Half marathon how long should it take

There's a variety of ways you can approach that. So let his book take care of the details there. But the point of it being that you're not actually setting out to run the entire distance, your actual plan is to finish the distance. So you'll be taking quite a few walk breaks if you do it well. And especially as a beginner walk breaks are awesome.

I take them all the time in almost every single run that I go on because you need the brake. You Your body can readjust, you get a chance to refuel, and then begin again feeling more refreshed. So definitely pick up his book, I'll have a link to that in the show notes page this week, which is Jeff sanders. Step number five is that variety is going to be essential in this process.

So if your goal is to run this half marathon and do it well and not get injured, you're going to have to have some sort of a process in place to make sure you're not just running. So one of the keys to making sure that you stay healthy as a runner is to cross train and strength train, which for most people generally means going to the gym about twice a week to make sure you're lifting weights, to strengthen those key areas of your body that really do kind of drive the run, so to speak.

So in the sense of a runner, the average things you're gonna want to do is make sure you have a really strong core, strong back, strong legs. Those are the things are going to drive you forward in most cases.

So if you can, essentially focus on those areas when you work out. There's a lot of workout plans online for those That will give you a stronger fall form as you run is one of the keys to long distance running like a half marathon marathon, an ultra marathon is going to be conserving energy. And one of the best ways to conserve energy over the long haul is having a body that is designed to run for a longer distance, which means a body that is flexible, and and, and lean and strong in the right areas.

And if you ignore one of those key areas, if you're not lean, if you're not strong, if you're not conserving energy, well, it just makes the process much harder. And so the goal long term is to ensure you have those core things built in so that the run is easier so you can finish the race faster and feel better while doing it. And so if you don't approach the run holistically, initially you'll probably be fine. But down the road, that's when injuries will kick in. That's when you'll realize you're going to hit a wall so to speak in the sense of you're not really growing or gaining what you want.

So off hamster runners is that if you Just focus on running long term, you're going to get to a point where you're not really improving your times are about the same, they always have been. And if you want to get better with time, there's going to have to be some sort of a plan in place to make you the best possible you as a runner.

I guess I can pause here and note that I'm not actually a personal trainer or health coach. So this advice is just my opinion. But as you dig into this process, you will see this kind of advice mentioned frequently, that the strength training aspect is going to be a very core core component of the training program.

Obviously, the running is most important, but you cannot negate the other components as well. Step number six is more of the the mental game. So this is going to be for most people the hardest part by far, because as I mentioned before, if you don't train very well, but you still don't try and pull off the run.

There's a reason why that's possible. And that's because you believe it's possible, right? You can actually take someone who's not in great shape, who hasn't trained well, and they can actually go go from zero to mile And you might be asking, Well, how is that possible if you're not in good shape? And the answer is because of your brain, your attitude, your mentality, the human body has an amazing potential.

And that potential is really based on what you believe is possible for yourself. So if you think of yourself as a runner, if you think of yourself as a long distance runner, if you believe it is possible for you to go further, you will and you can, and it's an incredible thing to be able to do. The hardest part that I face and others if you're similar to me, you're a type A personality are a very ambitious high achiever. Your hardest part is going to be slowing yourself down.

It's gonna be figuring out how to not push so hard initially, because in a long distance race, you have to conserve your energy. If you give it all up in the very beginning, you're not gonna have anything left at the end. And so the biggest challenge for most people is actually starting off at a very slow pace in the race and only getting faster near the end because you have the Energy reserved for that. So as you kind of work through your training program and improve your abilities to run, the mental game will over time become the most important.

Sure, initially, there's going to be some physical challenges, stiff muscles, and you're tired and fatigued and have to learn the mechanics of running. All those things that will get themselves worked out in the first few months. But then the mental game kicks in. And it is by far the hardest because that's where, let's say your mile 10 mile 12 you know the finish line is coming up. That's when the the those voices the devil on your shoulder is the loudest.

That's when it's the hardest to be able to kind of keep going one step after another. Because this way, a full marathon is about 40, individual steps. So a half marathons about 20, individual steps you're going to take that's for the average stride length. And knowing those numbers kind of highlights the reality that what a long distance run really is is making the decision to put one foot in front of the other, literally 10s of thousands of times over the course of a few hours.

That's what it is, it's really nothing more than the mental decision to put one foot in front of the other over and over and over, even when it hurts, and even when you are hot, even when you're tired, even when you don't believe it's possible to keep going.

That's what it means to be a runner, when you're going this far, is being able to endure through the pain and the difficulties and the doubts, and the lack of whatever it is you're lacking in those moments, right? The mental games you play with yourself. So if there's anything you lean on overtime, the mental game should be it because the stronger that is, the more things you can overcome.

And it's an incredible ability at that point because then once you've kind of got past that threshold, and your your mindset is so much stronger, you literally can do almost anything.

It is an incredible, incredible thing as you break through those different milestones because then all of a sudden, you believe you can run further.

Then all of a sudden you Finish your first half marathon and a full marathon sounds like a good idea. You finished your first full marathon and an ultra marathon sounds like a good idea. And it only sounds that way because you've broken through that barrier in your mind to get to that next level up.

So as you as you progress in the next few weeks and months, make sure the mindset training is a huge part of what you do. And finally, step seven is to slowly increase your long runs. So as part of your training plan, you're going to have a long run each week.

Most plans are going to include escalating those long runs a little bit for about three weeks in a row. And then the fourth week you taper off or run a little less.

So for example, you might say, you know, week number one I'll run for two miles a week three is three miles week four is the next week is four miles. And then finally, by the fourth week, you taper off and do a little less.

And so that those kinds of plans will allow you to slowly over time, increase that long run once a week, until eventually you're doing the full And so in that process, the long run for most people is the big activity of the week is the thing they look forward to the most the one you plan the most.

For me, whenever I do long runs, they're usually on a trail, I schedule those long runs, I travel somewhere further away. Usually in Nashville, I drive around to a local small town or to a park and make sure that I have really booked out plenty of time for the long run that day, because for me, it's an event.

It's a lot of fun, right? It's not just something that I have on my calendar. It's an event that I look forward to all week long, and I plan in advance and have the right nutrition and the right water and the right clothing for the weather.

It's a fun thing to do. And it's also the thing that tells you where you are. It gives you a really great kind of guideposts for how far you've come and then of course to know how far to push going forward. Factors such as age, fitness level and gender will also influence the time it takes you to run a half marathon. Generally, male runners tend to be faster on average than female runners of a similar age. Fitness trackers and apps can help you monitor your progress and keep an accurate record of your speed and running distance throughout your training and on race day.

First-time half marathon runners, depending on their fitness levels, may want to set a goal of finishing the course rather than doing so in a certain time. That being said, on average a beginner can expect to cross the finish line in a time anywhere between This is based on a combination of walking and running and also dependant on the course conditions.

As a broad and extremely generalized statement, any time between — for a female in generally good health running her first half-marathon is a solid time. For males, completing the distance in — is a decent starting point. The bigger question, though, is how long you will take to run a half-marathon. Fortunately, there are tools to help you figure out. First, you can use this table that allows you to take times from a recent one-mile, 5k, or 10k race to suggest how long it would take you to finish a half.

For example, if you can run a 5k in 26 minutes, you should be able to finish a half-marathon in under two hours. Of course, you have to account for factors such as changes in weather, distance and quality of your training, the hilliness of the course, and so forth.

So while a race predictor can give you a great ballpark for a finishing time, there is no guarantee. You can also use this race time predictor that is based on the formula developed by Pete Riegel, and is widely accepted. If you have a running watch, it may even have a function that gives you a predicted time based on your training. Right now, it is staying pretty consistent within a minute or so of one time. You can always enter information into as many race time predictors as possible to get the widest range.

It is still just a rough estimate. Article by:. On this site, I provide help in the form of my knowledge and experience to all who love running and active living. Read more….

To be a faster and more efficient runner you should add hill repeats into your training plan. In this article, you will learn all about hill repeats. The marathon race is ideal for runners who have already run several half marathon races and enjoy long-distance running. But you are probably wondering what is a good marathon finish time? In this article, I will show you the top 19 strength exercises for runners and give you 2 examples of strength workouts.

In this article, I will go through the 8 muscles used in running. I will describe every muscle in detail and, with examples, show you how to strengthen them. Perhaps you are not a fan of uphill running, but you must have heard numerous times how desirable it is to include hill running into your training plan? Want to learn how to do butt kicks? In this article, I will explain how to perform butt kicks correctly and answer the most common questions.

Skip to content. Table of Contents.