How long to go from 1:38 HALF to a 1:28 half?

If you improved 17 minutes in one year, it would take 10/17 of a year to improve that extra 10 minutes. So a little over seven months. Dropping to 1:25 might be more like nine months.

I dropped from 1.42 to 1.26 last year in 6 months. Done a 20week marathon plan and ran that 1.26 about 6 weeks out from a 3.09 marathon. Consistent training is the key and building a good base. I was running about as long as you. Been relatively new to running, you will make massive gains by just training smart and consistently but improvements vary from person to person so i can't say how long it will take. Keep going and you'll get there.

negative ten minutes

Can you guys share your training?

I'm a 1:48 half guy and would love to make a jump into the 1:30's.

Currently im doing

2-4miles (some picks ups mixed in) in the 6:40-7:40 range daily

1 day of hills

long run of 10-14 miles @ 7;25 pace.

today i ran 18 miles at high altitude, we ran up to ~11,600 feet and back down (17 miles, in the mountains of Colorado)

meant to 17 not 18***

yasdde wrote:

Currently im doing

2-4miles (some picks ups mixed in) in the 6:40-7:40 range daily

1 day of hills

long run of 10-14 miles @ 7;25 pace.

today i ran 18 miles at high altitude, we ran up to ~11,600 feet and back down (17 miles, in the mountains of Colorado)

For a 1:38 HM you're running way too many garbage sub tempo miles that are relatively tiring but do not particularly target any aspect of performance. Do most of your work (~80%) slower (i.e. >8:00/mi) but some, including a weekly tempo workout and some 4-5 minute intervals, faster. Check out Daniels Running Plan for some ideas about how to structure your weekly training. 10 minutes could come off your half in perhaps 6 months to a year depending upon your ability to train smart without injury and your ultimate talent potential.

While not exact, I went from 1:36:40 to 1:27:30 in one year. All I did was consistently run 5x a week, every other weekend a 20k. No tempo, no workouts. Average mileage for the year was around 34.

yasdde wrote:

Currently im doing

2-4miles (some picks ups mixed in) in the 6:40-7:40 range daily

1 day of hills

long run of 10-14 miles @ 7;25 pace.

today i ran 18 miles at high altitude, we ran up to ~11,600 feet and back down (17 miles, in the mountains of Colorado)

Do some tempo runs at slightly above HM pace starting with 6m w/4 @tempo pace and build to 10 w/7 @ tempo pace.

Some interval work. 6x1 mile with 2 min rec. More Vo2 workouts closer to raceday.

Your long run is way too fast. It's at HM, quickest way to burnout. Should be somewhere in the range of 8.30 to 8.45.

Jun Started running

Oct 1:50

Jan 1:37

Mar 1:30

May 1:27

Oct 1:25

I was running a lot of really slow miles until the 1:37. When I say slow, I mean really slow. I ran a lot with my girlfriend and we would usually run 10 minute pace or slower. Between the 1:37 and 1:30, I think I was running about 25-30 miles/wk, including a few 5-6 mile tempo runs at 6:55-7:00. I was actually surprised that I didn't blow up in that race because 6:5x felt really hard in training. When I ran 1:25 I had been averaging 50 or so for about 6 months, with a max of around 70. I think I weighed around 195 for the 1:50 and around 165 for the 1:25 (I'm 5'11").

Good luck!