How many miles per week to run decent marathon?

In one of Lydiard's latest books he said you needed a minimum of 50-60 mpw to run a decent marathon. That's a far cry from the 100 associated with him but I think he was writing more for the "average" runner then. I found that getting to 50-70 from 40-50 made a huge difference. It got me from 4:34 to 3:24 in about a year and a half.

100-120mpw.

Thanks for a serious reply and the personal antecode. That's helpful.

Does it seem reasonable to go from 3:32 to at least 3:15-3:20ish if I'm running 50-60 mpw vs the 30 I did last training cycle? Looking back, I'm actually surprised my 5k and half times were what they were considering my low mileage. I only had 6 weeks over 37 miles in 2016. That's just sad.

Given that I went from 4:34 to 3:24 with that sort of increase I think it's very reasonable. I was much younger and generally at a time of life when you got faster no matter what you did, not all of that improvement was likely due just to the increased miles, but I'd be surprised if you didn't improve at least that much

Want2getfaster wrote:

Is that enough mileage for a marginally talented 34 year old male to have a chance at sub 3:10?

To date you haven't shown any talent at all, marginal or otherwise. Will running more miles help a runner with no talent run faster? Yes. It is actually your lack of talent which is key as, unlike a runner with talent, you can not afford to run marathons on low mileage and hope to do well. You very much need to run more miles. Getting up to 80 miles a week will for sure help you with your very modest, and appropriate, time goal of sub 3:10.

By "that much" I mean to 3:15 or so, not by over an hour. I assume that was understood but just in case...

You are not going to get many comments beyond 100-1,000 miles a week. SO I will do my best to explain it in a way most here wont. When it comes to the marathon 50-60 will get you to the finish relative to your natural talent. At that point you have to do work if you want the best out of yourself. Consistency and volume are the two keys to running a marathon well. You need large amounts of volume, as much as your body can handle before breaking. Then you need workouts specific to the marathon distance. Also it takes years of those combined together to get PR's and PB's.

Here is the thing, no one on here can tell you how many miles will get you to that goal because they aren't you. I know guys who can run under 3hrs on 50 miles a week. I know guys in the 2:30 range who run 100+. There is also other things to consider, diet and weight. You can't out train a bad diet and lower weight = faster times.

I can't tell you if 50-60 will knock 15-20 minutes off. I can tell you running more and more often will make you faster.

I ran 4:09 a little less than 3 years. Just ran 3:09 last weekend. Ran consistently for that 3 year span. This recent buildup I hit 50-55mpw for 8 consecutive weeks. So yes, it seems to me your goal is very attainable based on your current plan. My age and other times are similar to OP.

50mpw wrote:

Ran consistently for that 3 year span. .

The key was it took 3 years of consistency to get that, doesn't happen in one training block.

To see the kind of improvement you're looking for you'll probably need to get up to 70 mpw, but build up slowly - like, it may take two years of training cycles to get to where you can comfortably do 70 mpw regularly without getting injured.

Frankly, 33 miles per week is extremely low mileage to expect to do anything other than survive in a marathon - so you have a lot of work to do, and you may not be able to. Think of the time you're currently running, and figure you'll double it. That's a lot of new commitment, so consider why you're running and whether your goals are realistic.

I'm probably about as untalented as you. I got my marathon PR (3:03) on 70 mpw over 12 weeks when I was 39, but attempting to do the same six months later proved too much for my body. So now I'm back in the ~55 mpw range and readjusting my expectations.

Thanks again all for the serious replies. I've had a season of life (a number of years ago) when I actually averaged 50 mpw for the year. Ran some decent times that year but got sick right before the goal marathon and then bad ITBS just after. Then I farted around for several years, started a few businesses, had four kids, etc. Now life is in a pretty good routine, and I am motivated to make another run at a couple decent times. I had consistent training leading up to my 3:32 last year but just didn't have enough miles. This year I will have a base of 50 mpw for 4 months before I even start my 18 week plan. Then I'll hit 50-60 for 18 weeks leading up to race day. I know that will make an enormous difference over what I did last year, just trying to get an idea if it might be a 5 mins difference or a 25 minute difference. Time will tell, and I'm excited for the journey ahead.

Everyone is different. I ran 3:01 on avg 35 mpw. I had one week @ 44 mpw, but that was the highest. To me, running your long runs at close to marathon pace is the key workout; much more significant than overall mpw.

Yeah, I actually had tons of great workouts including several long runs within 20-30 seconds average of mp. Just didn't get it done at the race.

Everyone is different for sure, but more is almost always better when it comes to the marathon. I think going from 30s to 50s will result in really significant improvement. You're still in the steep part of the improvement curve from a mileage perspective. You'll get a lot more going from 30 to 50 than I would get from going from 80 to 100.

Just realized my 25 weeks before my marathon only averaged 30 miles a week :/

Should be 55-60 mpw for same time period this year.

I ran about 60-65 mpw (including 3 weeks almost totally off) during a 5 month buildup for a marathon in which I ran 2:50 (dying badly the last 4 miles from 2:47 pace). I was also anemic at the time, though nearly recovered by actual race day.

My other PRs are much better than yours, but I wasn't in good shape at all during this cycle, as it was after I'd graduated from college and let myself go. I ran 16:55 on the track and 57:50 for 10 miles during the same cycle. My longest run was 17 miles. (Which I wouldn't necessarily recommend as a training approach.)

70 mpw is more than enough for a 3:07 marathon, but it sort of depends: did you run 19:57 and 1:32 doing legit training (other than low mileage), or were you just jogging around? If you were working out and focused and balancing threshold and speed and easy mileage, then 3:07 is possible but may be difficult for you. If you ran those times as a relative newbie, not doing focused training, then you probably have enough room to improve just by training well.

I think that progression is absolutely possible. FWIW I ran 3:34 off 35mpw and five months later ran 2:55 off 55mpw. Twelve months after that I ran 2:47 off 65.

My last cycle I did 19:57 for 5k, 69:06 for 10 miles, and 1:31:30 for a half. Then hit mile 20 of my goal marathon in 2:30, threw up shortly after (too many damn carbs apparently), and fell apart. So I would say my marathon cycle was solid but only focused on running a fast marathon. Those other times were just by products if that makes sense.

(And the 19:57 for 5k actually came before I even started marathon cycle and was on July 4th in Texas which means 80 degrees at start with 90% humidity)

Some years ago, at age 42, I ran 3:18 on 35 mpw. Biggest week was 50. Limited, very limited talent. Yeah, I know, everyone says that. If you can do that 18 week block averaging 60 (and that's a not insignificant if), I'd expect you to be sub 3:10 for sure.