How Many Miles?

"How many miles must a man walk down,

Before you can call him a man?"

Bob Dylan

Or as a marathoner would express the thought:

"How many miles must a man (or woman) run,

Before you can call him fully trained?"

Not nearly so poetic, is it? But it's still a question we all ask when we begin to train for the long run, the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. When I first jumped into this madness which becomes a passion, I was blind to any guidelines. The more I know about it, now with 6 marathons and 2 ultra-marathons (50K, about 31 miles) under my belt, the more I know that the only hard and fast rule is there are no hard and fast rules. Ask around about weekly mileage and you find some runners who regularly log 40-50 miles per week. The truly competitive runners, the pros, regularly run more than 100 miles per week. Honestly, if you are in that class, there's nothing new you are going to learn from reading this blog. I should be reading your blog. However, if you are a newbie or otherwise still finding your way, these large numbers can be daunting. My advice: pay them little attention. You need to find your own way.

You can find some reliable guidance from Cool Running where they classify distance runners as beginners (15-25 miles per week), intermediate (25-50 miles per week), advanced (40-60 miles per week) and competitive (50 plus miles per week). However, one should take these parameters with a grain of salt. Know your own capacity. Know how much time you can give. Listen to your body and adjust your mileage up or down, depending on the strengths and weaknesses you find your body reporting to you. Even though I am a somewhat seasoned marathoner, I am by no means an aggressive runner. Focusing on a 20-25 mile weekly range is good for me. Maybe I'll never break 4 1/2 hours and I doubt I could ever qualify for the Boston Marathon (at my age, I need 4 hours flat to qualify), but there are still plenty enough challenges to keep me working.

As important as total weekly mileage is consistency from week to week, month to month. Allow yourself 4-6 months of preparation, at the least. If you are just starting a running regimen, give yourself a year before commiting to a marathon. Run 10K's and maybe a half-marathon. How you do with this will let you know if you really need to run a marathon, or not. The bottom line is that you run for your health and well being. Don't muddy the waters with machismo or ego driven goals. These are the wrong reasons for running. Your competitive urges can be loosed bit by bit once you have made the commitment to run for years and years, as long as your body allows it. Don't mess it up by making it a competition. It's fine to see it as a challenge, but let's not be ever racing with ourselves, or worse yet, with others.

Some of the best advice I've ever heard came from Shelly Campbell, a coach for USA Triathlon. "Sit down and talk to your husband, your wife, your family before you commit to the extended training necessary for a marathon, or triathlon." Shelly goes on that everyone needs to be aware that this commitment requires time and a focus which will take one away from family and friends. Once everyone is on the same page, then plot your weekly goals as you set your sights on an horizon 5-6 months distant. Good luck. I'll see you on the road, logging miles.

For my part, I plan to stick tight to 20-30 miles per week. This will eventually spill into 30 plus as the weekly long run becomes longer. My body generally tells me that trying to sustain a schedule in excess of 35 miles per week is asking for trouble. The knees begin to ache, or the ankles, or lower back. If our goal is to be running marathons 5 or 10 years down the road, it's best to avoid injury along the way. Run long, but run smart, too.