You’ve set yourself a big goal – and we’ll be with you every step of the way.
Over the next few weeks, you’ll follow a smart, adaptive training plan tailored to your fitness level, your schedule, and your personal goal.
What do you need? Curiosity, a bit of patience, and the willingness to show up – even when it gets tough. This plan will prepare you not just physically, but mentally for the challenge ahead.
The half marathon is a special distance – long enough to push your limits, but short enough to stay fun and manageable with the right preparation. It’s the perfect balance of endurance, strategy, and mental strength. Whether it’s your first time or you’re aiming for a new PB, this plan is designed to guide you through every step with confidence and structure.
Ready to go? Lace up – it’s time to begin!
Here is a quick introduction of what you can expect. You can always come back to this overview. You’ll find it in the Enduco Knowledge Base in your Profile or on the Enduco website.
Overview
Your half marathon training plan is divided into several progressive phases that systematically lead you to your peak performance. Each phase consists of individually tailored load and recovery weeks. Every phase has a specific training goal and includes targeted intensity focuses to improve your performance step by step.
The structure of the plan always follows a proven sequence – depending on your available preparation time:
Base, Build, Peak, Pre-Competition, Taper, and finally Race Day. Each phase has a defined function and duration:
Base Phase: Building the Foundation
This is where you lay the groundwork for your half marathon. The focus is on relaxed, extended endurance runs to improve your aerobic base, cardiovascular fitness, and energy system efficiency.
Supplementary sessions like strides, hill intervals, and short VO₂max intervals are also included. These improve your muscular resilience, running technique, and efficiency – preparing you mentally and physically for the more intense workouts in the upcoming phases.
Build Phase: Becoming Race-Specific
Training becomes more intense and starts to resemble the effort levels you’ll face during the half marathon. The goal is to expand your aerobic capacity while enhancing your ability to maintain a strong pace for extended periods.
Typical sessions in this phase include VO₂max intervals to increase your oxygen uptake, as well as early tempo and sweet spot intervals just below your threshold. These improve running economy and prepare you for the more race-specific workloads ahead. Your first competition-specific long run is also included in the build phase!
Peak Phase: Developing Race Toughness
Now the training becomes highly race-specific. You work at and just below your lactate threshold – exactly the intensity you’ll be racing at during the half marathon.
These intervals build your ability to maintain efficiency even as fatigue sets in. The goal is to hold your target pace under muscular and metabolic stress – known as race toughness.
Pre-Competition Phase: Fine-Tuning & Race Routine
Just before race day, you give your training the final polish. Workouts are still sharp and intense before you enter the well-earned taper phase.
This is also the ideal time to test your personal race routine – such as breakfast, gel intake, pacing, and timing – so everything runs smoothly on race day.
Taper Phase: Less Volume, More Freshness
In the final days before your race, training volume is significantly reduced while moderate intensity remains. The focus is on active recovery and mental preparation.
Your body fully recovers without losing fitness. You’ll arrive at the start line rested, confident, and ready to run your strongest 21.1 km.
Specific Sessions for Half Marathon Demands
The half marathon requires both physiological efficiency and mental resilience: You need to hold a strong pace just below your anaerobic threshold – fast enough to hit a great time, but controlled enough to avoid crashing before the finish. This training plan is designed to meet those exact demands. Every phase includes key sessions that target race-relevant intensities and enhance your ability to combine efficiency, speed endurance, and sustained effort:
Base Phase C: You introduce targeted stimuli with strides to improve technique and cadence, and 4 × 4 min VO₂max intervals to increase your maximal oxygen uptake – essential for developing pace tolerance later on.
Build Phase: Sessions focus on sustaining efforts just below threshold. A typical combination: Fat Max and sweet spot intervals alternated, plus short VO₂max intervals to maintain speed and reactivity.
Peak Phase: Now the workouts are fully race-specific. You’ll do alternating FatMax and threshold intervals – simulating race pace under fatigue and helping you stay consistent under load.
Pre-Competition Phase: The sessions here is threshold intervals with race pace. It prepares you for race dynamics and is ideal for testing your nutrition strategy, gel timing, and pacing under realistic conditions.
Conclusion: Half Marathon Training Plan
The structured design of your half marathon training plan ensures that you’re optimally prepared for race day – systematically, efficiently, and without burnout. Each phase has a clear purpose, helping you progress physically and mentally while targeting the specific demands of the half marathon. With a smart combination of aerobic development, race-specific intensity, and strategic workload management, you’ll hit the start line in top form – ready to deliver your best half marathon performance yet.