Two half marathons in six days! Yes, I was crazy enough to do that this spring.

The first half marathon of the year is always a little bit tough, so it was unusual for me to plan two back-to-back early in the year. But I had good reasons for wanting to do both. The Owens Corning Half Marathon portion of the Glass City Marathon (April 24) was on my bucket list and it was an anniversary year race. Cap City Half Marathon (April 30) is one of my favorites and it was hosting the half marathon National Championships!

They were both fun, but I made some mistakes. Here are six things I learned.

1. Adjust your training

Because you are walking two half marathons with little rest in between, it is a good idea to increase the mileage on your longest training day, or practice two long mileage days in a week during training to see how you feel.

2. Follow your training schedule

If you do a lot of races, you know when you can skimp on training. Doing two half marathons so close together is not the time to do that.

3. Plan your races and race your plan

My plan for both races was to complete them for fun, not time. I did that for the first race. However, I felt so good at the start of the second half marathon, I decided to try to break 3 hours and ended up walking the first few miles way too fast. My hamstrings became very tight, and I had a difficult time maintaining even the slow pace I should have started with. As a result, my hamstrings have been tight on and off for a couple of weeks.

4. Be sure to stretch and rest

Do not overdo it the week between races. Stretch, rest, eat well, sleep, do some easy miles, but do not push hard. You are both in recovery and in taper mode at the same time. Take it easy.

5. Do not expect to PR

As a sidebar to planning your race, unless you are specifically training to set a personal record at one of these two races, do not expect that to happen. If you are used to doing a couple of half marathons a year, this can be a lot of hard miles in a short amount of time if you are not used to it.

6. The season matters

Racing two half marathons within a week is more difficult to do in the spring than in the fall. I did two halves seven days a part last fall, and after a summer of racing, it was not as big of a deal. That said, I would still recommend taking it easy for at least one of the two races.

There are lots of fun and exciting challenges available to those of us who race regularly. And many of them require a lot more miles over more days than this. Train appropriately and race intelligently, and you should be fine.

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Disclaimer: I am not a certified trainer or coach and I do not have a medical background. This is written entirely from my own experience as a walker who has finished more than 45 half marathons. If you have questions about training, contact a certified coach or trainer, your family physician, or a sports medicine professional.

It turns out we did this again in November. Check out Walk Podcast episode 18 Two Halves, One Week – Air Force and Run with the Amish.

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