I ran my first 1/2 marathon last Nov., chip time 1:44. For maintenance and fun, ran every day every day averaging 50-56 mi. a week. (6-10 mi. a day). Ran my 2nd 1/2 marathon 2/14 timing 1:35. I'm now training for a full marathon in June and average 60-70 mi. a week running every day. Longest run Sun., starting over w/lower mileage Mon. and building to the next Sunday. I don't usually take days off. Longest run was 18.77 miles a few weeks ago, just before my last 1/2 marathon 2/14. Am I logging too many miles this far out from a June full marathon race? Please advise.

Most training programs recommend one day rest, but feel off when I don't do SOMETHING physical every day. Recently dropped my lowest mile day from 8 to 6 (Mondays). Am I setting myself up for injury, or can I sustain this mileage? Most training programs log just 30-50 miles a week and it doesn't seem enough to me. Do I need to cut back from 60-70 mi. a week? Elite runners are this high, and I seem to be okay only feeling taxed Mon. and Tues. after my long runs, or should I not feel taxed at all? Looking to be an elite runner, not the casual occasional half and full marathoner. I'd like to improve my 1:35 1/2 time and hope to time 3:20 or better for my first full.

We have a very similar story. I ran my first half back in September @ 1:43:05. I started training back in early February for a full being run at the end of May. When I started my training, I too started out logging some high miles because I felt that I could. I'm in great shape and had been training for months already in preparation for the half. However, I soon started to break down for two reasons. 1) I was running way too fast during my training runs. 2) I was logging way too many miles and increasing my mileage too fast. This lead to me developing IT Band issues. I’ve worked through my injury by resting, seeing a PT, and implementing a daily stretching/rolling routine. I’m back to training again but have done more research and soul searching. I eliminated one of my runs during the week and have increased my mileage more slowly. I too was trying to post a good time in my first marathon but reality sets in eventually. A marathon is a difficult task especially for a first timer. The best advice I got was to train just to finish your first marathon. Don’t worry about your time. There is always another marathon to do after your first but you need to tackle that first one with respect for the difficulty and grind that it is.

That said, this is just my opinion. Everyone’s body is different. You might be able to train really hard for your first and run a great time and BQ in your first marathon. However, you may also break down and develop some serious injury that will set you back a long time from achieving your goal. My advice is to slow it down but only you know your own body. Good luck!

Oh, one more thing. Rest! Even if you do decide to continue pushing the higher miles, you still need to rest. Even the elite runners need a day to recover. Not taking a day to rest is crazy and not very productive. This my friend is not my opinion but fact. Rest!

Also if you take a day of rest from running your muscles and joints will fell better forit and you won't be depelating energy reserves needed for the longer runs.
try cycling or swimming or even a light walk instead on your rest day, or even better, you could do core work, pilates based exercises are good and they will help you get better muscle power when your running.
that way you will still be doing something but making sure not to overtrain, (you risk a stress fracture from over training!) and your able to keep your training momentum up.

Best of luck.