Generally speaking, how frequently can someone race a half marathon and expect to perform well? Is aiming for about one HM race per month in the fall too much?
Generally speaking, how frequently can someone race a half marathon and expect to perform well? Is aiming for about one HM race per month in the fall too much?
Yeah, that’s probably a bit too much density and frequency. Could you run two half marathons a month apart and run them both well? Sure. But could you do that for three, four, or five months in a row? Probably not, as to appropriately taper for and recover from each of them will cause your training for the next one will suffer.
If they aren’t all “A” efforts (like, if you’re racing the first 10 miles at marathon effort and closing the final 5k hard in most of them), and if you’re someone who is motivated by lining up to race and can get more out of yourself in that environment than in a normal workout, once a month isn’t too much and could be a good training stimulus for the one that’s your true goal later in the season. But for a true priority half marathon effort, I wouldn’t think it’s super-sustainable to do one a month more than two months in a row.
What are we calling the fall? Is it 2 races or more than that? I think you can reasonably race well at the half in back to back months. I wouldn't get carried away by doing more than that.
Thanks to everyone for the tips. I'll try not to race HMs more frequently than every six weeks or so
Every 4 weeks is too frequent unless you are jogging some of them. You will get burn out and you won't be able to switch your training up much.