The Half Marathon is approximately 21.0975 kilometres long – half the distance of its bigger sibling, the marathon – and is recognized as a road running event. It emerged in the 1960s and the first official Half Marathon Race “Route du Vin Half” was founded in 1961. Before, the event didn’t have the original distance but in 1995 the length was standardized. As it grew more popular, the “World athletics Road Running Championships” were established in 1992 which led the way for competitive Half Marathon running while it is not part of the World Athletics Championships or Olympic programmes. It is also a very fast growing distance right now as it requires less amount of training compared to a marathon while still being a respectable and hard distance.

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A Guideline for Half Marathon training
If you want to run a Half Marathon for the first time you should take at least 12 weeks of training into account before you actually attend the race in order to be prepared and not be frustrated afterwards. There are multiple types of workouts you should consider to build a well-rounded form:

• The first one would be Strength Training to reduce the risk of injury. You should implement one day per week where you either do strength sessions with weights or your body weight where you don’t run but do running-focused exercises. On rest days you should also focus on active recovery where you stretch your muscles as to improve your mobility
• HIIT (High-intensity interval training) are meant to push you to your limits and therefore improve your aerobic endurance and can be done perfectly on the track as you can measure the distances easier there. For inspiration you can take a look inside the other articles for athletics where different Intervals are presented to you or you can just look them up in the internet. Don’t forget to warm up 10 minutes before the actual workout with an easier tempo which is healthier for your heart and also improves your performance. They should be included every week.
• Middle-Distance Runs (5-10km) that are run with a higher pace will give you an impression of the feeling you will have in the race and make you adapt to the physical and mental demands of the race. You can add them to a few weeks of your whole training plan.
• Long Runs help you to cover higher distances like the Half Marathon more comfortably. You should run them in a low pace which you can keep up the whole time, start with 3-5km and end up with at least 14km at the end of the training plan for your long runs so your joints and tendons are used to the high distance. You should do them every week at least once
• You should also include Recovery runs where you do very easy runs as to still hold your endurance while regaining strength after hard sessions
• Rest Days are of course another aspect that shouldn’t be forgotten when running and you should really try to recover here as your body will need breaks to regain energy so you don’t burn out in the course of the preparation.
• Cross Training contains a mix of different exercises, for example swimming or cycling which strengthens your muscles, improves endurance and takes off pressure on your joint. Here you should again focus on moderate intensity as running is still your main focus

I won’t give you a complete training plan here as everybody has their own starting point, different goals and ambitions. If you want to have a completely structured training plan for a certain amount of weeks you can look it up in the internet where there are plenty of different free plans for both beginners and intermediate runners.

Nutrition

When preparing for a half marathon, nutrition is crucial as you need a lot of energy over the course of the weeks. You should focus on unprocessed foods and make sure that you cover the three most important macronutrients: Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats. Here you should aim 55% of your calories are Carbohydrates, 25% are Proteins and 20% are Fats. But don’t take these numbers too exact as this is just a recommendation. There are a lot of tracking apps that can help you measure the exact nutrients.

• Protein should be consumed in small portions distributed over the whole day (20g per meal) and healthy foods that contain these are: poultry, fish, lean meat, eggs, soy, Greek yoghurt, cottage cheese, etc.
• For Carbohydrates, you should concentrate on complex Carbohydrates: vegetables, whole grains, legumes, fruits, potatoes, etc. as they are digested slower and don’t cause your insulin to spike which can result in too much fatigue.
• You shouldn’t neglect fats as they can save up a lot of energy and absorb vitamins. Foods like nuts, coconuts, avocados, fish or olive oil can are good choices to include into your diet.
• Electrolyte Gels or protein bars can provide necessary energy for your runs or the race day itself. Just experiment with different ones in your training and observe how they work the best for you. On your race day you should have everything figured out as that’s not the day to experiment!
• Stay hydrated!

Top Half Marathon Runners

The first ever listed Half Marathon world record by World Athletics dates back to June 1965 in Freckleton, UK. Ron Hill accomplished the race in a time of 1:05.44. Very recently, the current WR has been set up by Ethopian athlete Yomif Kejelcha. On the 27th October 2024 he only needed 57:30 to run the 21.0975 kilometers. For the women, Letesenbet Gidey , also from Ethopia and again in Valencia established a new world record on the 24th October 2024 as she could master the distance in 1:02.52.

Half Marathon Nutrition: What To Eat During Training
How to Train for a Half Marathon
Half Marathon
Half marathon – Wikipedia