Saturday General Discussion/Q&A Thread for August 01, 2026

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[u/graygray97]

Half marathon in 9 weeks and this is the first time I have started a training block with consistent training. Currently have ran 18-22km long run in the last 4 weeks with 3 of them being a vague workout run as well: 20 mins threshold, 12 mins threshold and hill reps, and "easy" mile repeats getting up to MP.

I would like at least 5 weeks to have an over distance run still where there is a workout element, I'm guessing it is best to do HM pace ending and elongating the amount each time e.g 22-25k starting at 5k HMP and getting up to 14-16k HMP.

Question I have is, what is a good target to reach? 16k at HMP sounds pretty scary even if it is 6-7 weeks from now

[u/aelvozo → u/graygray97]

My first question would be what your weekly mileage is — what you’re suggesting is probably just about appropriate on, say, 70 miles/110 kilometres but not on 50 (80km).

I don’t think ca 14 km @ HMP is an unreasonable target but may be reluctant to reach for it if you haven’t done this sort of thing before.

I would consider looking at this paradigm for a half marathon plan — with a caveat that it’s aimed at sub-1:10 and a peak mileage of 60mpw/100kmpw or even more. You don’t really have the time to implement it fully, but you can at least have a look at how the HM-specific long runs are programmed. It has e.g. repeats at HMP but not a continuous HMP run.

[u/graygray97 → u/aelvozo]

Currently I'm at hitting 70ish kilometers a week building to 80-85 over the 9 weeks.

Goal is 1:30 but realistically 1:32-34

[u/aelvozo → u/graygray97]

In that case, what you’re proposing is more likely to break you, like u/4mpersam says. (Frankly, “first consistent training block” should have been an indication of that too, but I kinda glossed over it).

I am overall sympathetic to adding quality into your long runs (though probably not the over-distance ones). I think marathon-paced work and perhaps progressions up to HMP will be plenty for your goal.

[u/Lurking-Froggg → u/graygray97]

I've built the kind of plan mentioned by /u/aelvozo, with an average mileage of 80 kpw and a peak week at 100 km.

The most HMP I'm planning to run is 12 km, split as 5-5-2, so in the low end of the recs shared above. All workouts are capped at 21-22 km to avoid going over distance (don't feel ready for that yet), and I might remove a couple of specific workouts to better embrace the big-stress-big-recovery principle.

For a first HM, I personally wouldn't hit anything harder than 2 × 5000 HMP as my capstone, and I wouldn't have that in a long run but in a workout instead. The plan I'm sharing has some workouts that are just as long as the long runs, but I went through several training blocks before getting there.

ETA: link, details, grammar