Below you’ll find the half marathon training schedule I developed based off of professional training schedules I found online when I ran The Flying Pig Half Marathon last year. Why train for a half marathon? Personally, I think there’s 3 important reasons to try it:
- It is amazingly healthy for you to exercise consistently, and you will have to if you’re going to be in any shape to run a half marathon.
- You will find that you can do something you never thought was possible, which opens your mind up to all sorts of other possibilities of what you can do with your life.
- It is an experience you’ll never forget, and it is so much fun! I know you’re thinking, so much fun?! I would’ve never thought it would be fun, but it was! There are thousands of people running, and hundreds of thousands of people watching, and everyone is cheering for you and routing for you to finish! There is so much going on race weekend, and there are so many people everywhere!
My friend, Jenna, and I finishing the half marathon!
If you are planning to train for a half marathon, it is important to include strength training along with your running so that you don’t develop an injury. This is especially important for those who have never even come close to running this far before. It will be important to strengthen your legs and feet for the tough run you have ahead. You also will want to make sure you have good running shoes (I will write a post on running shoes soon). As you look below at the training schedule, you will see that it’s not too time-consuming or grueling; anyone can do it if you put your mind to it! Before I ran The Flying Pig, the farthest I had ever run was 6 1/2 miles!
I recently decided to start this training schedule again, not to train for a 1/2 Marathon, but just to get into super fit shape. When I was training last year, I had so much energy and felt so good throughout the week. Running is so good for your cardiovascular system, and it also increases your endorphins, which makes you feel good! I want to get my “Runner’s High” feelings again! This training schedule is not only for those interested in marathon training, it can also be a workout schedule for those who want a consistent exercise routine that pushes you more and more as you go.
Half Marathon Training Schedule
*Do all strength-training exercises barefoot to help strengthen your feet. Train carefully. Listen to your body. If you can only start out doing a few exercises barefoot, then do that and work your way up to completing all exercises barefoot.
Monday: Core Exercises and Feet Strengthening/Shin Splint Prevention Exercises (for Core 10 minute mini workout, go here Mini workouts)
- Pick up small object (e.g., dice) with your feet by scrunching toes to pick it up. 15x each foot, repeat
- Hop on one bare foot making a cross (front-back-left-right) for 30 seconds each foot, repeat
Tuesday: Run for the amount of time listed below
Wednesday: Lower Body Strength Training (for Lower Body 10 minute mini workout, go here Mini workouts)
Thursday: Run for the amount of time listed below
Friday: Yoga with bare feet (for Yoga 10 minute mini workout, go here Mini workouts)
Saturday: Off or Upper Body Strength Training (for Upper Body 10 minute mini workout, go here Mini workouts)
Sunday: Long Run. Run the amount of miles listed below.
- HC = Hill climbs (run hills today)
- 800M = 800 meter run (run it as fast as you can but pace yourself)
|
Week |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
Sunday |
|
1 |
Core/Feet
|
25 min |
Lower Body |
25 min |
Yoga |
Off |
3 mi |
|
2 |
Core/Feet |
30 min |
Lower Body |
30 min
|
Yoga |
Off |
4 mi |
|
3 |
Core/Feet
|
30 min |
Lower Body |
30 min |
Yoga |
Off |
5 mi |
|
4 |
Core/Feet |
30 min |
Lower Body |
30 min
|
Yoga |
Off |
6 mi |
|
5 |
Core/Feet |
35 min |
Lower Body |
35 min
|
Yoga |
Off |
7 mi |
|
6 |
Core/Feet |
35 min |
Lower Body |
35 min |
Yoga |
Off |
3 mi + HC + 800M |
|
7 |
Core/Feet
|
35 min |
Lower Body |
35 min |
Yoga |
Off |
8 mi |
|
8 |
Core/Feet |
40 min |
Lower Body |
40 min |
Yoga |
Off |
3 mi + HC + 800M |
|
9 |
Core/Feet
|
40 min |
Lower Body |
40 min |
Yoga |
Off |
9.5 mi |
|
10 |
Core/Feet |
40 min |
Lower Body |
40 min |
Yoga |
Off |
4 mi + HC + 800M |
|
11 |
Core/Feet
|
45 min |
Lower Body |
45 min |
Yoga |
Off |
11 mi |
|
12 |
Core/Feet |
45 min |
Lower Body |
45 min |
Yoga |
Off |
4 mi + HC + 800M |
|
13 |
Core/Feet
|
45 min |
Lower Body |
45 min |
Yoga |
Off |
12.5 mi |
|
14 |
Core/Feet |
50 min |
Lower Body |
50 min |
Yoga |
Off |
5 mi + HC + 800M |
|
15 |
Core/Feet
|
50 min |
Lower Body |
50 min |
Yoga |
Off |
14 mi |
|
16 |
Core/Feet
|
50 min |
Lower Body |
50 min |
Yoga |
Off |
5 mi |
|
17 |
Core/Feet |
40 min |
Lower Body |
20 min |
Off |
Off |
Half Marathon (13.1 mi) |
Perfect timing! I’m about to sign up for a half-marathon. Will bookmark this and get my trainers on
Great! I’m so happy to help. Good luck with your training and race day!
Good girl!
Thanks!!!
Yay, you did Flying Pig, too! How’d you like it? I was really pleasantly surprised by the organization and support of the race (I did the full and my friends did the half). The only drawback? The heat. Yuck.
I echo your recommendation to do strength training.
Julia,
Let me know if you have any recommendations for me!
Yes, I did, last year! It was great! I loved it. I thought it was really cool going over the bridges into Kentucky and then back into Ohio. We were lucky last year: it rained at the beginning so we were cool the whole race! I’m gonna try to find a different place to do a full marathon in the next couple years, just for a new experience
That was a nice posts, great training schedules. Good luck and keep it up, keep running. Thanks for sharing this to us and looking forward always for more updates.
What a great training schedule! Very inspiring. Thanks!
I love this post! So often people think they are strengthening their lower body just by running. I know I thought that, until I ended up in physical therapy and saw just how much I was lacking. I love the feet exercises! My feet were dead, my toes at times were numb…literally number, I started having foot problems because I wasn’t working them and running was actually doing just the opposite. Thanks for the post!!
Before I began training for my half marathon last year, I read up a lot on diet and exercise (along with the right shoes) in order to not get injured, and it worked for me, so I thought I’d share with others! Thanks for the comment
thanks for liking my recent silly post on Not In India 2012. I imagine you are not eating much of that kind of stuff during your training program!!
with love light and JOY
Great post!
I’m going to start training soon for a half marathon next year. It’s such an awesome run (a few miles each in Germany, France and Switzerland), just two weeks after my birthday. I missed it this year because of health issues, but next year I’m going to rock it.
I actually run all of my runs in Vibrams (barefoot “shoes”), which is awesome. I feel my body and use more muscles (-> increased stability and strength, yay!), plus it feels a lot better to me (and my knees). I still remember the first 8/9 hilly miles in my Vibrams – I felt like a rockstar.
That’s awesome! Sounds like an amazing run!
This looks good, Got the link from A Kind Life. I am planning to do a 1/2 marathon in Sept. Been running 10 miles a day at the gym only, Know I have to add strenght training, Want to do a marathon next year. Need to check out info on shoes.
Good luck with your training! It’s such an amazing experience!
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I am running Plymouth half marathon next year 28th April. Have run 4 by 12 milers so far in my training. Could do with some info on food maybe a month before running the half marathon?
Sure, that’s a great article idea! I’ll look into it and write about what food to eat based on what the experts say!
Great article, exactly what I needed
I would love to have information too on which food to eat when training to do a half marathon or more 
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