I’m about 3 weeks into my half marathon training, and I thought I’d share my programme with you.
I’ve had it vetted by a few trusted friends—all of whom are much more experienced runners than I am.
The plan is deliberately conservative.
My goal is to complete the training programme, and the race, with zero injuries. I’m not concerned with my pace or time.
All my training runs are low intensity, targeting 60% of my max heart rate: which is around 120bpm. I use a Polar H10 synced to my watch to keep track of this during my runs.
I do a short, medium, and a long run each week. And I’m also targeting a 10% increase in distance each week. Being disciplined with small, incremental mileage increases mean that I haven’t yet had a day where I’ve woken up feeling sore.
A half marathon is 21kms, so my goal is to get to the point where I can run 17kms for my long run, and then I’ll be ready to tackle the event.
I’m also trying to get to the end of every run with some gas left in the tank: meaning I could comfortably run another 1-2kms. This rule has helped immensely with recovery and fatigue.
Regarding diet and nutrition, I’ve been low carb for a number of years now, but I’ve now added carbs into my diet; mainly oats and wholegrain rice and bread. I’m keeping protein intake high as I’m still continuing with strength training 3-4 times per week.
Here is a link to my training plan. All numbers are in kilometres.