A 12-week half-marathon plan on three sessions a week to break 1:45: one quality session, one easy run, a long run building to 22 km.
If one of these is not true, a longer plan will take you further than a short one followed halfway.
Ill, exhausted or in pain, do not run: a plan absorbs a missed session, it does not absorb an injury. Drop the easy run first — it is the least specific. If it is the quality session or the long run that goes, do not move it to another day of the same week; pick the next week up where the plan is, never where you stopped.
| Pace | min/km | What it feels like |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 5:56 – 6:23 | The pace most of this plan is run at. If you cannot hold a conversation, it is too fast. |
| Long run | 6:02 | In the firm third of the easy band, never outside it. However long it is, a long run is never run quicker than this. |
| Half-marathon pace | 4:54 | Half-marathon pace: race day if that is your distance, otherwise the marker just above race-day pace. |
| Threshold pace | 4:45 | The pace you could hold for about an hour in a race. |
| 5 km pace | 4:30 | 5 km race pace: strong, never maximal. |
The long run is 53 % of the heaviest week, against 30 to 35 % in a plan built on five or six runs. On few sessions that is arithmetic: what protects you is not the share but the duration, and no long run in this plan reaches three hours.
Set the rhythm: two easy runs and a long one, nothing hard. The aerobic base comes before any speed is added. One easy run closes with strides, no watch and no target pace.
Easy run54 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk. Finish with 4 strides.
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run12 km
12 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
Bring in threshold, the pace a half marathon is decided at. Twenty continuous minutes, no more.
Threshold50 min
20 continuous minutes at Threshold pace.
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run14 km
14 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
The plan's first repetitions: 6 × 800 m, and the long run growing with them.
Aerobic power64 min
6 × 800 m at 5 km pace, 2 min recovery.
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run16 km
16 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
A lighter week. Progress is built on the days you run less.
Half-marathon pace42 min
12 continuous minutes at Half-marathon pace.
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run13 km
13 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
Repetitions move to 1,000 m at 5 km pace. The long run stays entirely easy: on three sessions, the week that resumes carries only one that costs.
Aerobic power65 min
5 × 1000 m at 5 km pace, 150 s recovery.
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run18 km
18 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
The block's peak: threshold moves into three ten-minute blocks, easier to hold than twenty unbroken minutes, and the long run reaches 20 km.
Threshold blocks69 min
3 × 10 minutes at Threshold pace, 3 min recovery.
Easy run55 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run20 km
20 km, the last 5 at Half-marathon pace.
A down week before the specific block: the fast work stays, shorter, and the volume comes down.
Aerobic power52 min
4 × 800 m at 5 km pace, 2 min recovery.
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run15 km
15 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
Specific block: no more short repetitions. Threshold, in two fifteen-minute blocks, prepares half-marathon pace.
Threshold blocks68 min
2 × 15 minutes at Threshold pace, 4 min recovery.
Easy run50 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run20 km
20 km, the last 6 at Half-marathon pace.
The peak, and it is specific: 3 × 2 km at goal pace, then twenty-two kilometres with six at that same pace.
Half-marathon pace68 min
3 × 2 km at Half-marathon pace, 3 min recovery.
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run22 km
22 km, the last 6 at Half-marathon pace.
Last week of load, already smaller. Threshold goes, goal pace stays: twenty minutes, then 18 km with four at that pace.
Half-marathon pace50 min
20 continuous minutes at Half-marathon pace.
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run18 km
18 km, the last 4 at Half-marathon pace.
Taper. Fifteen minutes at goal pace to keep it in the legs, and nothing more.
Half-marathon pace45 min
15 continuous minutes at Half-marathon pace.
Easy run35 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run12 km
12 comfortable km from start to finish. If it feels hard, it is too fast.
Race week. You maintain; you no longer build.
Half-marathon pace45 min
3 × 3 minutes at Half-marathon pace, 2 min recovery.
Easy run30 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Half marathon21.0975 km
Race day.
Stibia exports this plan to your watch, on the days you run, with your long session on the day you choose, and the plan ending on your race date.
Create a free accountThis plan is general training material and does not replace medical advice. If it hurts, stop and see someone.