Can I train for a marathon with just two runs per week?

Question

I am targeting a marathon in 6 months. I have limited time to train and have recently found it easier to drop the number of runs I do a week from 3 or 4 down to 2 - one long and one short/fast. The long is currently around 16km (~10m) and the short is around 10km (~6m). When doing 3 or 4 runs per week it seemed hard to increase the distances, but on 2 runs per week I have increased by about 1km per fortnight over the last 2 months.

My question is, will I be able to continue this cycle of two runs per week with gradual increasing distances over the next 6 months, or will I start hitting limits to what can be sustained on just 2 runs per week?

For info, I am 39 years old and am reasonably fit, having been running or cycling on & off for the last few years.

Answer 1

I'm a little confused when you say that when running 3-4 times per week, you find it hard to increase the distance, yet when running 2x per week you can increase the distance 1km per fortnight (2 weeks)? That 1km is less than a mile, and should be able to be added each week, not each fortnight.

I would recommend going back to 3-4 runs per week, and add distance weekly. The structure would be something like this:

Week 1

1. Day 1 - 4 miles
2. Day 2 - 3 miles*
3. Day 3 - 4 miles
4. Day 4 - 8 miles**

That is actually more mileage than your current week of 16 miles. Put rest days in between each of your run days. On the * day, make that a harder, faster run. On the ** distance day, make sure that about 5-10 minutes of the run are 30 seconds at race pace, 30 seconds recovery, or 1 min race pace, 1 min recovery.

Week 2

1. Day 1 - 6 miles
2. Day 2 - 9 miles**
3. Day 3 - 4 miles*

Again, slightly more than your current 16 mile week, add rest days.

Now the progression is, at the end of each week add one mile a week to your longer runs, and every other week add a mile to one of your shorter runs. That should get you to right around 20-21 miles for your longer runs a couple of weeks out from your marathon, and safely build up your overall mileage at the same time.

Answer 2

I have done marathons with 2 runs per week. And with my longest run being only about 15 miles, but I was working out nearly every day doing other things such as elliptical, indoor cycling, exercise dvds to strength train, etc. Be sure to add in yoga and pilates or stretches. I finished in 4:20:11. But I was also battling a pretty bad case of ITBS. Work on running form and not just miles.

Answer 3

If you have a pretty deep base, you can manage this. However you will probably not have the best marathon experience. You can get to the finish line this way.

If you do additional cardio workouts, like biking, etc that can help substitute for missed runs.

How high to plan to take your long run? You probably want to get to 30-35K mark this way, and stay in the 30K range for four weeks or so, before tapering for the marathon if you can time it right.