How many miles should I run a week?
There's no single number: it depends on your level and what you're training for. Coach Hal Higdon's published training plans, read directly from his site, run from about 8 miles a week for a first 5K build to 40 to 50-plus miles a week at the peak of his marathon plans, depending on whether you follow the Novice, Intermediate or Advanced version. The table below has the actual weekly totals, run days and long-run distances from each plan, plus what the injury research says about how fast to move between them.
"How many miles a week" gets asked by people in very different positions: someone who just finished a couch-to-5K program, and someone building toward a fourth marathon. A single number can't answer both. The plans below can, because they show what a real coach prescribes at each level and how the weekly total changes as the level goes up.
Weekly mileage in Hal Higdon's published plans
Hal Higdon has published free, level-specific training plans at halhigdon.com for 5K through marathon distances. The table below is Runked's own compilation, built by reading each plan's day-by-day schedule and adding up its highest-mileage week.
| Level | Plan | Run days/week | Peak long run | Peak weekly mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting out | Novice 5K (8 weeks) | 3, plus 2 optional easy run/walk days | 3 mi (week 7) | 8 mi (week 7) |
| Novice, marathon-ready | Novice 1 Marathon (18 weeks) | 4, plus 1 cross-training day | 20 mi (week 15) | 40 mi (week 15) |
| Intermediate | Intermediate 1 Marathon (18 weeks) | 5, plus 1 cross-training day | 20 mi (weeks 13 & 15) | 44 mi (week 11; that week's long run is 18 mi, since the plan's 20-mi peak long run falls in weeks 13 and 15) |
| Advanced | Advanced 1 Marathon (18 weeks) | 6, no scheduled cross-training | 20 mi (weeks 11, 13 & 15) | 50-plus mi (week 15; Thursday's hill-repeat session isn't listed in miles by the source) |
Read from halhigdon.com and totaled by Runked from each plan's stated daily distances, August 26, 2026. Peak long run and peak weekly mileage are each that column's single highest week and don't always land on the same week, as the Intermediate row shows. These are one coach's published numbers. Other certified plans set different peaks for the same level.
Why the plans jump around instead of climbing straight up
None of Higdon's plans climb in a straight line. In the Novice 1 Marathon schedule, for example, the Saturday long run goes 6, 7, 5, 9, 10, 7 miles across the first six weeks: up, down, up, up, down. Every second or third week backs off before the next increase, a pattern visible in all three marathon plans above. Higdon doesn't publish a stated injury rationale for this pattern on the plan pages themselves, and the closest available evidence is mixed. Nielsen et al.'s 2014 study in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy tracked 874 novice runners with GPS watches for a year, comparing those who increased weekly distance by more than 30% over 2 weeks with those who increased by less than 10% or ran less than before. The more-than-30% group had a higher rate of specific injuries, including runner's knee, IT band syndrome and shin splints, but the difference (hazard ratio 1.59, 95% CI 0.96 to 2.66, P = .07) was not statistically significant, and the authors describe the study as exploratory, reporting no statistically significant differences across the three progression groups. Runked's guide to increasing mileage safely goes through what that means for a weekly plan of your own.
How to apply it
- Match the row to your current running fitness. Someone who can already run 8 miles a week comfortably is closer to the Novice Marathon row than the Starting Out row, even if their goal race is a 5K.
- Use the distance-specific guide for the week-by-week numbers. The table above shows peak weeks only; Runked's 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon training plan guides lay out full builds week by week.
- Check the long run figure too. Higdon's long run tops out at 20 miles across all three marathon levels above; the difference between Novice, Intermediate and Advanced shows up mostly in the weekday running around it.
- Check your current range before picking a target. Runked's how far should I be able to run guide covers realistic single-run distances by fitness level, which is a useful sanity check before committing to a weekly total.
Common mistakes
- Copying a weekly total without the structure behind it. A single 44-mile week means something different split across 5 runs than crammed into 3.
- Raising the long run and the weekly total in the same week. Higdon's plans stagger these; a stepback week typically cuts the long run while weekday mileage holds or drops too.
- Skipping the stepback weeks when a plan feels easy. The pattern in the table above (up, up, down) is there in every level shown, including Advanced.
- Treating a coach's published plan as a fixed prescription for every runner. Higdon writes these for a general audience; age, injury history and current fitness all move the right number for one person.
What to do next
The table above is a reference for choosing a level. Pick the distance-specific guide that matches your goal (5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon) and use its week-by-week build from there. If the starting point itself is unclear, how far should I be able to run covers realistic single-run distances first.
A weekly mileage table shows a range to aim for. Whether it's actually working for you is a separate question, and it's the one Runked's rank is built to answer: compare to yourself, not to others. Every runner starts at Bronze, and the rank moves only on your own runs from week to week. See how the rank works.
Find out where you stand
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Download on App StoreFrequently asked questions
How many miles a week is good for a beginner?
Around 8 miles by the last full training week, if Hal Higdon's Novice 5K plan is the reference point. It opens with about 4.5 miles of running in week 1 (three short runs plus two optional easy run/walk days and a Sunday walk) and reaches three 2-to-3-mile runs by week 7, an 8-mile week, before race week. That is one published plan's starting range. The right number for any one beginner is whatever they can repeat week after week without new pain.
What's a safe weekly mileage increase?
Nielsen et al.'s 2014 study in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy tracked 874 novice runners with GPS watches for a year, comparing those who increased weekly distance by more than 30% over 2 weeks with those who increased by less than 10% or ran less than before. The more-than-30% group had a higher rate of specific injuries, including runner's knee, IT band syndrome and shin splints, but the difference (hazard ratio 1.59, 95% CI 0.96 to 2.66, P = .07) was not statistically significant. The authors describe the study as exploratory and report no statistically significant differences across the three progression groups. Runked's guide to increasing mileage safely goes through the ramp-up math in more detail.
How many miles a week for marathon training?
It depends on the plan level. Hal Higdon's published marathon plans peak at 40 miles in their highest week for Novice 1, 44 miles for Intermediate 1, and at least 50 miles for Advanced 1 (that plan's Thursday hill-repeat session isn't listed in miles by the source), each an 18-week build with a 20-mile long run at its peak. Runked's marathon training plan guide breaks a build like this into weekly targets.
Does Runked tell me how many miles to run each week?
Runked's free tier tracks every run and scores it by effort rather than distance alone. PRO, $59.99 a year or $11.99 a week with a 7-day trial, adds a personalized plan from 5K to marathon distance, built in phases (Foundation, Early Quality, Transition, Race Prep, Taper, Recovery) that set the week's mileage and long run automatically instead of leaving it to a table like the one above.