Training for a half marathon

Before starting to train for a half marathon, you must already have a basic fitness level, and also if you are over 35, you should see a doctor and have your physical examination. So, if your health and fitness are in order you should achieve 13.1 miles race or half marathon without major problems. Here is some advices for you how to prepare for half marathon race;

Walking

Lot of runners overlooks the importance of walking as an excellent exercise. You should implement walking periods in all of your running exercises. In 12 week preparation time for half marathon you should always use walking together with running, because once the race starts, it is not important how many miles you run, but to finish the race and walking between runnings will help you to achieve just that.

Take Time

If you think that achieving distance from 3 to 13.1 miles in just 12 weeks is too much for you, do not worry. If you have enough time to prepare yourself for a half marathon race, just start earlier, like 18 or even 24 weeks before. You can even repeat weeks you just finished, before moving on to the next one.

Juggle the Scheduler

Do not hesitate to freely juggle your training scheduler; you can swap days or even weeks, if it suits you better. You can also adapt your scheduler to your personal, work or family needs. Important thing is consistency, not the details.

Strength and Stretching

You should use every begging of training week to do some more stretching and workouts for strength than usual. Because Monday is usually the rest day after long and hard running weekend, so you can use it this way. In case of runner’s strength exercises, it is better to lift smaller weights for more time, than to lift very heavy weights.

How to Race

It would be a good idea in cases you want to race in the half marathon that you try some shorter road races first, like 5k or 10k, just to see how you are doing, especially if you had not raced before. It would help you to determine the flaws in your fitness and also your running tempo.

Pace at Trainings

Try not to worry how fast you run at your regular training runs. You should run at speed that is comfortable to you and if you are running with a friend, running speed should allow you two to have a conversation. If you can not, you are probably running too fast.