The difficulty for half marathon training is that most people who are taking part in a half marathon are people who have very little time outside of work during the week and may also be looking after children in the evenings and at the weekend. Therefore any half marathon training schedules need to be kept as simple as possible.

Elements of the Half Marathon training programme

1. The runs themselves - see below.

2. Diet and hydration

Ensuring you are eating the correct things to refuel your body and keeping it hydrated for it to be able to perform to its maximum in a half marathon.

Three Main components of half marathon running

1. Aerobic long runs

These are what will give you the stamina and resistence to be able to complete the whole distance. Due to the longer distances and higher risk of injury it is probably best that some of these runs are completed on softer, less gruelling surfaces such as grass.

2. Faster runs

This is to try and push yor body to its maximum and should ideally be done on a 400m running track. The best kind of running for this is fartlek running, whereby you would sprint for say 200m and then jog for 200m and repeat a number of times.

3. Recovery time

This may sound daft to the novice half marathon runner, but this is perhaps the most important component. This is where you have a day wedged in within your running week whereby you rest and allow your body to recover from the sessions of the previous days. This is very important if you are not to suffer from serious fatigue or even burn out, from half marathon training.

Personal Experience

I myself have done a few half marathons and I know how physically and mentally demanding it can be both during the training stage and during the race itself. I know from painful experience if you don't train properly then you can be in big trouble during the race.

A half marathon might not be a full one but don't underestimate it or you could pay a dear price.

If anyone as had any experiences with their half marathon training and racing then please share your comments below as I would love to hear from you.