Half Marathon -- MUST DO workouts to PB

14x800? 12xk? You must be joking. That would have been impossible for me when I was in 36 10k shape. I would be shot for the rest of the week if not injured.

The only essential workout is a long run of at least 11 miles.

every "workout" same pace got it. no surges or miles at goal pace? lol

I also like the 3 x 2 mile at slight faster (1-2%) than HM pace in this situation with about 2 min jog recovery.

I do disagree though on the NAZ version. It is mixing LT and VO2 Max work in a way that while leaving you plenty tired runs the risk of not having stressed either to the point of eliciting the positive adaptation sought. Mix use workouts sound cool, make coaches feel creative, but often fall short of producing the desired positive benefits as well as a properly executed single focus workout. Not to mention increase the injury risk. There are times for LT work and VO2 Max, but in the same workout is not often one of them.

I put ranges to account for mileage. You quote 14, which is the upper end that I would be prescribing someone running 70+mpw. The prescribed pace is also important. 7 miles, broken up by 1/2 mile repeats, @ ~half marathon pace shouldn't set you back or lead to injury if you're not trying to kill every rep. For someone in the 40ish mpw range, yes, 10 x 800 @ T w./ short rest is a much more specific workout than 6 x 800 @ (I'm guessing) 5k pace. With that volume, you only need 1-2 hard sessions/week. Adjustments are made to make the training make sense. You wouldn't have a runner do 3 hard sessions like that each week. They would do that session & then either a tempo or HM/M in their long run. You gotta run some miles to more your PBs line up. 1:21 isn't running to your full potential off of a 36 10k. See too many people glued to weekly "speed" workouts in half marathon/marathon builds. It's better than nothing but it leaves something to be desired (specificity).

I mean I hear that but that's why the 400s are at 5k. They're just meant to add in some turnover/add some fatigue. The 400 recovery jogs are pretty generous. Very common to add a small number of reps in the 200-400 range post threshold/tempo days. I wouldn't think of it as combining different systems (VO2 + threshold/tempo). It's a threshold/tempo day. The 400s aren't supposed to give you a ton of work @ VO2 but you aren't stressing that system a ton in a half marathon build so you spin the legs a little throughout the workout. Helps mimic pace changes too.

This is one of the two parts I am concerned about with that workout. Threshold Repeats workouts are not supposed to have generous recoveries, they are to be short (~15-20% of repeat time), just enough to drop blood lactate to ~3mml, and to allow for another repeat at T pace with blood lactte getting bac up to 4mml range fairly quickly. With a generous recovery too much of the next repeat is spent ramping up to physiological threshold rather than running at it.

The second concern is the chance for injury changing pace to a quick pace on significantly fatigued muscles. The 400 at the end of the 3rd set seems like a bigger risk than the potential reward.

But we all have different opinions and if it works for you and your athletes then fine. I am just giving you a different view-point to consider from someone with a couple decades of experience.

Your mileage is too low. You need 40-50mpw.

Yeah dude agree to disagree because I think we're saying the same thing. The workout is 3 x 2 miles w./ 400 jog. That's not generous recovery. Add in a few 400s for some turnover in between or at the end. I don't think that's too aggressive at all. But the main workout is 3x2 @ T off of short jogging rests. I have no issue prescribing it like that but a small number of controlled 400s (again 5k pace) is a way to touch on a system that's being somewhat neglected in a proper half marathon build.

OP is running low mileage & doing 5k workouts training for a half. My whole point on this thread is to think about running a little more & doing workouts that are specific to the distance.

I know this is an older thread, but I was wondering what other stimulus makes sense in the average training week for a half marathon. Obviously the main workout is tempo/half marathon pace, but what should the other workout be? Maybe hills to start and towards the end of the block or pre goal race, 2-4 VO2 max sessions? Just wondering what some people's opinions are.

I have a must do workout.

It's a big one.

It'll take you 7 days to complete.

It is...............run more than 30-40 miles during the week.

No one-off workout will produce better results than this.

I'd probably still focus on threshold for the other workout as well, but do it via shorter reps (akin to the Ingebrigtsen approach).

20-25 x 400m with a 30-40 second recovery (depending how long the reps take you). You could start at HM pace and work down to 10k, maybe even 5k pace for the last 5 or so.

This allows you time at faster paces for turnover, while still getting in plenty of volume, and it won't leave you completely fried.

In my experience, one threshold workout a week just isn't a frequent enough dose to really move the need.

Perhaps once every 2-3 weeks in a 10 week build you'd want to do a true VO2 Max type workout (or at least something at a higher intensity than threshold). However, I'd still focus on getting plenty of volume into these workouts, so efforts at 10k pace would probably be a better approach. Something like 8-10 x 1k with 60 seconds recovery, starting at slightly slower than 10k pace and finishing at 10k pace.

Thanks for the input. In my recent build I always got in a tempo workout and alternated my long runs (one week easy/steady, the other with marathon pace added in). As for the second workout, the last 6 weeks I did 4 VO2 max workouts before stopping them the last two weeks out from a half. I ran well but was definitely worried that the VO2 work might be too quick/non-specific considering I was peaking for a half. I like what you said about the Ingebrigtsen-type shorter "threshold" intervals as a way to still get in the faster reps without adding too much stress. I might try that moving forward as my second weekly workout.

This coach gets it.