Our 12 Week Half Marathon Training Plan is our most popular training plan for the half marathon event!
This plan is designed to get you to the finish line respectably, and gives you 12 weeks to prepare.
Who Is It For?:
Runners who can run three times per week. If you’re looking for a great plan to get you through your first half-marathon, then this is it!
How Long?:
12 weeks // 3 months.
Description:
The plan is designed to cover the required mileage and hours on your feet to get you ready for your half marathon!
All of the runs should be done at a comfortable, sustainable, conversational pace; don’t worry about your pace or finishing time if this is your first half marathon effort.
Long runs on Sundays are there to increase your maximum mileage and time on your feet. The whole purpose of these is to run slowly – at a conversational pace – no faster. If you are struggling during these long runs, feel free to take walking breaks – no worries.
The plan includes one day or cross training and two rest days. The rest days are especially important for letting your body recover.
Feel free to download the plan and change it up to suit your schedule.
Download The Training Plan Here
Enter your email and I’ll send you this free training plan now, in PDF and Google Sheets formats (completely customisable), in both miles and kilometers.
The most comprehensive plan you will find
I had run a couple of half marathons and was in reasonable shape coming into the plan and it was a good rise in intensity throughout. You need to want to do an event like this – I was getting up at 3am to get my long run in before kids weekend sport etc and this was hard. When you combine the plan with the online community through the Marathon Handbook FB page and website, you get complete support. Have used this plan with great success and now looking at upping the pace in the marathon space… GREAT JOB!
First Marathon
I used the plan to train for my first marathon, and happy to say I hit a time of 3:58! (With a little bit of gas left in the tank) I didn’t have much of a running base when I started the plan. I had some cardio from playing rec hockey, but didn’t do any running before hand. Had enough of a base to run a 5k with moderate effort, and a 10k with high effort.
A Great Training Plan
This was a great training plan to follow. Ended up doing my 1/2 marathon in 1:58.45 which is 20 minutes better than my previous PB. Thanks a mil!!
Thanks for helping all the runners out there
Really nice work by Thomas. Everyone should download and follow his training plans.
Get out of my way
Really good book. Not a lot of extra fluff. Here is what you need to do. Now go do it. Building for my 1st marathon. See you on the other side.
Proven Training Plans by a UESCA-certified Running Coach
Every one of our training plans has been developed by Thomas Watson, a UESCA-certified running coach.
Thomas is also a podium-finishing ultra-marathon runner, and has dozens of marathons under his belt.
Each training plan has been road-tested by hundred of runners, refined and improved – and are free to download and customise to suit your needs!