10 half marathon tips you need to follow to smash your big race
Thousands of people challenge themselves to complete a half marathon every weekend - and we've enlisted the help of the experts to help you run your best race.
More than 500 half marathons take place in the UK every year, including next weekend's sold out Royal Parks Half Marathon in London. But what do you need to consider during your training and leading up to the big day to produce your best performance.
Alan Morton is a personal trainer and expert tutor at The Fitness Group, specialising in sports conditioning and athletic performance. Alan has worked with multiple endurance athletes including marathon, triathletes and 10k runners. Here are his top 10 tips to help you smash your PB.
1. No run gets easier – only better
Aim to have structured progression in your training. A very general rule of thumb is a 10 per cent increase of either time/duration or speed per week. Make sure that every time you are going for a long run, aim for it to be just a little harder/longer than the one before.
2. Build your endurance base first
To run a faster more effective half marathon, you must have the distance in your legs. To achieve this, aim to be able to run further than the half marathon at about an 80 per cent race pace tempo. Ideally aiming for at least 16 miles at this pace.
3. Work anaerobically to improve aerobically
To run your best half marathon, you need more than just excellent aerobic fitness. You also need excellent anaerobic fitness. Your maximal sustainable race pace will be linked to your capabilities of working more anaerobically than aerobically.
4. Schedule in the long run to your training
A basic but effective approach is to have three runs per week. One being an LSD (long slow duration) where you are below race pace but look to add more volume to your runs. Run slower for longer.
Runners at the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London (Rb Create)5. Race pace training
One of the three runs should be at race pace – practicing for the event.
6. Do interval training
Look to spend 3 – 5 mins at a higher intensity and drop off to recover for a similar volume of time, before repeating a higher than race pace intensity.
7. Do resistance training
You cannot run if you are injured. Running requires lots of strength of the muscular and connective tissues including the bones. To minimise injury and optimise performance, resistance training is essential in any running programme.
8. Do not try anything new on race day
Training is the time to change nutrition or training approaches and experiment! Not the day of the run. Maximise your chances of a good run.
9. Carb loading
Carb loading in the run up is more advanced and is more for those looking to maximise and squeeze the most out of every second, however the basic principle of a larger carbohydrate meal the night before and regular smaller top ups on the day of the event, is still highly recommended.
10. Take water on little and often
Don’t take large quantities of water in one go. Aim for 5 to 12 ounces of fluids every 15 to 20 minutes. Mark the bottle with timings through the run to keep your water intake regular and small amounts.
Want to train for a half marathon but have no idea what type of runner you are? A study by ASICS found 68 per cent of runners have never had a gait analysis. Find your nearest ASICS store here to check your gait and discover which shoes suit you best.
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