The half-marathon is trickier than it sounds. Despite its name suggesting it’s easy and just half a marathon, mastering the distance can take experience and more speed training than expected. One common mistake some runners make is training for a half-marathon the same way they would for a marathon: hammering mileage. To truly race a faster half, it’s essential to inject several speed sessions into your training. And even adding a single speed session each week—similar to what you’d do if you were training for a fast 5K or 10K—can help bring that crucial leg turnover back.
For this session, using a local 400m or 500m track or loop is ideal, as the goal is to lock in a pace between your target 10K and half-marathon pace during short, fast intervals with minimal recovery.
The workout
two sets of 10 reps of 300m @ goal half marathon pace or faster with 100m jog rest and three minutes (stand) rest between the two sets
This workout totals about 8K of speed work, making it a solid race-prep session. If you can hit your goal paces throughout, it’ll be a huge confidence boost heading toward race day. The key to getting longer workouts like this done is by progressing into them: start at around, or just slower than, your goal pace, and try to pick up the pace by five seconds every fifth rep, saving your fastest laps for the final five reps.
The purpose of short rest periods is to keep your heart rate high, forcing your cardiovascular system to work harder, which can improve your heart and lung capacity over time. This added endurance helps you maintain faster paces for longer races or runs, such as a half-marathon.
If you don’t have a local track or loop to try this workout on, an interval modification of this workout is two sets of 10 reps of 80 seconds with 30 seconds slow jog rest between (and three minutes rest between sets).
