So perhaps you've run a half marathon or two or more,
and now you want to run the distance again, but this time faster.
I'm Anna. And today, along with Rick,
we're going to be taking you through how to run a fast half marathon.
We're going to give you three key workouts that you can build into your weekly
schedule to help you hit your half marathon PB,
no matter what time that might be and keep watching until the end as well,
because we've got a top tip that you can apply to all of your training to make
sure you hit that goal time.
But first, if you are new to the running channel,
don't forget to click on subscribe and tap that bell icon,
so you get notified when we upload new videos, all about running,
which we do every week. Now let's have a look how to get faster.
As I said at the start, it doesn't matter what your goal
time is for the half marathon. We're all different.
We all run at different paces, but no matter what your goal time is,
maybe you're trying to break three hours.
Maybe you're trying to get under an hour and a half,
or maybe you just want to complete the distance without any walking breaks.
Keep watching because these workouts will help you achieve your goals.
You might be wondering what the best time's for the half
marathon distance are? Well, the best female time was set by Abadel Yeshaneh,
of Ethiopia on the 21st of February, 2020 at a time of one hour,
four minutes and 31 seconds.
The best men's time was set by Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya on the
15th of September, 2019 at a time of 58 minutes
and one second.
Now don't worry if those times look more like your 10k finish times,
than your half marathon ones.
The global average finished time for men last year was one hour
59 minutes and 33 seconds. And for women, it was two hours,
14 minutes and 19 seconds.
So now we know a little bit more about timings and goal settings.
We've spoken to coach Andy Hobdell who coached the running channels Andy Baddeley
to two Olympic games.
And now coaches people of all abilities from 1500 meters to marathons and
beyond to find out what would be his go to workouts to achieve that
faster half marathon type.
So first up we have the classic mile repetition session.
So whether you're working on your 5k time,
your 10k time or your half marathon time,
this is a classic session that runners around the world will come back to
because it's easy to remember, and it also gets your legs moving.
So with this session, you can run it on a track so that you can count your laps.
You could use a GPS watch to measure your distance,
or you could run it on a route that you know is a mile long,
whatever is your preference. So the session goes a little, something like this,
six by one mile efforts with 400 metre float
recovery. So try and push the pace of those miles.
So mile one should be at your marathon pace,
your 400 metre recovery at a strong,
steady run pace. Mile two should be somewhere between your marathon and
half marathon pace. Your 400 metre recovery, again at a strong,
steady run pace. Mile three, go for your goal
half marathon pace and another 400 metre steady recovery
mile four should be somewhere between your goal,
half marathon pace and your 10k race pace.
So pushing that pace a little bit further with another 400 metre recovery at a
steady pace. Mile five,
we're getting quicker again and running that one at your 10k race pace with 400
metre recovery at a strong and steady run pace. Then mile six,
push it somewhere between your 5k and 10k pace.
The aim of this workout is to progress the pace throughout so that the final
effort is the fastest.
If you can't get quicker throughout then you've gone off too quickly.
So the way that the recoveries are run for this workout means that you are
continually running. You've got those 400 metres at a steady pace,
and this builds mental confidence when you're tackling those longer distances.
So we're big fans of workouts that can help you build your mental confidence.
They help you feel like you're in control and can help you see progress.
So when you come back to this workout further down the training,
you can compare where you were, to where you've got to.
Next up,
we've got a mixed pace workout that has you running at paces both faster and
slower than your target half marathon pace,
mixing it up is a great way of breaking up the workout and making it
feel more manageable too.
It can also help you a lot with your pace management and when it comes to the faster
elements of it, it will make your half marathon target pace.
Feel a lot easier as well.
We start off this workout by running three kilometres at your marathon
pace, then three minutes,
easy jog recovery. Five by 800 meters.
And you alternate these between your 5k and 10k pace of pushing it a
little bit quicker.
Then you've got 90 seconds recovery between each of those efforts and three
minutes recovery after the full set, then into five,
800 metres again,
alternating that 5k and 10k pace with your 90 seconds
recovery between efforts and three minutes recovery after the set.
And then yes,
not finished yet 3k again at your marathon pace.
Sandwiching a faster pace session in between two longer marathon paced
efforts will add aerobic volume to your workout and will really help you with
your pace judgement as well.
It's also going to show you how to run on very tired legs towards the end.
Finally, we've got to work out that sounds deceptively simple,
but watch out,
cause this is a tough one. Now because of the nature of the workout that we're
about to go through,
we would recommend that you try and run this on a track if you can,
because it will help you to keep that pace consistent.
And this is a continuous run.
Head to the track and look to run a continuous 20 lap effort,
depending on your level of experience,
you might want to do two 10 lap efforts with a three minute recovery in
between the first time you try this. Generally though, there is no recovery.
You should aim to alternate pace on every single lap.
So one lap at your target,
half marathon pace and the next lap at your 10k pace or for more
experienced runners pushing close to your 5k pace,
then repeat.
I told you it was a tricky one.
This workout will really build your mental toughness.
Even the easier laps are going to feel pretty tough.
Make sure you stay as regimented as you can when you're running your goal half
marathon pace for those labs.
Because if you even try and push it a little bit too much faster,
you will then make the entire workout almost impossible to complete.
Now you might remember that Anna said,
we'd finish up on a top tip to help you out on all of your workouts and races.
And this is purely focused on the psychology of running.
And that is that you need to focus on the third quarter of whatever it is that
you're taking on.
So what that means is that the third quarter of a race or a workout is going to
be the toughest.
We all feel fresh when we start out and we're all familiar with the person,
maybe it's you that sprints past everyone on the final straight.
So in a half marathon, we're looking at six and a half miles to 10 miles.
So around 10k to 16k,
as being that mentally tough part of your race,
what you need to do is focus on getting to halfway and be prepared to dig deep
and push through it.
Don't lose intensity and don't lose your concentration or your motivation
know that the third quarter is going to be tough and ride it out.
That means that when you get to the end,
you will be able to push forward and be able to pick up the pace if you've got
anything less,
but you'll need to try and hang on in that tough part in order to do
so. It's easy to sprint to the finish line when it's in sight,
but much harder when it's not quite in reach yet.
So what is your half marathon personal best?
And what time are you working towards for your next race? Be it real or virtual.
Let us know in the comments below and do get in touch about how you found these
workouts.
And if you've enjoyed the video,
why not check out some of our others on the running channel, all about race
preparation and training to help you hit your target.
We'll see you next time on the running channel.