Breaks between races

[ebeth]

two weeks is minimum for me. I would not do three within six weeks.

[stinkerbell6879]

Honestly it really depends on if your "racing" them or if you plan on going out there and just finishing them. IMO. I have done back to back HM a few times, I just did RnR Portland and RnR San Diego, so it can be done just plan on stepping back on one of them. I also did 3 in one month....like I said, it will depend. I am out there having fun and do a run/walk method, not doing sub 2hr. HM :-)

[starryfish]

I did 3 in <30 days and it was too much.

I prefer 1 per month now

[stinkerbell6879]

Jun 6, 2012 11:30:26 GMT -5 starryfish said:

I did 3 in <30 days and it was too much.

I prefer 1 per month now

Ditto this. I am ONLY doing this becuase I am working on a goal of getting the RnR Heavy Medals. Next year I am planning on only selecting a few and getting faster.

Here is a good Hal Higdon article about training for this...
www.halhigdon.com/training/51153/Marathon-Multiple-Marathons-Training-Program

[stingsharkruns]

This is a very individual decision. You need to consider your goals for each race, and your recovery time.

Personally, I don't think it's to much; I'd do it.

[shorty20]

Well, I think it depends on how long you've been running and what your expectations are for both races.

Since I see you've ran a marathon, that makes me believe that you have a good running base, so I'd say you're fine there. I think as long as you go into them with reasonable expectations, you should be okay. If you're looking to PR, I would train hardest for the first one, then take the next one or two easy and just run them to run them without any time expectations. 3 in 6 weeks though does sound a bit much though.

Just my personal experience, I did two halves and a 5k within 8 days last month and now I'm hobbling around with a stress fracture. Now I'm not saying that that was the sole cause of my injury but I'm certain that it didn't help! So just make sure you train properly and get your rest days in there as well.

[finallykrisb]

I did 4 in 37 days last year. I had also done one 4 weeks before the first in that streak. Some of them were back to back weekends and some were 2 weeks apart.

I felt strong at every race. I ran the first of the four hard and got a 6 minute PR. Took it easy for the middle two and managed another 3 minute PR at the last.

All that talking about my race season to say that it can be done without injury.

[al320]

for half marathons, i will do them two weeks apart, but only one will be an A race for me, the other i wont run with a goal.

[sadlebred]

For cycling, we will do 2-3 races in a weekend. Running is different.

[martygras]

I think it depends on your training and if you're going to race them or just run them.

I'm scheduled for three half-marathons in a 3 week span for next April/May and two are back to back. I'm running them to get a higher level of "Half Fanatic" but I feel like I'm also at the spot where I could easily do a half-marathon at any time due to my training/fitness level (I've done three marathons and eight half marathons within the last three years).