Currently a 1:22 half marathoner and hoping to break 1:20 in may. Any key workouts that’ll help?
Currently a 1:22 half marathoner and hoping to break 1:20 in may. Any key workouts that’ll help?
for half and full marathon my advice would be to just run more in the aerobic heartrate zone to improve your endurance. you will get better/easier gains than speedwork.
4x2 miles with ~25% recovery (so 3 minutes if you run the reps in 12 minutes) at threshold is pretty common. 8-10x1k at 10k-HM pace with ~40% recovery. 3-4 weeks out, try a 5 mile tempo at goal pace which is a decent indicator that you're on target
Mid-week: 12k-15k worth of reps @ threshold. Weekend long run: 4-8 miles (half marathon to marathon, straight or broken).
Make sure you have the short distance PRs that show sub-1:20 potential.
3x2km (1km jog between). At HMP pace.
4x2km if above too easy.
4xmile@HMP with 2min jog
6x1km @ 10k pace , 90-120sec jog
No workout is magical and there are a lot of ways to do the same thing. But my staple HM sessions are:
10k straight through at HMP
4-7k at HMP at the end of your usual long run - if you do this, the rest of the LR should be at an honest "general aerobic" effort and not recovey pace. When I was in your shape it was about 4:30/km.
3x3k or 4-5x2k at HMP or slightly quicker than HMP with 1min rest per preceeding k. Good to have a couple of these under your belt before doing the 10k straight though
5-6x1mi closer to 10k pace, 2mins rest
You can also do the odd faster (3k-5k pace) session
Ofc individuality before anything else - if these sessions are much bigger than you're use to the you should cut them down. Don't run hard if you're already trashed.
20x400 at 5k pace, once per day, every day, until you turn into a Democratic Socialist.
Well, a little bit seriousness, OP needs 20× 400m@ 82 sec once every other week + a threshold interval 6- 10 miles total @ around 6 min mile pace. The other week two threshold intervals.....Will guaranteed give a sub 1:20 half. Good luck! 🇸🇪🧙♂️
Just find an easier course
they are out there
There's no magic workout but I do like to switch to minutes rather than distance sometimes. For example, 2x 10' (rest 2'), 2x 15' (rest 2'). I also like mixed sessions like 4x 200M (rest 200M) on a 5K pace followed by 2x 3KM at HM pace.
Surely it depends on what you need to improve on? Is it endurance? Speed? Mental strength?
What were you doing when you ran 1:22? It could be that you just need more of the same.
2x 5k at 5:58-6:02 with 3 min jog in between.