1.30 half marathon in a year

I've just finished the Robin Hood half in 1.41:41 with about ten weeks of pretty unfocused training. Last year I came in at 1.38:20 using the Adidas Micoach app. I'd really like to come in sub 1.30 in 2014 and have a year to train for it. Any advice on training? I've got a book by Jack Daniels which talks a lot abut training phases. Should I map the months out? So many questions! Hope someone can help.

Comments

  • Break down the year into 6 week blocks and focus on reaching some goals in between then overload/progression to the next , you need structure and a routine.. it's important to measure where you are .. look at some other training thredads on here for HM and build a program that'll build you upto that that 1:30 marker.. I've not done further than 10km so couldn't offer HM advice but hope that's sets you in right direction 

    Pain is weakness leaving the body
  • LL I don't think you will go too far wrong by following the Jack Daniels training paces (although his easy running pace is possibly a bit quick).

    I agree with Scott about splitting the year up into training blocks and you might want to try a few parkruns/5k/10k for some variations and get some speed in your legs and give you an indicator of how you're improving.

  • I went from 1:38 in Sept 12 to 1:34 in Mar 13 and 1:28 in Sept 13 so it is definitely do-able.

    I ran XC last Oct - Mar; trained for a spring marathon and from May 13 through to Sept 13 just focused on parkruns (15 consecutive wks); speed intervals for a 1 m challenge and long runs at the w/e up to about 10-12m.

    Mid week a favourite outing was (after w/u) 3 mins hard (hilly course) 3 mins recovery working up to 5 repeats etc etc. Weekly highest mileage through this period was 37m - if I had time for more I might have been even quicker but I guess we'll never know....

    In short, build a strength/endurance base and then build speed on top. During the summer this helped me go sub 20 for 5k; sub 40 for 10k and then sub 90 for HM.

    Now I'm switching focus to gear up for a spring marathon again.... 

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