Half Marathon Training Plan 2018

Half Marathon Training Plan

Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia 2018

Disclaimer: I received free entry to Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

I've gotten a lot of questions from people over the last few weeks about what my training looked like for Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia so I thought I'd put together a bit of a guide for everyone. This was definitely the most intensive half-marathon training plan I've used before but it certainly paid off!

When I first signed up for the race, my main goal was just to break 1:40:00, just shy of 6-minutes faster than my previous PR. You can read more about my initial thoughts in my first post about the race, but I was definitely a bit nervous, to say the least. I'd never pushed myself much in training before, I had mostly been focussed on building endurance as opposed to actual speed.

Race Goals and Training Plan

I've always been a fan of Hal Higdon's training plans and so I went back to his site for RnR Philly. Since I wanted my training to focus on building more speed and strength, I went with the Intermediate 2 Plan. The biggest change for me would be the addition of speed workouts on Wednesdays and occasional weekends. I also cut my rest days from 3 to 1 adding one additional running day as well as a cross-training day.

Preparing for the Race

It took me a long time to build confidence in my training mostly because my speed workouts were primarily short intervals or tempo runs so I wasn't sure how I'd handle the full half. It wasn't until I hit my 15k time trial in week 9 that I really started to feel like I was going to be ready for the race.

The Race

As the weekend approached, nerves were running high but I was definitely getting excited. I actually contemplated marathoning all of the Rocky movies but thought that might be a bit of overkill. It definitely didn't stop me from trying to channel him for the race though.

You can read my full in-depth report from the race here but it went way better than expected. It was hot which was tough to manage, especially towards the end, but I struggled through it. Even after puking as I crossed into the final mile, I still managed to crush my PR and cross the finish line at 1:38:16, more than 7-minutes faster than my last PR.

Looking Ahead

This race gave me a lot of confidence for future races. Not only did I feel great during the race but my legs felt amazing after the race as well. I credit that to the added speed and strength work in training, but I'm used to being absolutely spent post-race and having trouble walking for at least a day or two after.

Following Philly though, I felt like I probably could have managed a run the next day. I can't wait for my first half of 2019, now I just have to find the right race!

Cheers!