"Magazine" 1/2 Marathon Programme

10 week schedule....Distances & times are approximate.

If in doubt ease off, there's always another day...if you push too hard when tired, injury and illness won't be far away.

WEEK 1 - 20 miles / 3 hours.
Day 1, 10 mins WU, Tempo (2*5min with 5 min recovery jogs), 10 mins WD.
Day 2, 45 mins easy.
Day 3, 10 mins WU, Hills (8*1 min, jog back down recovery), 10 mins WD.
Day 4, 7-8 miles endurance.

WEEK 2 - 22 miles / 3.5 hours.
Day 1, 10 mins WU, Tempo (2*1 mile with 5 min recovery jogs), 10 mins WD.
Day 2, 45 mins easy.
Day 3, 10 mins WU, Hills (9*1 min, jog back down recovery), 10 mins WD.
Day 4, 8-9 miles endurance.

WEEK 3 - 24 miles / 4 hours.
Day 1, 10 mins WU, Tempo (2*10 mins with 6 min recovery jogs), 10 mins WD.
Day 2, 45 mins easy.
Day 3, 10 mins WU, Hills (10*1 min, jog back down recovery), 10 mins WD.
Day 4, 45 mins easy.
Day 5, 9-10 miles endurance.

WEEK 4 - 22 miles / 3.5 hours.
Day 1, 10 mins WU, Tempo (3*1 mile with 5 min recovery jogs), 10 mins WD.
Day 2, 45 mins easy.
Day 3, 10 mins WU, Hills (11*1 min, jog back down recovery), 10 mins WD.
Day 4, 8 miles endurance.

WEEK 5 - 26 miles / 4.5 hours.
Day 1, 10 mins WU, Tempo (3*10 mins with 6 min recovery jogs), 10 mins WD.
Day 2, 45 mins easy.
Day 3, 10 mins WU, Hills (12*1 min, jog back down recovery), 10 mins WD.
Day 4, 45 mins easy.
Day 5, 11 miles endurance.

WEEK 6 - 28 miles / 5 hours.
Day 1, 10 mins WU, Tempo (2*15 mins with 7 min recovery jogs), 10 mins WD.
Day 2, 45 mins easy.
Day 3, 10 mins WU, Repeats (6*400m fast, 2 min recoveries), 10 mins WD.
Day 4, 45 mins easy.
Day 5, 12 miles endurance.

WEEK 7 - 31 miles / 5.5 hours
Day 1, 10 mins WU, Tempo (2*15 mins with 7 min recovery jogs), 10 mins WD.
Day 2, 45 mins easy.
Day 3, 10 mins WU, Repeats (6*600m fast, 2 1/2 min recoveries), 10 mins WD.
Day 4, 45 mins easy.
Day 5, 14 miles endurance.

WEEK 8 - 29 miles / 5 hours.
Day 1, 10 mins WU, Tempo (3*1 mile with 5 min recovery jogs), 10 mins WD.
Day 2, 45 mins easy.
Day 3, 10 mins WU, Repeats (10*200m fast, 200m recovery jogs), 10 mins WD.
Day 4, 15 miles endurance.

WEEK 9 - 26 miles / 4.5 hours.
Day 1, 5 miles easy.
Day 2, 10 mins WU, Repeats (8*200m fast, 200m recovery jogs), 10 mins WD.
Day 3, 45 mins easy.
Day 4, 5 miles easy incl 10*1 min fast.
Day 5, 8 miles brisk.

WEEK 10 - 13 miles PLUS RACE / 2 hours PLUS RACE.
Day 1, 10 Mins WU, Repeats (2*1mile race pace, 5 min recovery jogs), 10 mins WD.
Day 2, 10 mins WU, Repeats (6*200m fast, 200m recovery), 10 mins WD.
Day 3, 40 mins easy.
Day 4, RACE.

To give you an idea of training paces.....

TEMPO IS ABOUT 10K Pace.
E.g. 60 min 10k 9:50/mile, 50 min 10k 8:20/mile, 40 min 10k 6:40/mile.

LONG RUN PACE.
60 min 10k 12:40/mile, 50 min 10k 10:35/mile, 40 min 10k 8:30/mile.

EASY PACE.
60 min 10k 13:00/mile, 50 min 10k 11:00/mile, 40 min 10k 9:00/mile.

HILL REPS.
Fastest even pace you can run them all in.
If in doubt go for form over pace...high knee lift, pump arms.

REPEATS.
Fastest even pace you can run them all in but NOT flat out!

If two harder sessions a week are too much just do one with the other run as a steady at about 1 min / mile faster than your long run pace.