do your halfmarathon without problems afterward (hurting
legs/knees/muscels etc.) then it seems fine to me. I had problems when I increased my training to
fast before a marathon. So be very carefull when you start to train more and longer distances. Build
up slowly to get used to that.

Dani

I should have been more explicit. I am training for half IM, and hopefully full IM after that. I do three shorter runs during the week as well: a fast 5k, a medium 8k, and a slower 12k, and my half marathon on the weekend.

This is in addition to two or three 2000m swim sessions, and three rides.

So in this context, just wondering if the half marathon each week would wear me out over the long term or if this type of schedule is typical?

Regards,
Harrow.

Harrow said:

I should have been more explicit. I am training for half IM, and hopefully full IM after that. I
do three shorter runs during the week as well: a fast 5k, a medium 8k, and a slower 12k, and my
half marathon on the weekend.

This is in addition to two or three 2000m swim sessions, and three rides.

Some of this depends how quickly you run those 13 miles. If you're doing them in three hours, I'd
probably call that good and not increase the distance. If you're doing them in 1:40, you could
easily tack on a couple more miles without hurting your training.

The other part of this depends on your weaknesses - making the long run longer will probably help
your running. (ex: My weekly schedule right now looks something like a 16-18 mile run on sundays,
8 mile runs T, H, and a 5 miler on some other day in the week. My goal is to preserve my current
biking fitness, improve my swimming a bit because it's so low impact and easy to train for, and
prepare for a fall marathon).

But you've only got so much energy and so much time. Are you finding your current schedule easy,
or exhausting? Etc., etc., etc. do you lack speed, or endurance, or are you pretty balanced?

But in general, I think the 13 miles is a reasonable base for general tri training. I'd take it a
bit longer for half-IM training, and do more of a marathon progression for IM. But there are
arguments for not going too much over 2:30 or 3:00, at least, not too often. I can handle back to
back weeks of 2;30ish runs, but find that runs over 3:00, even at an easy pace, are not something I
can do on back to back weeks. YMMV.

Quoted message said:

So in this context, just wondering if the half marathon each week would wear me out over the long
term or if this type of schedule is typical?

For the long term concerns, don't underestimate a good rest week from time to time. Cut your
overall volume and the length of your long runs and bikes. If you can handle it for a month
straight, with appropriately applied rest, you can probably handle it for the long term. I rest
every 4th week or as needed, leaves me happy to work hard the rest of the time. ("Listen to
your body..."😉

Happy running,

-dave

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Harrow <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I wonder what is the maximum length training run you would want to do each week over a long period
of time?

I have just started running a half marathon each week-end at a steady pace (1 hr 45min), and
wonder if this is too much, or could I build up to even more?

Thanks, Harrow.

I agree with everyone else that it's personal.

I find I have to be running over 2:00 to get that "long run" feel. You know what I mean? I think a
month+ of that and your body makes some adaptations. I also find that 3:00 runs tear me down so much
much that I never recover. I can do 2:30 runs every other week forever and not break down. Depending
on what I'm trying to do, they will be easy runs or very hard runs.

-JimV