I'm a college freshman at a junior college coming off of a not too bad cross country season, but unfortunately sidelined during track due to injuries and not recovering from training. A teammate of mine got most of us, myself included into joining him for a half marathon in June. His goal is to run under 1:20, and our coach says that based on our cross country PRs, we just need to train properly and we'll be there.
PRs and recently ran times for reference:
1600: 4:35 from HS (Ran a 4:40 time trial at the end of XC off of horrible pacing - 62 first lap followed by death, and a 4:39 road mile about a month ago)
8K XC: 26:35 on a decently fast course on a mix of the track, cement, and some grass with a decent hill once every loop (splits were 5:04 for the first mile, 10:20 at the 2nd, and 16:20 at 5k)
This will be the first half marathon I've ever done. 8K is the longest distance I've raced seriously, and I felt my endurance straining with those - the 1600 is definitely more of my distance. In practice the longest run I've done is 14 miles, and my long runs are usually 12-13. My current plan to prepare for this upcoming half is rather simple and will help me for the following XC season, I think, but I would appreciate feedback and advice on training. Here's what I think each week will look like:
Monday - 2.5 mile warmup, 4-6 strides, 3 x 2 miles at slightly faster than goal HM pace (averaging 11:00-11:30 for each), 2.5 mile cooldown
Tuesday - 3-4 mile shakeout run in the morning, 8-10 miles at easy to moderate pace going by feel (anywhere from 6:50 to 7:30 ish)
Wednesday - 2 mile warmup, 6-8 mile tempo at goal HM pace (6:00), 2 mile cooldown
Thursday - Same as Tuesday
Friday - Hilly long run, 13-15 miles at 7:20 going uphill and 6:30-6:40 downhill
Saturday - Same as Tuesday
Sunday - Cross training (30 mins cycling on a stationary bike, machines, drills, etc. no running)