One thing is for sure: at this point, you should have already developed your basic endurance through regular training to ensure you can manage the half-marathon distance without any difficulty. If this is the case, you can strengthen this base and simultaneously work on your speed and maintaining your tempo during the last phase of your preparation.

Weeks 5 to 2 before the day of the race are really not that different because it’s a question of finding a good mix between relaxed, medium, and intensive units as well as varied training to keep your motivation level high. Your three to four weekly training units, for example, can be divided as follow:

Week 5 before the half marathon

• 1 x interval training. 5 × 2 km at around 5 seconds faster than your target half-marathon pace per kilometre. Take a 2-minute break between each one.
• 1 × 60-minute relaxed continuous run.
• 1 × 90-minute continuous run, speeding up every 30 minutes. This means running at a relaxed paced to start with, then 30 minutes swiftly and the last 30 minutes at a fast pace.
• Option for a fourth training unit: warm-up with running technique exercises for 20 minutes. Then do 30 minutes of swift speed variation, changing your tempo regularly.

Week 4 before the half marathon

• 1 x interval training. 8 x 1 km at around 5-10 seconds faster than your racing pace. Between each do a 2-minute very relaxed continuous run.
• 1 × 80-minute relaxed continuous run.
• Vita Parcours with strength exercises at the posts and running technique exercises between the posts.
• Option for a fourth training unit: 10 minutes of rope jumping followed by 3 x 10-minute swift/fast continuous runs at your racing pace with 3-minute very relaxed jog breaks in between.

Week 3 before the half marathon

• 1 x interval training. 8-10 x 500 m at a somewhat faster pace than your racing pace. Run the 500-m sections at a pace significantly slower than your racing pace between each one.
• 1 x 70-minute speed variation at a medium to fast pace.
• 1 × 90-minute relaxed continuous run.
• Option for a fourth training unit: 60-minute continuous run, speeding up every 20 minutes. This means running at a relaxed paced to start with, then 20 minutes swiftly and the last 20 minutes as fast as you possibly can.

Week 2 before the half marathon

The loads are now somewhat shorter, but the pace can be temporarily fast. To put it in concrete terms:

• 1 x interval training. 6 × 1 km at around 10 seconds faster than your target half-marathon pace per kilometre. Take a 2 min jog break between each one.
• 1 × 80-minute relaxed continuous run.
• 1 × 70-minute continuous run, speeding up every 20 minutes. Run at a relaxed paced to start with, then 20 minutes swiftly, 20 minutes fast, and the last 10 minutes as fast as you possibly can. Winding down.
• Option for a fourth training unit: Warm-up with running technique exercises for 20 minutes. Do 2 x 10-minute fast tempo runs with 2 x 10-minute really relaxed continuous runs in between.

The last week before the half marathon

During the last week, it is a question of ensuring that you are sufficiently rested when you stand at the starting line on the day of the competition. In other words: refrain from doing any more exhaustive and hard training. However, to ensure a good body feeling and ample liveliness, you can still include fast sections in your training program. To put it in concrete terms:

Day 7: day of rest
Day 6: 40 minutes of relaxed running followed by 4 sprint runs of about 40 seconds
Day 5: interval training, 4-6 × 1 km at a pace somewhat slower than your racing pace, with a 500-m run between each one at a pace somewhat faster than your racing pace. 60 minutes in total.
Day 4: day of rest
Day 3: 30 minutes of relaxed running followed by 4 sprint runs
Day 2: 20 minutes of relaxed trotting followed by 4 sprint runs
Day 1: Half marathon competition

Foto:iStock.com/Georgijevic