Half marathon workouts

Last year I did 77:3X on 55 mpw (male, early 30s, no HS/college/uni running background)

My training week starting 6 weeks out before race was like this:

Sun: Rest day

Mon: Intervals 6x1k w/ 3 min jog

Tues: Tempo-intervals 6x1 mi @ HM pace w/ short rest (usually 1 min jog)

Wed: Super slow recovery run of 40 min max

Thu: Easy 1-1.5 hrs

Fri: Workout of choice (fartlek, speed work or some breakdowns)

Sat: Super slow long run 2.5 hrs

Every other week was easier with intervals reduced to 4x800 w/ 2 min jog and tempo-intervals of 2x2mi.

In the base phase preceding my training week was a bit different. Instead of Mon intervals session I did repetitions session of 200s and instead of Fri workout was another longer easy run

Thanks for your response. Your workouts are pretty similar to what I've been doing for 10k training.

I guess I should be a bit more specific about my question: what sort of workout volume should I be maxing out at for a typical session? For 10k and under it's easy to hit at and above your race distance for workouts, but for the half this is unfeasible. What proportion (minutes, miles, percent, whatever) should I be targeting for fitness for the half?

I recently ran 64:2x for a half using a fairly simple structure.

Sun: 20 miles (2 hours)

Mon: Easy double

Tue: More race and pace specific work and an easy second run

Wed: easy double

Thur: Easy double with some easy 200's

Friday: Longer tempo and longer intervals

Sat: Easy run

I also made sure to do strides almost after every run to make sure my cadence and form was deteriorating from 120+ miles. Core, weights, and a good diet are crucial for success. Not to mention plenty of recovery.

Last year I limited myself based on my weekly mileage as follows:

Tempo-intervals (threshold) -- 10% of weekly mileage

Intervals (vo2max) -- 8% of weekly mileage (but no more than 24 minutes of work per single workout)

Repetitions -- 4% of weekly mileage.

However this year although I'm running much higher mileage (70-80 mpw) I'm still going with the same mileage in the workouts (i.e. 6x1000 for intervals and 6x1mi for tempo-intervals) which is less than 10% / 8% respectively. I don't think that it's important to max out your workouts in terms of mileage as long as the intensity is the max you can do.

My favorite: 12 miles with the first 2 and least 2 at an easy pace. The middle 8 alternating miles between goal HM pace (5:57 in your cast) and goal HM pace +30 seconds (6:27).

I got back into running a few years ago, I found workouts at 10km/HM pace worked well, like 6x1M @ 10km pace, 6x2km @ HM pace, working up to long intervals once a week (my max so far 4 x 4km). Sometimes 5k workouts help to get speed. My 10km best is 37min, HM 83, (missed running in college due to injury and rarely run over 80km/50mpw if I can train at all). I'm sure that with one w.o of longer intervals per week, you'll get WAY under 78!

Key session start out at 3 mile-1.5mile-1 mile, progress to 3 mile -2 mile - 1 mile to 4 - 2 - 1 then 4 - 3 - 1 and finally 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 at half marathon pace.

Thanks everyone, this has been helpful. Typical workouts that I would usually do (aside from doing progressive long runs) are pretty in line with what has been suggested. Feel a bit more confident that I'm on the right track (ha... haha).

For interval sessions my mainstays are:

-6x mile/ 75-90s jog @ ~HM pace (perhaps a little faster, but still comfortable)

-8-10x 1k/ 60-75s @ ~10k pace

- 4-5x 2.5k/2' @ tempo with some pace changes and surges mixed in

- longer straight tempo (never done longer than 45', but might consider going a bit slower/longer)

- vO2 reps of 1k-1mile on equal rest

- do a lot of mix and match sessions (half tempo, half shorter or vO2 reps), meat and potatoes fartlek sessions

What you are doing in great. I basically did the same thing you are doing but one change - I did a LR every other week and the week I did not do a LR, I did a goal HM pace run - I started out w/ 2 easy/6 @ goal HM pace / 1-2 easy - I added 1/2 mile to 1 mile every other week and toped if off w/ 2 easy / 9 goal HM pace / 1-2 easy

Strides are valuable, intervals faster than HM pace are needed - hills etc. total miles is the key and you are doing great there - when I was running 35:30 10K I was at 78 min 1/2 shape so you are right on and I find women to be better as the distance increases so you maybe closer to 77 - men have less fat / women have more fat due to birthing and when you run out of carbs, your body draws on fat to provide energy - bonus for women usually - good luck - you are doing amazing!

At your level, HM training isn't much different from 10k training. Some of the best discussion of HM training you'll find is from the artist currently known as malmo. I've found a few threads for you.

I suggest you read his posts on training carefully.

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