How Many Hours a Week it Takes to Train for a 5k & Half

I have found that in training for races of any distance, one of the biggest obstacles to overcome is scheduling the time necessary to get the training in. I often have friends tell me that they would love to train for a 5k, half-marathon, or marathon but are just too busy to fit it in their schedules (apparently I am not busy). So, I decided to put together some numbers to show just how easy it is to fit in the necessary workouts to reach these goals.

To train for a 5km, you are looking at a minimum of 3 hours a week. This would be three separate run/walk workouts. 

For a half-marathon, you are going to need anywhere from 3-5 hours per week and for a full-marathon your are looking at 5-8 hours per week. These times don’t include cross-training, but that is not entirely necessary to get started.

So, not too bad. But lets put it in perspective:

The average American spends 28 hours a week watching T.V. Even if you trained 8 hours per week, this still leaves 20 hours of boob-tube gazing if you so choose. That is still enough time for 40 episodes of Honey Boo Boo a week!!!

(Disclaimer: I have never seen Honey Boo Boo)

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