Half-Marathon Workout

bump

Let's be optimistic and say you'll run 1:16s.

Warm up

8-10 minutes at HM (5:50) pace

8-10 minutes at 6:20 pace

8-10 minutes at HM pace

8-10 minutes at 6:20 pace

8-10 minutes at HM pace

Cool down

3x3 at HM pace, 3-5 min rest

4x2 at HM pace, 3 min rest

The 10 min rest seems quite long. I like 8x800 at HM pace with a 400 jog or 6x1000 at HM pace with a 400 jog. These workouts don't feel very taxing but they get you dialed in on the pace. At the end you should feel like you could do several more at the same pace. I did these a few times and then ran the exact same pace for the half marathon.

Northern Express wrote:

3x3 at HM pace, 3-5 min rest

4x2 at HM pace, 3 min rest

Depending on how much interval work you are used to, I agree with this workout. I'm not used to doing 8-9 miles of "hard" work so I usually start with 2* 2mi at HMP with 2 min. rest and then increase it to 3*2 mi. at HMP. Always with 2 min. or 200 jog rest.

2 big workouts ala Tinman per week until the last week

Midweek workout:

90-100 minutes with 4-5x 1mile at HM

then 4-5x2mile at HM

Weekend workout:

17-18 mile progressive run with the last 5-6 miles at equivalent marathon pace

those make sense. did you start at the 8x800/6x1000 or did you build up to that amount? what else was in your training schedule.

One of my favorites was 3 mile, 2 mile, 1 mile with 1/2 mile jog recovery.

I would build up to that workout after you've got a couple of months of running in. I think I started with 6x800 and 5x1000. If you do the workout at your true HM pace it should feel fairly comfortable.

One other day a week I would do a tempo for 30-40 minutes at marathon pace or even a little slower. The rest of the week I just ran for 8-10 miles and tried to do strides a couple of times and 12-15 on Sunday. The other workouts on this thread sound ok, but would've been too hard for me - 8-9 miles at HM pace would've taken me a while to recover from. I thought 8000-10,000 meters was enough and I felt good.

3X3 miles is a lot of volume at a hard pace. I'd see 2X3 (or 3X2) with minimal recovery, a couple minutes jog. The 800 or 1000 reps above might be OK, but why a 400 jog? Again, that's a lot of recovery for pretty easy reps. You'd be MUCH better off doing that with 30-60 seconds jog max. If you need more recovery, you need to reasses your goal.

did you have success with that training regimen in your half marathon(s)?

one of my favorite workouts was a 14 miler w/ a 2x4 mile at HM pace (mile jogging rest) right in the middle of it...I ended up hitting the race at exactly the right pace...I was pretty pumped

I've done the same thing; it was great. I also ended up hitting my goal pace at my half marathon. Now, I merely want to inch forward a bit faster.

This is what I call Musyoki Fartlek. 80 minutes of 10 minutes easy/10 minutes hard, or 70 minutes of 5 minutes easy, 5 minutes hard.