An 8-week half-marathon plan on three sessions a week to break 2 hours when the base is already there: quality, easy, long run to 18 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 | 6:30 – 7:00 | The pace most of this plan is run at. If you cannot hold a conversation, it is too fast. |
| Long run | 6:37 | In the firm third of the easy band, never outside it. On a three-hour run, never quicker than this. |
| Half-marathon pace | 5:36 | Half-marathon pace: race day over that distance, or the marker that brackets marathon pace. |
| 5 km pace | 5:13 | A little faster than threshold: 5 km race pace. Strong, never maximal. |
Straight into it: 800 m repetitions in week one, because the base is assumed.
Aerobic power67 min
6 × 800 m at 5 km pace, 2 min recovery.
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.
Continuous threshold, twenty minutes. The long run reaches 14 km.
Half-marathon pace50 min
20 continuous minutes at Half-marathon pace.
Easy run45 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.
Repetitions move to 1,000 m, at 5 km pace rather than flat out, and the long run finishes at race-day pace.
Aerobic power69 min
5 × 1000 m at 5 km pace, 150 s recovery.
Easy run45 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run15 km
15 km, the last 4 at Half-marathon pace.
The only lighter week in the plan. It is not optional.
Half-marathon pace50 min
20 continuous minutes at Half-marathon pace.
Easy run40 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.
Specific block: no more short repetitions. Threshold, in two fifteen-minute blocks, prepares half-marathon pace.
Half-marathon pace68 min
2 × 15 minutes at Half-marathon pace, 4 minutes recovery.
Easy run40 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run17 km
17 km, the last 6 at Half-marathon pace.
The peak, and it is specific: 3 × 3 km at goal pace, then eighteen kilometres with six at that same pace.
Half-marathon pace89 min
3 × 3 km at Half-marathon pace, 3 minutes recovery.
Easy run40 min
Conversational pace: you should be able to talk.
Long run18 km
18 km, the last 6 at Half-marathon pace.
Taper, one week only. Twenty minutes at goal pace, nothing more.
Half-marathon pace50 min
20 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.
Pace reminder47 min
4 × 400 m at Half-marathon pace, 2 min recovery.
Easy run25 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.