Half Marathon -- MUST DO workouts to PB

What I did when I ran 1:17 (but was training for 1:20)

3-4 x 10 min @ 6:20-25 2 min recovery

8 x 5min @ 6:20-25 1 min recovery

Long tempo 8-12 miles @ 6:40

2 x 15 min @ 6:20 -6:25 3 min recovery

other similar workouts. I kept w/o at 6:20-25 pace and Tempos at 6:40. Every time I didnt think I could do the workout but when I actually ran I was pretty spot on the paces give or take.

I also ran from 40 -60 mpw. Long runs up to 17 miles. General running pace 7:30-7:45.

Lowering my HM PR from 1:11 to 1:08 this spring, my coach focused on giving me solid, consistent workouts vs. any "monster" workouts.

First 3 weeks of base workouts were all fartlek. This was after a month of just easy jogging + strides. Then I had a 3 mile tempo. Next, moved up to 6 x mile and 3 x 2 mile with 60 seconds rest. Tempos gradually got up to 8 miles, and when I ran that final tempo at 5:11 pace the week after a 10k race, I knew I was ready to run a big PR.

Pick up your weekly mileage is a must. You are not ready for 8 x mile at race pace so try 6 x mile until you are. 400 jog in between.

In the 2 months prior to running a 1:16:0x PR (5:50/m) I ran approx 35 miles per week with majority of miles @ 6::35/m (HM race pace plus 45 secs) with the following long runs/ workouts

2.5 mile fast tempo @ 5:35/m (HM race pace -15 secs) plus 2 x 400 @ 70 secs (slightly faster than mile race pace)

13 miles continuous in vaporflys at 6:15/m (HM race pace plus 25 secs)

6 x1000 @ 3:20 (5k race pace) with 1:40 rest

6 miles continuous with last 3 mile fast tempo in 16:30 (HM race pace minus 20 secs)

15 miles continuous in vaporflys at 6:15/m (HM race pace plus 25 secs)

10 miles continuous in vaporflys @ 6:00/m (HM race pace plus 10 secs)

6 x400 @ 74 secs with 1 min rest

5x1200 @ 4:00 (5k race pace) with 1:40 rest

10 mile TT in 57:40 in vaporflys ( HM race pace minus 5 secs)

15 miles continuous in trainers at 6:20 pace (race pace plus 30 secs)

I wouldn't claim that the above are predictive or recommended but that's what I did and I ended up running within 10 secs of my time goal.

This. Some people here are giving you tests of strength, not workouts. Workouts are meant to make you gain fitness, not to prove it. Its better to do two slightly easier workouts a week and asimilate them properly than going for those so called "Big Sessions". Put the ego aside and just train smart

agreed with both of these posts. workouts should enable fitness. one should perform the desired workout, then observe how much time it takes you to recover: this will tell you how far you are from the fitness goal (so if 3x2mile at your desired half marathon PB pace or 5-10s/mile faster leaves you feeling fairly sore, then you know how difficult your goal is with respect to your current state of fitness). if the stimulus was too much (takes more than 2 days to recover from) then go a bit slower or make the workout slightly shorter.

Then repeating the stimulus workout every 3-4 days (about twice a week if you are doing lower mileage, you can push it to three if you did higher mileage) will enable you to gain the desired fitness (even if it is the same workout). once the recovery time shortens by a sizeable amount, you know your adaptation is underway and you can recalibrate the stimulus again. training is experimentation at the end of the day.

Makes you wonder how the old school Aussie runners managed to run sub 210 marathons in crappy shoes doing nothing but high mileage, Mona Fartleks and Deek Quarters(8x400 w/ 200 off).

Saving these! Thank you!

Back in the day, I had a Half Marathon PB of 1:10:49. The things I felt like that helped the most were sustained workouts at that pace, and focusing on negative splitting.

some things were already posted: 10x 1 mile (we did these running negative splits for each, about 3 seconds faster each rep with 90 seconds rest.)

We did long runs of 17-20 (we were also preparing for NAIA nationals marathon, so 20 might be excessive)

If your workouts are saying your fitness is there, race execution is just as important. Its gonna be alot easier to run your goal running the first 7-8 miles slightly slower then goal pace and then running the last 5 progressively faster then race pace with the last 2 drastically faster then your intended average is the easiest way to accomplish this. run 6:30 for first 10 (1:05.00) 6:15 for mile 11 (1:11:15) then 12:00 for last 2 (1:23:15) + your 200m will slot you in somewhere right around 1:24:00.

If in training you can do 10 miles around 1:07 on a tempo run and feel like you can accelerate when finished, your close.

Thank you!

There is NO way that a 85 min HM guy can do that 5x5km wo, nor the 25k wo at 6:42

Run more mileage. You're not going to be able to race 13.1 miles at a high level with that little mileage. Slowly build up to 50 miles/week or even more.

More miles, got it! Typically I hit 50 mile weeks at least one/two times during HM builds. I will try to maintain that high mileage throughout the winter. Thanks!

Maybe I will do something like 2-3 x 5K with like 5 minutes rest between reps.

OP - there are many examples on this thread why this type of question is a bad idea. You give little to no information that is critical to getting good thoughtful and helpful replies.

Why not give us a couple sentences worth of more info so you can better ideas and answers.

Many of the responses thus far have been bad ideas and I would not suggest trying them. Others would only be good for certain runners in certain circumstances.

Maybe you are just trolling to see what you get. But if you seriously want help then be careful asking this on a message board where you will get opinions from anonymous unqualified along with qualified readers. Especially when you provide very little context. People have a way of just filling in blanks with their own specific situation or something they just assume (often wrongly).

Okay well I am a 26 year old male, current HM PB is 1:29:00 on the dot. Current Marathon PB is 3:36 where I walked dozens of times due to hamstring cramps.

I am sitting at 1548 total miles ran in 2023. Just finished my 2nd marathon on October 8th (3:43). Took two weeks completely off running, and now I am just jogging 4-5 miles a day to maintain fitness.

My next race is a half marathon and I want to set a goal of running sub-85 minutes. I prefer to run 5-6 days a week with 1-2 full recovery/off days.

Running that mileage, 30ish a week, you have be realistic and accept you are not going to run to your potential. The workout recommendations here will probably just get you hurt. So, unless you are willing to bump up the mileage to least Semi professional levels, ~60, what’s the point of these time goals?

I fully plan to build up to 40-50 miles over the next few months during this HM build. In the past I have been able to run 50 mile weeks without injury, but during the Fall I get so busy with my career that it makes it difficult to maintain that. A Winter HM gives me more time to train and hopefully build my mileage up. The #1 goal is a BQ Marathon, but the sub-85 minute HM seems like a prerequisite that I need to attack first.