As race day gets closer, you’re starting to worry if your longest long run is long enough. Wondering if 10 miles is a long run? Do you need to run more than 20 miles? How far should you run before a marathon or a half marathon is an important question. Right alongside, should you limit your long run to 3 hours!
As a longtime running coach, I spend a lot of time talking you out of doing MORE than you should. Which might not be what you’d expect to hear, but it’s true. Doing more often mentally makes us feel better, but at the expense of our performance.
Today we’re going to dive in to the distances you need to complete and why they’re enough. How far you run before a half marathon or how far you run before a marathon are dependent on a wide variety of factors.
Plus we’re going to bust some myths like you can’t run over 3 hours!
We’re going to tackle this question for both distances because you’ll see a lot of overlap!
How Long Should Your Longest Long Run Be?
The majority of half marathon training plans for beginners will top out at 10 miles and for marathon runners 18-20 miles. Does that mean it’s the longest long run you should do? Generally, yes.
The reasons that running coaches so often recommend you follow a plan from start to finish is that they all…
