Half Marathons

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Half marathon - the marathon's little brother

Before runners attempt a marathon, the half marathon is usually the first major intermediate goal. At 21.0975 km, the half marathon is significantly shorter than a marathon, but completing a half marathon is an important step for the psyche. In contrast to its big brother, the marathon, the half marathon is becoming increasingly popular in the running community. There are many reasons for this. The preparation time for a half marathon is significantly shorter than for a marathon and the course is also very challenging at over 20 kilometres. Perfect for all runners who want to complete a challenging running event but don't want to face the ordeal of a marathon.

Half marathon competitions have been held since 1970 and the discipline is becoming increasingly popular. The distance to be covered is 21.1 km, which usually leads directly through city centres. They are often organised as part of marathon events, but there are now also some half marathons that are held as a completely separate event.

As the strain on the body during a marathon is extremely high, the number of participants in half marathons is increasing from year to year. As a recreational athlete and less experienced competitive runner, a half marathon is also a challenge for your body. If you set yourself a target time that you want to achieve, the preparation is just as demanding.

If you are an experienced runner, then a half marathon is very good training to prepare you for a marathon. You are also exposed to competitive conditions and can use this as a kind of dress rehearsal to identify weak points.

The best training for a half marathon

To optimally prepare for the half marathon, you should start training early. The preparation time is of course much shorter than for a marathon, but you should still start training 10 to 12 weeks before the race.

There are numerous training plans that tell you exactly what you need to pay attention to. Many aspects are similar to the training plan for a marathon and are taken over in a more toned-down form. Firstly, it is important that you set yourself a target time in which you want to complete the half marathon. Make sure you set yourself a realistic and achievable time. You can easily calculate this from your running times from 5 or 10 km runs.

Multiply your 5 km time by 4.667 or your 10 km time by 2.223 and you will get a realistic target time for your half marathon.

You should run a half marathon at the aerobic-anaerobic threshold. This means that your body's oxygen consumption and oxygen intake are just about balanced. This threshold is an important factor in successfully completing the half marathon. In the preparation phase for your half marathon, you should therefore mainly do tempo endurance runs to raise this threshold. In other words, the aim of the training is to raise your body's threshold for when oxygen consumption is higher than oxygen intake. 

Tempo endurance runs also get your body used to fatigue at high speeds and can also prepare you well mentally for the competition. This means you don't have to worry about not reaching your target pace.
However, it is also very important to give your body sufficient recovery time. Rest days during the training phase are just as important as the training sessions.

If you are running a half marathon for the first time, then it makes sense to choose a running event where there are many runners at the start who are not professionals. The Berlin Half Marathon, for example, is a good competition for this. Here, many people run in the slower time range and there are also many spectators along the route who cheer on the slower runners and the route doesn't look like it's already empty. This spurs you on and you are sure to run your best time.

In our guide to marathon training for beginners, you will find lots of helpful tips on training, nutrition and equipment.

If you have already taken part in a half marathon, please rate this race to help other running enthusiasts choose the right half marathon for them.