A Beginner Half Marathon Training Guide

Once you join your very first half marathon and share the excellent news, you could be inundated with race suggestions and methods from well-meaning associates, relations, and random “health execs” on social media. Abruptly, you’re questioning each coaching determination you’ve made.

However this doesn’t should be the case. To get easy, expert-backed recommendation and clear up any confusion, comply with this in-depth beginner’s information to half marathon coaching. 

Under, you’ll discover run coach-approved newbie half marathon tips about find out how to construction your coaching program—together with runs and different health modalities—find out how to correctly gasoline and hydrate, and find out how to get your self throughout the end line on race day. Belief, you’ll head into your half marathon feeling assured and able to tackling these 13.1 miles.

Half marathon coaching construction

Your half-marathon coaching plan needs to be custom-made to suit your way of life and targets. Typically, although, you’ll need to run three to 5 days per week—for 3 to 4 months—to arrange in your race. Right here’s the total breakdown.

Quick, simple runs

About 80 p.c of your runs needs to be simple runs; you’re simply getting out the door and operating at a doable effort stage, which builds your cardio base, says Mireille Siné, MPH, a USATF Stage 1 operating coach and the founding father of Coached by Mireille.

Which means two to 3 instances per week, try to be operating at a tempo light sufficient that you would be able to maintain a dialog with a buddy or sing aloud to your Taylor Swift playlist. What’s “simple” for one individual could also be exhausting for one more, so use this discuss check to set your velocity.

You possibly can additionally take a look at your coronary heart charge to watch your depth, says KC Centenari, a Tonal energy coach and Nike Working coach. Throughout these gradual runs, your coronary heart charge ought to stay between 60 to 70 p.c of your most coronary heart charge—generally known as zone 2 cardio training.

For first-timers, Siné and Centenari recommend operating for time (e.g., 40 minutes) fairly than distance (e.g., three miles). This takes off a number of the stress and might really feel extra achievable than reaching a sure distance, particularly in case your tempo is on the gradual aspect. In the event you are inclined to get caught up in your tempo and mileage, depart your smart watch at house, set a timer in your cellphone in your purpose period, and hit the pavement, Centenari suggests.

Lengthy runs

Every week, you’ll additionally energy by way of one future, which is often double the time or distance as your brief, simple runs, Siné says.

For instance, you’d goal to finish one 90-minute run for those who did just a few 45-minute jogs all through the week. In the event you’re simply beginning half marathon coaching, although, it’s okay to start out with a 60-minute future and construct as much as that doubled period because the weeks progress, she notes.

A few of your lengthy runs will probably be simple, with the purpose of merely spending time in your toes and constructing your endurance. However you’ll additionally need to incorporate velocity work into a few of these stamina-building exercises, difficult your physique at completely different paces, Siné says.

Velocity work

Even for those who don’t have a time purpose in thoughts for the half marathon, you’ll need to embrace velocity work in your coaching, whether or not that be fast track workouts or longer, tempo runs wherein you alternate between jogging, operating, or sprinting, Siné says. Sprinkle this coaching into your plan about as soon as per week, Centenari suggests.

Velocity work helps you observe sustaining correct kind—and, in flip, transferring effectively—as your physique begins to fatigue, which is inevitable throughout long-distance runs.

“While you’re doing these velocity exercises, you are practising good running form, you are practising response time, you are practising pacing, and also you’re additionally attending to study what your physique looks like…at 5K tempo or [a] half marathon tempo,” Siné says.

Choosing up the tempo can also be useful coaching in your coronary heart. Exposing your physique to greater effort ranges—you’re respiration a bit more durable, it’s tougher to speak, your coronary heart charge is greater—can construct up your tolerance so that you’re in a position to choose up the tempo when the end line is in sight, based on Centenari.

“Folks counter-intuitively suppose they should run quick on a regular basis to be quick,” she says. “However it’s actually these small increments of publicity. And over time, your physique will adapt.”

Tips on how to progress

Most weeks, you’ll need to improve the time you spend in your toes or your distance by about 10 p.c, Siné says. The primary week, you would possibly run for a complete of 4 hours. Week two, you could be as much as 4 and a half hours. Week three, you could possibly be operating about 5 hours. Week 4 could also be a restoration week, conserving the period the identical or letting it drop barely to permit your physique to adapt to the work you’ve been placing in, Siné explains. Rinse and repeat.

On the peak of your half-marathon coaching, you’ll hit 10 to 12 miles per week, you then’ll drop it down barely in the course of the tapering section (extra on this under), Centenari says.

Tips on how to choose the correct coaching plan

There are tons of of half marathon coaching plans out there on-line, however there’s no single “greatest” program. As a substitute, think about your purpose for the race, your schedule, your train historical past, and your earlier accidents, Centenari says.

Don’t select a coaching plan that requires 5 days of operating for those who can realistically squeeze in solely three. In the event you merely need to end the race, you most likely don’t need to select a plan that’s designed that will help you hit a sure time purpose. You’ll additionally need to select a coaching plan that’s simple so that you can perceive and avoids pointless jargon; there shouldn’t be loads of guesswork, Siné says.

“You are simply on the lookout for a program that, in your intestine, feels manageable and doable—that is my greatest piece of recommendation, particularly if you’re first beginning,” Centenari says.

Tips on how to add cross-training to your routine

Working shouldn’t be the solely health factor of your half-marathon coaching program. One to 2 instances per week, you’ll need to interact in strength training. This resistance work will help scale back the chance of harm, because it minimizes muscle imbalances that may develop from operating, improves bone energy, and might improve the energy of ligaments and tendons, based on the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

Working is a unilateral motion—you by no means have each toes on the bottom on the identical time. So within the fitness center, try to be testing your muscle groups with a mixture of single-leg workout routines that construct stability, Centenari says. Her favorites: lunges and single-leg Romanian deadlifts. You may also strive leaping lunges, single-leg field jumps, and skaters to construct energy that can assist propel you to the end.

Lateral actions (i.e., workout routines happening within the frontal aircraft of movement) are additionally key. Although operating is basically a ahead motion sample, it’s possible you’ll must rapidly leap out to the aspect to keep away from a pothole or pedestrian on the sidewalk. Plus, side-to-side workout routines strengthen the muscle groups in your hips and knees that present stability when you run, Centenari says. Strive lateral lunges, aspect shuffles, and lateral step-ups.

Leg exercises are just one piece of the puzzle. You also needs to prioritize upper-body exercises—your arm swing helps decrease torso rotation, per a July 2014 analysis article in the Journal of Experimental Biology—and core work; the group of muscle groups all through your trunk ensures correct operating posture, permitting you to maneuver and breathe effectively, Siné says.

In Siné’s expertise, runners who’ve engaged in energy coaching are inclined to have extra energy, endurance, and psychological energy on race day in comparison with those that prevented it.

Power coaching apart, make the time for mobility work—workout routines wherein you actively management and entry a joint’s full vary of movement—to additional decrease your threat of harm, Centenari suggests.

For instance, analysis means that restricted vary of movement throughout hip abduction (learn: transferring your leg away from the midline of your physique) is linked with a better probability of future lower-body accidents, based on an October 2013 analysis article within the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. Strive strikes just like the 90-90 hip stretch, cat-cow pose, and managed articular rotations (CARs).

Prioritizing your psychological well being is equally as vital. Siné recommends setting apart time to journal all through your coaching journey and routinely asking your self: Am I bodily hurting wherever? What can I do to enhance subsequent week? How do I really feel mentally and emotionally?

“I believe it is just like the feather in your hat for a coaching cycle,” she provides.

“You are simply on the lookout for a program that, in your intestine, feels manageable and doable—that is my greatest piece of recommendation, particularly if you’re first beginning.” KC Centenari, Tonal energy coach and Nike Working coach

Tips on how to gasoline and hydrate

Fueling correctly contributes simply as a lot to your half marathon success as operating itself. One of many greatest errors Centenari sees runners make is solely not consuming sufficient, particularly carbs and protein.

“Whether or not you are energy coaching or operating, you’re breaking down muscle fiber. And that is okay— that is the essence of understanding,” she explains. “However with a view to construct it again up and get stronger, you need to be getting sufficient protein.”

The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) recommends exercising people eat 1.4 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of physique weight every day to construct and keep muscle mass.

You additionally must load up on carbohydrates, that are damaged down quickly to offer your physique power throughout high-intensity train and refill muscle glycogen shops after strenuous train. With out replenishing these shops, your efficiency could take a success, based on a January 2018 knowledgeable panel report the journal Nutrition Today.

Goal to get 5 to 7 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of physique weight per day on moderate-intensity days and think about upping it to eight to 12 grams per kilogram of physique weight per day as you lean into these high-intensity days, per the journal.

Earlier than your run

One to 4 hours forward of your run, eat a carbohydrate-rich meal for power to hold you thru your exercise. If you could head out in your run throughout the subsequent hour, attempt to eat 30 grams of carbs earlier than you hit the highway, per Utah State University. Keep away from consuming an excessive amount of protein, which might result in intestine misery throughout your exercise, based on Utah State University.

Throughout tour run

All through your runs, you’ll need to eat a carb-rich snack that’s about 100 to 200 energy each 25 to half-hour, based on the specialists. Sooner is all the time higher than later.

“As quickly as you begin feeling like possibly you are under-fueled throughout a race, you are behind,” Centenari says. Along with declines in bodily efficiency, “the worst factor that may occur is we get to some extent within the race the place we’re ravenous and we’re depleting our power shops even quicker,” Siné says. “We are able to get actual foggy within the mind and tire simply.”

Power gels, chews, and bars are a favourite mid-workout snack amongst runners, however they will upset your abdomen, so experiment with completely different choices to search out the very best one for you, Centenari says. You may also flip to carb-heavy snacks like graham crackers, gummy bears, or home made power balls for those who choose a pantry strategy.

As you pound the pavement, keep in mind to remain on prime of your hydration, taking just a few sips of your beverage—notably one wealthy in electrolytes—each mile marker and each time you eat, Siné says.

After your run

Inside the first 30 to 45 minutes after your exercise, eat a meal with a mix of protein and carbs to kickstart the restoration course of. Protein will rebuild broken-down muscle, whereas carbs will replenish your glycogen shops, Siné says. In the event you’re tight on time, a protein bar or protein shake will do the trick, she provides.

Tips on how to taper

Though it’s tempting to coach your hardest till the final minute, tapering—dialing again your operating quantity—is important to performing your greatest come race day.

About two weeks earlier than the half marathon, you’ll hit the height of your coaching quantity; you’re spending essentially the most time in your toes or hitting your highest mileage. Then, you’ll spend the ultimate few weeks main as much as the marathon slowly slicing again on time or distance whereas sustaining depth, Siné says. One week out, you’ll do about 60 p.c of your peak workload. Race week, you’re all the way down to 40 to 50 p.c of that peak.

“Tapering doesn’t suggest you are simply not understanding, you are not placing in any effort in your velocity exercises,” she explains. “You are simply operating much less in quantity, however you continue to need to hold the physique sharp till racing.”

With this downtime, your physique and thoughts can adapt to all of the work you’ve put in.

“That taper week goes to permit your physique and your mind to take slightly little bit of a step again, slightly little bit of a breather, in order that by the point race day comes, you are feeling prepared,” Centenari says. “It is one other ego drop. It’s important to go into that week and inform your self, ‘Okay, what are the entire different issues that I can work on right here moreover operating?’ That entails sleep, your meals, conserving stress ranges in your life low.”

Tips on how to put together for race day

When race day lastly arrives, hold your routine so simple as potential. Eat a protein- and carb-rich breakfast just a few hours prematurely, keep away from any meals you’ve by no means tried earlier than a run, and keep on prime of your water consumption. Additionally be certain that your watch, headphones, and different devices are charged, the specialists recommend.

Whilst you ought to keep away from intense bodily exercise, don’t begin the race out chilly. Attempt to go for a light-weight 10- to 15-minute jog and do some acquainted drills (e.g., A skips, B skips, strides) earlier than stepping into your corral and beginning the race, which provides your physique an opportunity to loosen up and your thoughts to chill out, Siné suggests.

Tips on how to recuperate after your race

After you cross the half marathon end line, prioritize a cool-down routine; stroll or jog for 10 to twenty minutes and stream by way of your favourite stretches or mobility practices, Siné suggests.

“In the event you will help it, do not attempt to instantly sit down—it is actually jarring on the physique to go from the sustained exercise, a lot velocity and energy going into it, to only a complete cease,” she says.

You’ll additionally need to drink an electrolyte-rich beverage to revive your ranges after sweating all through the race and eat a protein-heavy meal with some carbohydrates to start out the restoration course of. Simply know that your starvation cues could also be delayed, and it’s possible you’ll not really feel like consuming a lot. If that’s the case, go for one thing easy like a protein shake and crackers, Siné says.

Over the following few weeks, Centenari recommends taking a step again from the world of operating, which has possible consumed your life for the final three to 4 months. Discover different types of motion—whether or not that’s powerlifting, yoga, or Pilates.

“After the race, there’s one thing referred to as marathon blues, which identical to, ‘Properly, I put all this work in, what do I do subsequent?’” she says. “I all the time inform individuals it is actually vital to only remind your self there’s extra to life in order that by the point you need to begin coaching for one thing else, you are feeling refreshed and able to go.”

Finest coaching plans

To kick off your seek for a half marathon coaching program, try the next plans and see what meshes greatest together with your way of life and targets. In the event you can’t discover a good match, attain out to an authorized run coach who can work with you to develop a customized program.

FAQ

1. Can a newbie run a half marathon with out prior expertise?

It’s completely doable to run a half marathon with out a lot operating expertise. Ideally, you’ll need to have spent a month or so operating half-hour a day a few instances per week to construct a base stage of endurance, Siné says. It will make it much less bodily and mentally overwhelming to transition right into a half-marathon coaching program.

You’ll additionally need to check out a 5K earlier than signing up, Centenari provides.

“I really suppose, as a coach, that after you get a 5K underneath your toes with a correct coaching plan, that you simply transfer slowly and actually take into accounts constructing quantity, you could possibly plan to run a half marathon,” she says.

Collaborating within the occasion can even offer you a style of the race expertise and assist you determine for those who really get pleasure from long-distance operating earlier than committing to 13.1 miles.

2. How lengthy does it take to coach for a half marathon as a newbie?

Precisely how lengthy it takes to coach for a half marathon as a first-timer all is dependent upon how lengthy you’ve been operating. In the event you started pounding the pavement throughout the final yr, you’ll need to dedicate no less than three months to coaching in your half marathon, based on the specialists.

However for those who’re comparatively new to operating or haven’t been too constant together with your routine, think about a four-month plan, Siné suggests. This extra month upfront can be utilized for constructing your base stage of health, she says.

3. What ought to learners deal with throughout half-marathon coaching?

Similar to all runners competing within the race, half marathon learners ought to focus their coaching on a mixture of simple runs, lengthy runs, and velocity work, with resistance coaching sprinkled in. However they’ll additionally must observe getting sufficient gasoline to help these runs.

Most significantly, first-timers ought to take it simple on themselves; nothing is ideal the primary time round.