Your first half marathon
Finish 21.1 km — 12 weeks, 4 running days a week.
12 weeksTwelve weeks to a finish line at 21.1 km, with no time goal attached. The long run is the plan — it goes from 10 km to 18 km, with cutback weeks built in, and it never grows by more than a couple of kilometres at a time. You do not need to run 21 km in training. Race-day adrenaline, taper freshness and support on the course reliably cover the last three kilometres.
Before you start: You can run 8–10 km comfortably and have been running consistently for at least three months.
The full 12-week schedule
Every session written out. Print this page — the navigation, banners and footer are all stripped from the printed version, leaving the table.
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Long run |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rest | 20 min easy with 6 × 20 s strides | Easy 5 km | Rest | Easy 5 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 10 km, easy | 10 km |
| 2 | Rest | 3 × 8 min at a comfortably-hard effort, 2 min jog | Easy 5 km | Rest | Easy 5 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 11 km, easy | 11 km |
| 3 | Rest | 20 min tempo | Easy 6 km | Rest | Easy 6 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 12 km, easy | 12 km |
| 4 Cutback week |
Rest | 5 × 800 m, 2 min jog | Easy 5 km | Rest | Easy 5 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 9 km, easy | 9 km |
| 5 | Rest | 2 × 15 min tempo, 3 min jog | Easy 6 km | Rest | Easy 6 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 13 km, easy | 13 km |
| 6 | Rest | 6 × 800 m, 2 min jog | Easy 6 km | Rest | Easy 6 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 14 km, easy | 14 km |
| 7 Cutback week |
Rest | 25 min tempo | Easy 6 km | Rest | Easy 6 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 11 km, easy | 11 km |
| 8 | Rest | 4 × 1.5 km, 2 min jog | Easy 7 km | Rest | Easy 7 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 16 km, easy | 16 km |
| 9 | Rest | 30 min tempo | Easy 7 km | Rest | Easy 7 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 17 km, easy | 17 km |
| 10 Longest run of the plan |
Rest | 3 × 2 km, 3 min jog | Easy 6 km | Rest | Easy 6 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 18 km, easy | 18 km |
| 11 Taper begins |
Rest | 20 min tempo | Easy 5 km | Rest | Easy 5 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Long run 12 km, easy | 12 km |
| 12 Goal week |
Rest | 20 min easy with 4 × 20 s strides | Easy 4 km | Rest | Easy 4 km | Cross-train 30–40 min — cycling, swimming or brisk walking. Easy effort. Skip it entirely if the legs are heavy. | Race: half marathon | Race: half marathon |
How to run this plan
- The long run is done slowly — 60 to 90 seconds per kilometre slower than you expect to race.
- Practise your race-morning breakfast before every long run. The half marathon is long enough that what you ate matters.
- From 14 km onwards, carry or plan fluid. In Indian conditions this is not optional.
- Two weeks of taper. Resist the urge to test your fitness in the last fortnight — the fitness is already banked.
Strength work. Strength: 20 min of squats, lunges, single-leg calf raises, glute bridges and planks. This is the injury insurance. Add it on an easy day or straight after an easy run — never the day before a quality session.
The principle underneath the table
Roughly eighty per cent of the running in this plan is easy, and that ratio is not a compromise — it is the mechanism. Easy running builds the aerobic machinery that lets you absorb the hard sessions; hard running that is not paid for by easy running just accumulates fatigue. The most common way an amateur plan fails is that the easy days creep up to a moderate pace, the hard days consequently drift down to the same moderate pace, and the runner spends twelve weeks training one gear.
The second principle is the cutback week. Volume in this plan does not climb monotonically; every third or fourth week it drops. Adaptation happens during recovery, not during the session, and a plan without down weeks is a plan that banks fatigue until something gives.
The third is the taper. The last two to three weeks reduce volume sharply while keeping a small amount of intensity. It will feel wrong. Do it anyway — nothing you run in the final fortnight can make you fitter, and plenty of it can make you tired.
Questions
How long is the first half marathon plan?
12 weeks, running 4 days a week. You can run 8–10 km comfortably and have been running consistently for at least three months.
What if I miss a week?
One missed week: pick the plan up where you left off, do not try to catch up by doubling anything. Two or more: step back two weeks in the schedule and rebuild. The plan is a progression, and the progression is the part that works — skipping forward to stay 'on schedule' is how people get injured in week ten.
Can I move the days around?
Yes, with one rule: keep at least one easy or rest day between the quality sessions and the long run. The days of the week are arbitrary; the spacing is not.
Do I need a time goal?
No, and for this plan you should not have one. Finishing the distance is the goal; chasing a time at the same moment is the single most common route to an injury or a bad day.
How do I train for this in Indian heat?
Move everything to before sunrise, run the quality sessions by effort rather than pace once it is above about 25°C, and accept that summer paces are slower than winter paces at identical fitness. In the north from November to January, check air quality before every session and take it indoors when readings are bad.
Other half marathon plans
All twelve are listed on the training plans page.
Every time, pace and physiological figure on this site is computed from a published formula, and the formula is named and shown on the method page. Nothing here is predicted by a model you cannot check. Race details change — always confirm dates, routes and entry with the official organiser. Training guidance is general information, not individual coaching or medical advice.