Half marathon | 1 month to go training plan

The following programme is part of a six-month training regime for a half marathon. See the full programme here.

Congratulations - you've reached the 'golden month'. This is the part most runners love, as all the hard work has been done and you can get excited for the race day.

Tip for the month

Dehydration will not only affect your performance, it's a huge health risk so drink plenty of water while you're training and before the event because you will be sweating a lot of it out. You can measure how well hydrated you are just by looking at your urine. If it's clear, you are well hydrated, if it's dark yellow or brown you need to drink more. You can also sip a sports drink or two to get essential electrolytes and minerals into the body in your last month's training. Another tip is to drive the course as so you know exactly where you are running and where hills may be.

By the end of this month you should...

Be confident that you can run the full race distance.

Programme

Training this month is designed to prevent injury ahead of the event and to allow your body to rest before the big day. Strength exercises should be cut to protect your muscles, and endurance runs should be steadily reduced in length. Studies show that a marathon runner who tapers training miles down to zero 2-3 weeks before the race will lose very little performance come race day. If you don't taper down enough the risk is that your muscles will still be tired from all the training come race day.

Stretch session - In a stretch session you should stretch for two minutes per leg muscle group: calves, quads and hamstrings.
Interval session - In an interval session you should be running at around 1-1.5min per mile faster than your predicted race pace. Run for two minutes, then walk for one or two mins and repeat.
Bodyweight - These are leg strength exercises. Do 10 - 15 reps for 2-3 sets of squats, lunges, and step ups.
Tempo run - Run at the same pace as you predict for your half marathon without stopping.
Slow run - Taper this distance down to zero over the next few weeks to give your body a rest before the half marathon.
 
WEEK 1

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

WEEK 4

WEEK 5

Last updated Wednesday 3 January 2018

First published on Monday 11 April 2016