This guide is geared towards first time half marathon runners and is designed to bring you up to a level where the course can be completed with relative comfort. A prerequisite for this beginners guide is the ability to run for at least 40 mins or a 5K distance. You will need to be able to commit four days per week for twelve weeks to this training plan which will allow you the opportunity to simply cover the training day distances at an even comfortable pace so that race day will be very achievable or incorporate strength and speed work to build performance and push for a specific target time. This is entirely down to you and what you want to get out of the training plan and ultimately the race day event.
As with any sport, equipment is key so you will need to ensure you have the correct running gear for this type of distance training. Comfortable running shoes and weather appropriate gear are a must so review some of the examples listed below after the training schedule.
All distance training plans include the basic long slow distance runs and easy short recovery runs, here we provide optional pace and speed work for those that want to also focus on performance.
As with any sport, equipment is key so you will need to ensure you have the correct running gear for this type of distance training. Comfortable running shoes and weather appropriate gear are a must so review some of the examples listed below after the training schedule.
All distance training plans include the basic long slow distance runs and easy short recovery runs, here we provide optional pace and speed work for those that want to also focus on performance.
- Long Slow Distance: a steady pace that you should be able to have a short conversation with a training partner without difficulty. This pace will help build your overall endurance and aerobic fitness over long distances and should be for the beginner more or less your race pace.
- Easy Short Distance: an easy barely faster than a fast walk. This pace will prepare you for the next days training and allows for recovery.
- Pacer Runs: the pacer run should be that bit harder than normal, a challenge whereby your breathing is harder and conversation is difficult. This type of training helps improve your race pace and is performed in multiple stages of pacer runs with rest intervals. Each rest interval should not be longer than the racer pace time so 5 min warm up run, very light then a 5 min pacer run followed by slow jog interval, repeat pacer run and slow jog for 30 mins ending with a 5 min warm down jog.
- Speed: speed work helps aerobic fitness, strength and speed and is performed with hill runs or interval training. Hill runs should be at a steady hard pace increasing with the gradient followed by a slow jog/walk intervals repeated over the duration of the session. Interval training is the same concept but performed at just under sprint speed followed by slow jog/walk cool down interval. The interval can be measured by distance or time, you decide.
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