Half Marathon Training Plan - Fun Beyond 10K & ...

Fun Beyond 10K & Race Support

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Half Marathon Training Plan

Alissum profile image
AlissumHalf Marathon
31 Replies

Hello wise runners.

I started C25K in April this year. I'm now running 10K regularly and have completed two 10K races in the last couple of months. My furthest distance is 15km.

I have signed up for the Inverness half marathon in March 2019. Ive been googling training plans and getting so confused and thinking no way can I run this distance. Lots of the plans are for running 4 times a week. Not something I should be doing yet. Ideally I would like a Juju type plan to use :-) . Is there such a plan?

Thanks in advance.

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Alissum profile image
Alissum
Half Marathon
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31 Replies
misswobble profile image
misswobbleMarathon

Three times a week is ok. You can run the distance as you’re going to train for it 🙂👍🏃‍♀️

There are lots of training plans Runners World, BUPA or. ASICS ones via Runkeepergo

Alissum profile image
AlissumHalf Marathon in reply to misswobble

Thanks for the ideas.

Runners world training plans really got me confused. Sub this time and sub that time plans. The sub 2.30 plan (the longest race time) needed you to have an already 10K time which I cannot yet run, Im slower. The beginners plan needed you to be running 20 miles a week already, confusing. I'll download a Bupa plan and see if I can follow it.

Ive got 2 days left to pull out of the race and get a full refund.

Macmac profile image
MacmacMarathon in reply to Alissum

I used the bupa plan and a couple of others to get the general structure and then tailored my own plan to fit with my week, parkrun, weights and other commitments. I believe it is based on 4 runs a week, so if you can only do 3 runs per week, perhaps miss the shortest 30 min run each week and keep the 2 other shorter runs plus the long run each week. You’re not all that far off with 15km anyway, so should be ok to gradually build on this by March. Good luck!

roseabi profile image
roseabiUltramarathon

I am currently working on a half marathon plan for this forum and will be posting more info next week 😊

Although I must say that with 15K under your belt already you're pretty much there!

Lorijay profile image
Lorijay in reply to roseabi

Great news roseabi!! :) :)

linda9389 profile image
linda9389AdministratorMarathon in reply to roseabi

Ooh fantastic news, I look forward to that! I've just completed wk 1 of a beginners Runners World HM plan, but I've had so many questions already. As for next week ... that was going to be a post for the weekly chat, but maybe I can ditch all that if you're nearly there .... :)

roseabi profile image
roseabiUltramarathon in reply to linda9389

I will likely be doing a HM plan post on Tuesday to make way for Weekly Chat. Would be interested in what you were thinking of posting...

linda9389 profile image
linda9389AdministratorMarathon in reply to roseabi

Brilliant! I did wk 1 of a runners world beginner HM plan - my first attempt at introducing intervals. That was clearly explained and was OK. But it's hills for wk 2 and very vague '15 min easy run followed by 6 x 20-30 sec hills with walk/jog recovery'. So lots of questions - how steep should the hill be? how fast do you run (easy? race pace? fast?)? how long is the recovery? Nothing very exciting, but to a newbie like me it's not obvious what's required. I also still struggle to get my head round the fact that all the long runs are supposed to be at an easy pace, different from your goal race pace; even with a hill or interval session each week, I feel I need to at least practice race pace, long distance before the event. But I know nothing, still very much learning!

roseabi profile image
roseabiUltramarathon in reply to linda9389

That is rather vague! I imagine they mean hill repeats, so something like: run up the hill for 30s, jog down for 30s. They must have forgotten to add the details. A "hill" is just whatever hill you can find, but if you have a choice don't go for a really really steep one - very hard on the tendons!

linda9389 profile image
linda9389AdministratorMarathon in reply to roseabi

Noted! Wk 1 has been an eyeopener. Trying to understand easy vs recovery pace, I found a RW pace calculator. I couldn't believe how much slower it said I should be running on my weekly long runs than my goal HM pace. It's a whole new world! Lots to think about 😀 i guess it all becomes second nature after a while, but just now it feels aĺl new and different and I feel like a sxhool child all over again 😀😀😀

Maybe58 profile image
Maybe58 in reply to roseabi

Hurrah!!!!

UnfitNoMore profile image
UnfitNoMoreMetric Marathon

For a rough guide you could feed your current long run and race/best times over 10k into Nike run club under my coach, race plans, and HM... it let's you select your number or runs per week, and chucks some workouts in too

Tasha99 profile image
Tasha99Marathon

Just add 1k to your long run every couple of weeks. Consolidate the next. That’s all I’m doing. Can’t see why you’d need a plan.

Alissum profile image
AlissumHalf Marathon

Thanks for all the replies :-)

Roseabi, I look forward to the training plan. Is it coming soon?

Miss Wobble I delved further into Runners World. So much choice. I might look further at the sub 2.30 plan.

Couldn't download the Bupa plan, not tonight anyway. Only half a mgb internet speed in this neck of the woods on a good day makes downloading stuff nearly impossible.

Not heard of Nike run club. I'll have a look.

I did think about just adding 1km on to my runs and building up that way.

Oh, and the 15km. That was meant to be a 5km run. Someone upset me at work. It was run day. I ran and ran until I stopped and thought, crickey, I've got to run back :-) Maybe anger runs are the way to go! Not run that far again.

Lots to things to look at.

Thanks again.

UnfitNoMore profile image
UnfitNoMoreMetric Marathon in reply to Alissum

Nike run club does free plans, but they’re only a rough guide when you start them, they include regular benchmarking runs that the app uses to adapt... so what you see when you set it up is subject to change.

roseabi profile image
roseabiUltramarathon in reply to Alissum

Yes, it's coming soon 😊

SaskAlliecat profile image
SaskAlliecatHalf Marathon

I've just started the 12 week simple HM training plan on this site. canadarunningseries.com/sco... (you have to scroll down the page to the online training program; sorry I'm not talented enough to just post the plan)

I like that it has 3 runs per week. I run one short run as a "comfortably hard" tempo run and the other shorter run as hills as prescribed or an interval speed run when hills aren't prescribed.

There is also a 9week 10k to HM training plan they offer canadarunningseries.com/201...

Alissum profile image
AlissumHalf Marathon in reply to SaskAlliecat

I like that plan. It even gives you the dates to run. I'm obviously googling incorrectly.

Thank you

AnnieW55 profile image
AnnieW55 in reply to SaskAlliecat

That looks a good plan Sask. I’ve bookmarked it for future use (fingers crossed). Thanks.

Decker profile image
DeckerUltramarathon in reply to SaskAlliecat

I like that Scotia plan. Very similar to the Asics HM plan I used. Only difference is a longer 20k run before taper. Mine was 17k. I think i did 18 or so that day.

Decker profile image
DeckerUltramarathon in reply to SaskAlliecat

And are you doing this race 😃?!!

SaskAlliecat profile image
SaskAlliecatHalf Marathon in reply to Decker

No, I wish! I’d love to go to Vancouver for a race....maybe some day. I just found it when I was searching for training plans.

Decker profile image
DeckerUltramarathon in reply to SaskAlliecat

Ah ok.It does look like a fun one all along the coast

mountaindreamer profile image
mountaindreamerHalf Marathon in reply to SaskAlliecat

That does look nice and simple as a comparison plan SaskAlliecat . I have to admit I like seeing it down week by week with set running days... Will bookmark this, thanks.

Pete1w profile image
Pete1w

I asked exactly the same question as I'm planning the Sheffield half in April. The advice I was given is to stick to 3 times a week. I'm not sure what the landscape is like in Inverness but Sheffield is SOOOOOOOOO hilly. I should have gone for a steady 40 minutes this morning but it turned into a hills and sprints run for 30 minutes. Good luck with your training and keep thinking positive thoughts about the HM.

Alissum profile image
AlissumHalf Marathon in reply to Pete1w

Inverness is a flat course, so Im told. I ran my first 10K race there in September which was flat. Great course and a fantastic atmosphere. A brilliant day out.

I was discussing hills with a running friend the other day. We really need to do some hill training but it is quite flat around here. It was so much hillier when I was running in my home county of Nottinghamshire last month. I was glad to get back to NE Scotland to run.

ju-ju- profile image
ju-ju-Marathon

Watch this space, roseabi is working on something......

Langley-Loper profile image
Langley-LoperHalf Marathon

A HM is perfectly possible on 3 runs a week. I did my first one in June on that basis at 2:12 which I was more than happy with. I used a My Asics plan (No longer available sadly but I kept a printout).

Looking forward to seeing the plan on this forum. I might be tempted to sign up for another to celebrate turning 50...

Lordi profile image
LordiMarathon

3 runs a week was enough for me so as to give a 2 day rest period. I started using an Asics plan but following it was not always easy (sometimes you don't feel like 12k on that particular day or a 5-6k short run is not enough when you feel good) so I sort of winged it after a while - A short run 5k a 10k then a long run getting 1km or so longer each time (that didn't always work out either as I often pushed the distance on good days (not too clever by the way)). So a simple 5k+10k+10(+ 12345678k increasing each week) is easy to follow, just run a bit farther on your long run every week.

Edit. PS I only trained up to 16km which was a mistake as I died at 17-18km. In hindsight it's worth training for the whole distance with HM.

Colinsmith profile image
ColinsmithHalf Marathon in reply to Lordi

I’m not good with complicated plans, and I second this as a method. Adding 10% to the long run worked OK for me from 5km all the way up to HM eventually.

Razouski profile image
RazouskiHalf Marathon

I used an Asics one to get me to my first half marathon. It only involved three runs a week, and I also did some other fitness stuff in between, and did a little tailoring too to fit in with other stuff I had going on in life. It worked for me.

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