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Bournemouth Half Marathon 25 Marathon Tours UK Abbott World Marathon Majors 25

Cross training - running up steps

Half Marathon Training Schedule

To successfully complete a half marathon, you should first of all have run a 10K and have that as a basis for preparing for the longer distance

Check out our 10K Training Schedule here.

Running a 10K will have meant building up your training over a ten or twelve week period to probably three runs a week and around 20 miles. With that as a basis, you are in a good position to follow our twelve week programme which starts at a weekly mileage of 20 and progresses to 39 at week ten before two weeks of consolidation.

12 week schedule for Half Marathon

Week Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
1 SR 6 Rest INT 6 Rest or CT Rest LR 8 Rest or CT
2 SR 6 Rest INT 6 RR 2 Rest LR 8 Rest or CT
3 SR 6 Rest INT 6 RR 3 Rest LR 9 miles Rest or CT
4 SR 7 Rest INT 6 RR 4 Rest LR 10 Rest or CT
5 SR 7 Rest INT 7 RR 5 Rest LR 11 Rest or CT
6 SR 6 Rest INT 6 RR 4 Rest LR 9 Rest or CT
7 SR 7 Rest INT 7 RR 5 Rest LR 11 Rest or CT
8 SR 7 Rest INT 7 RR 4 Rest LR 12 RR 3 miles
9 SR 8 Rest INT 7 RR 5 Rest LR 13 RR 4
10 SR 9 Rest INT 7 RR 5 Rest LR 14 RR 4
11 SR 6 Rest INT 6 RR 3 Rest LR 9 Rest or CT
12 RR 4 Rest Rest or CT RR 4 Rest Rest Race Day!

Note that week 6 is a consolidation week - mileage drops from 30 to 24 but back to 30 on week 7.

Key

SR - Steady Run
Run at around half marathon race pace (if you expected to run the half in 2 hours, then around 9 minute miles)
LR - Long Run
Run much slower than half marathon pace (if you expected to run the half in 2 hours, then not much quicker than 10 minute miles)
INT - Interval Session
Introduces variety, quality and hard work into your programme and should be progressive (sessions could be Fartlek, 800m reps, Magic Miles). See article 'Need For Speed'
RR - Recovery Run
An important component, let's you relax after hard sessions (both physically and mentally) and can also allow you to concentrate on stretching
CR - Cross-training
Cross-training can include swimming, cycling, yoga or, relatively easy to do, an 'at home' stretching session

all Training Schedules

Related

Running Advice
10K Training Schedule
Running Advice
Marathon Training Schedule (target time 4:30)
Running Advice
Marathon Training Schedule (target time 3:30)
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