I'd say good idea. You get to see where your fitness is and gain confidence.

More than enough recovery time. Just make sure it doesn't disrupt/displace a key long run in your build.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
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I've 'included' a HM as part of a long run in a marathon training block. 2 mile warmup, race, 3-4 mile cool down gets you 18-19 miles. If you really race the HM that cool down is a shuffle, but still gets in the mileage.

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Great idea. As others said, with a short warm-up and cool-down, you'll still get your mileage in and you'll end up with a solid gauge of your marathon pace.

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Shawn
TORRE Consulting Services, LLC
http://www.TORREcs.com

Bad idea. 4 weeks before a marathon you should be getting in your key long runs. Sure, you'll recover from the race by the time 4 weeks have elapsed, but you'll have torched the last week or two of training including the weeks that you should be getting in your longest runs and fine tuning your race strategy. 6 weeks before a marathon and you could make an argument that you're gauging where your fitness is, but if your marathon is really your A race then why would you race a half marathon so close?