Welcome to the Runner’s World Club sub-2:30 half marathon plan, built by RW coaches Tom Craggs, Robbie Britton and Georgia Wood. Runners who have experience at distances such as 5K and 10K may aspire to challenge their stamina further by training for a half marathon. For many, it represents the sweet spot of being a significant endurance test while also fitting into a runner’s wider life more easily than training for a marathon. Our half marathon plans progressively develop your endurance and strength, to prepare you to cover the distance in your target time goal. As you work your way through the plan, pay attention to how your body is recovering from the training and don’t be afraid to take a day or two off if you’re feeling fatigued. Respect the distance, embrace the challenge and enjoy your 16-week journey ahead.
Who is this training plan for?
Our sub-2:30 half marathon plan, encompassing three to four runs per week, is aimed at beginner runners who are regularly running a minimum of two to three times per week. The structured nature of this plan means you should have some experience of interval-based training before you start.
Why is the plan broken down into four-week blocks?
We have broken the plan down into four-week blocks to give you opportunities to reflect on how your training is going and change plans to one that is more suitable to you if needed. Not all progress is linear, and if you find the past four weeks were too much, or not enough, for your current level or lifestyle, that’s okay – we will help you to pick out the best training plan for you as you get closer to race day.
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What if I can’t hit the paces in the plan?
The paces are not set directly for you and the day you’re running (it could be super-hot or you might have had a poor night’s sleep), so don’t feel like you have to stick to them 100%. Allow yourself 5-10 seconds either side of the suggested pace per mile or per kilometre. If it doesn’t feel right, and if that feeling is happening on every session, then consider dropping to a different pace plan on the link here.
What types of sessions are included in the plan?
Rest days: rest days are an important part of your recovery and adaptation. Respect them and use them as a chance to reflect on your sleep and nutrition. Find some calm space and time to wind down to lower your stress levels and have time away from your phone.
Easy runs: easy, conversational-paced running forms the backbone of endurance for events, from middle distance up to ultramarathons. Running at a relaxed, easy, conversational pace helps to improve your ability to burn stored fats, improves capillarisation at the lungs and muscles, and increases the development of mitochondria (a cellular component that supplies energy to your muscle cells). These runs also allow you to increase your training volumes in a sustainable way. While we have suggested
a guideline pace, how these runs feel is probably even more important. You should be able to hold a comfortable conversation and breathe easily. If you run to heart rate, these runs might be between 60-75% of your maximum heart rate, depending on the individual.
You can replace some of these easy runs with cardiovascular cross-training sessions of a similar volume and intensity on a bike, rowing machine or elliptical trainer, or in the pool via swimming or aqua jogging. This is a particularly good idea if you are injury prone because it will reduce the impact on your muscles and joints, while still working your heart and lungs.
Interval sessions: interval sessions involve a series of short repetitions of running, typically between 30 seconds and 5-6 minutes, with either static rest periods or a very easy recovery jog. Interval training is designed to get you breaking out of your comfort zone and challenging your body to work harder or faster, building fitness and callusing your mind ready for race day.
Fartlek runs: Fartlek training is similar to interval training, but differs in that the recovery periods are run at an easy or even steady intensity, rather than static rests. Fartlek sessions will have a more relaxed structure and include a mixture of different paces in one session. They can be an effective way of varying your paces while maintaining a focus on continuous running and building endurance.
Half marathon training plan for beginners: these sessions are designed to allow you to sustain higher intensity paces for longer. They can include a mixture of longer intervals between 3-15 minutes, or they can be run as continuous efforts of between 10-40 minutes. They are run at a strong, but just about sustainable, intensity. It’s typically a pace you could hold for 60-70 minutes in a race.
Progression runs: progression runs – which progress in speed as the run goes on – are a great way to start to work quality running into your week without getting too worked up about structure. They are good for getting you used to running at the intensity you would in a race and can be an effective way of adding more threshold running and race-pace efforts into your training week.
Long runs: long runs are a key run in your training plan. They are an essential building block for endurance and will condition your muscles to run for longer, while also helping to improve your running economy. Some long runs will be run at an easy intensity, but sometimes you may be asked to run at a stronger pace or even include some blocks of race-pace running, depending on what you are training for.
Strides: strides are a good way to develop speed without the physical and psychological demands of sprinting. They involve running short efforts, normally between 60-100m, where the focus is on running at a fast but relaxed speed with good form. In the plan,
we include strides as part of our warm-ups before interval training to help you prepare for the sustained faster running in the main session. You may also see strides included after easy runs on occasions to help promote a feeling of speed and zip even on low-intensity days. For more on how to perform them correctly, hit the link here.
Strength and conditioning sessions: strength and conditioning sessions are an important complement to your running. By building a greater number and size of muscle fibres, strength training can help you to sustain paces for longer, improve running economy and may prevent injuries. We have written some bodyweight plans, but feel free to replace these with gym-based strength training or Pilates.
What pace should I be doing each run at?
Work out what pace to do each of your runs at using our mins @12:30/mile or 7:46/km + drills and strides.  – just tell us a recent run time and we’ll do the rest.
Training Plan
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