Half Marathon Training Plan For Triathletes - 12 Weeks

This training plan is designed for the intermediate/advanced triathlete looking to race a Half Marathon (13.1 mi) or to simply improve upon their long course run leg. This plan can also work for a runner looking to incorporate some cross training into their weekly training schedule or an athlete that wants to boost their run fitness, but unable to run 6 or 7 days / week due to injury/schedule/etc.

This plan assumes the athlete has a decent amount of base aerobic fitness. The athlete may have recently completed some base aerobic training OR just raced an 'A' triathlon and is now looking to do a late season running race. Prior to beginning the training plan, the athlete should be training consistently and should be able to comfortably run 8 - 10 miles at an aerobic/Z2 pace.

This plan has four (4) main weekly runs: 2 Aerobic, 1 Race Pace, 1 Speedwork. In addition to the run workouts, each week typically contains 1 Swim, 1 Bike and 2 Strength workouts.

The Swim and Bike workouts can be modified to allow for more/less swim and/or bike volume. The key is to not do anything that would sacrifice the quality of the run workouts. If you find yourself struggling with the Run workouts, ask yourself if you are doing too much swim/bike/strength and adjust accordingly.

The Training Zones and paces referenced can be found via one of the many on-line running calculators using previous race results or a field/threshold test. You can also use Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) - a scale of 1 (very very easy) to 20 (very very hard):

Zone: Name (RPE) - Description
Z1: Recovery (6 - 8) - Very Light
Z2: Extensive Endurance (9 - 11) - Light
Z3: Intensive Endurance (12 - 14) - Somewhat Hard
Z4: Sub Threshold (15) - Hard
Z5a: Super Threshold/LT (16) - Hard
Z5b: Anaerobic Endurance (17) - Very Hard
Z5c: Power (19 - 20) - Very, Very Hard

NOTE: These Zones are based upon those in Joe Friel's The Triathlete's Training Bible