How to prepare for a half marathon?

Yes!… you’ve made up your mind, you want to see where your limit is, and the challenge is important. A key question arises: How do you prepare for a half marathon?
I assume you already have some experience as a runner, maybe you’ve participated in shorter races. Now the time has come, and you want to take the leap to the half marathon (21,097 meters, or in other words, 21 km and 97 meters).

You need between 9 and 12 weeks to prepare for a half marathon

Any interval training plan recommends a preparation period of between 9 and 12 weeks of specific training to face the race with some guarantees. It will all depend on how long you have already been training more or less seriously and the goals of each athlete.

Any half marathon preparation is based on a mix of endurance, “speed” and psychological preparation. It’s about being able to run at fast paces, understood as paces close to 10 km races, which will be different for each runner. Ok… Ok… back to the question: How do you prepare for a half marathon?

Mix endurance with speed. Keys to half marathon preparation!

Our training plan will consist of easy runs, more or less long, where we get the body used to running at least the time we intend to run in the race. Easy runs that will gradually increase in distance or time over the weeks as we notice the body assimilating the training and our fitness improving.

We should also include “quality sessions” — just doing easy runs won’t get us to our goal. In these quality sessions, we can include days of running a bit faster, progressive runs where we start slow and finish at our target pace.
Even a bit faster, and where we can also include intervals, both short and long intervals, balancing the proportion between short and long intervals. That’s where you’ll find the perfect balance to be efficient in a half marathon. A coach can advise you in the best possible way.

Include gym sessions? Yes!

If possible, we could also include strength sessions in the gym in our preparation. This way, we can strengthen muscles, gain power in each stride, and most importantly… avoid injuries (like muscle tears).
It’s not foolproof, of course, but gym sessions prevent many more injuries than we think.

So far, the easiest part to follow 😉 meaning we have a plan, set paces, and kilometers to run. But the so-called invisible training is missing, which will take up most of our time and preparation for running the half marathon.

Each training session alone can last from 45 minutes to 120 minutes, but invisible training means being attentive to our body and giving it what it needs 24 hours a day.

The importance of invisible training in half marathon preparation

Invisible training includes rest, something that seems so simple but when you’re immersed in a preparation that’s going perfectly, you always want more and it’s hard to rest as planned. Remember that a good training session is as important as a good rest. These two concepts, along with nutrition (like a good dinner for athletes), are the three pillars of sporting success. You’re closer to your goal of: How to prepare for a half marathon?

Nutrition, another key factor: if you don’t eat healthily, you won’t perform as well as you should. Poor nutrition can prevent you from completing your planned training because you’re not giving your body the necessary and quality “fuel” it needs to face the preparation.

The importance of recovery in your training

Therefore, regardless of whether you run or not, faster or slower, healthy eating should be the first step. You should also not forget to make a couple of visits to the physiotherapist to complement pressotherapy, who can check that everything is in order and release your muscles from tensions caused by training.

If you can accompany your training with pressotherapy sessions, in my case the Sizen 6+, your fitness and your body, especially your legs, will surely thank you. It’s important to understand how pressotherapy works. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, you have to help your body as much as possible to recover and be able to face the entire half marathon plan with guarantees. Now you know everything you need to know about how to face a half marathon. 😉

Juan Pedro Mora is a popular runner and Sizen ambassador.