Top 5 Half Marathon Training Workouts
If you are training for a half marathon, no matter the time goal, we're breaking down 5 of our favorite workouts to build the mileage, endurance, speed, strength and the mental tenacity needed for race day.
Half marathon training is all about finding that sweet spot between endurance and speed. These 5 workouts hit every angle—back-to-backs to build durability, fast finish tempos to nail that closing mile, and strength reps to keep the legs firing late in the race. Each one brings a different benefit, but together they’ll have you covering 13.1 stronger and faster than ever.
1. Back-to-Backs
Frequency and volume are the key to progressing in the half marathon. Whereas you could get by for weekend 5ks and 10ks on two to three runs per week, you’ll have a much better time in the half marathon if you start consistently running on back-to-back days. Increasing your weekly mileage by adding one or two runs per week at the same distance of your typical daily run is one the best ways to get fitter while minimizing injury risk. Start with adding one additional run per week and see how that feels before scaling up farther. Some great shoe choices for adding in these additional recovery miles are the Puma MagMax and the Mizuno Neo Vista 2.
Mizuno Neo Vista 2
Check out Yowana's recent revisit of the Puma MagMax after 200+ miles and hear how he uses it in a 120 mile week of training on the YouTube channel:
2. 6 x 800 meters
The 6 x 800 workout is a great introduction to structured training or a way to ease back in. The goal is to get some intensity under your belt with relatively short working reps. Aim for running the 800s at goal race pace and taking taking a few minutes of jogging rest between—but depending on your freshness and fitness level, you can run the 800s anywhere from marathon pace to threshold pace. If the 800s will take you 4 minutes or longer at your workout paces, you can modify this to be 3 minutes on with two minutes of jogging or walking recovery. Our top current shoe choices for this style of workout are a lightweight speed training shoe like the Adidas Boston 13 or a more aggressive speed training shoe like the Skechers Aero Tempo.
Adidas Boston 13
Skechers Aero Tempo
3. Fast Finish Tempo
The fast finish tempo is a continuous workout where you start off slower and gradually pick up the pace throughout the run. It’s a fun way to practice pacing, and you can go through the gears and experience how your breathing, stride rate and effort level feels at each pace. Run the middle portion at a pace that feels comfortably hard, but not an all-out effort, and finish around your goal half marathon pace. This is a great place to use one of the more max stack shoes that also has good speed capability like the Brooks Hyperion Max 3 or the Saucony Endorphin Speed 5.
Brooks Hyperion Max 3
Saucony Endorphin Speed 5
4. Strength Reps
This is a Hansons system staple. Strength reps are longer repeats 1 to 3 miles in length designed to build strength around race pace (also known as specific endurance). When just starting out, try 4 x 1 miles at your goal half marathon pace with 2 minutes jogging recovery. Once you’re deeper into a block or more experienced with structured workouts, shoot for 3 x 2 miles then 2 x 3 miles at race pace or slightly slower. For a real barn burner, try 6 x 1 mile 10 seconds faster than your goal race pace. This type of workout is a great place to try out a more aggressive race shoe like the Puma Fast-R 3 or the ASICS Metaspeed Sky Tokyo before taking them on longer runs.
Puma Fast-R Nitro Elite 3
ASICS Metaspeed Sky Tokyo
5. The 16 Mile Long Run
The half marathon is an aerobic event, meaning your body mainly relies on oxygen to deliver energy to your muscles for the duration of the race. And the best way to improve the aerobic system is to increase the volume of your mileage. Said another way: if you want to run fast, you have to run long first. While not everyone can tackle a 16 mile long run their half marathon training block, you’ll get build strength, efficiency and endurance for frequently hitting 90 to 2 hour+ long runs. Unlike the marathon, the half is short enough where well-trained runners can cover longer than the distance during training and recover quickly, which will give you a mental boost on race day as well as the aerobic adaptations. As with everything, the gains here come from the consistency. The 16 mile long run is a great time to pick a more stable and comfortable marathon race shoe like the New Balance SC Elite v5 or the On Cloudboom Strike.
New Balance SC Elite v5
On Cloudboom Strike
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