Preparing for your first half marathon, or maybe looking at improving your time, run a personal best? The Half Marathon Training Plans discussed below will help you achieve that, in the way you want. Whether you want to do this by training 6 days a week, or whether you want your half marathon training to just take 3 days of your week with your hectic traveling and packed work schedule. There are half marathon training plans designed by experts to cater to a wide variety of audience.
Half Marathon training needs focused effort, particularly for beginners. A typical fitness runner who regularly runs a 5K or once in a while 10K would probably just be able to complete the distance, but for doing well at the distance, a training plan which can gradually ramp up his endurance to cover the required distance well is required. Be ready to spend at least 2-3 months of quality running to have the satisfaction of running the race the way you wanted to.
Below, you will find half marathon training plans from experts, not only in coaching, but also veteran runners themselves. The approach may be different, but the final goal is the same, to help you achieve your goals.
Half Marathon Training Plan #1 – Hal Higdon
This is a 12 week plan, and my favorite, from the renowned coach Hal Higdon, a veteran of 100+ marathons himself, winner at several masters events, and a prolific sports writer as well.
The basic principle behind this half marathon training plan is to gradually increase the distance, and involves running 5 to 6 days a week. Some weeks are cut-down weeks, where the mileage actually drops a bit to help the body recover. The weekday runs are smaller, usually in the range of 5-8KM, while the weekend runs may go from 12-18KM. There are also various variations of the training plan, including those for beginners, intermediate runners, and advanced runners. Intermediate / advanced runners may also be required to do hill-repeats, intervals, and tempo runs.
Check out Hal Higdon’s very popular book Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide
which has all the above training plans and a complete guide to train for a half marathon.
which has all the above training plans and a complete guide to train for a half marathon.Read more about the Hal Higdon half marathon training plan.
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