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A sub-2 hour half marathon is a major milestone for many runners. Once you’ve completed the distance a few times, you might start wondering whether you could pick up the pace and see that elusive 1:59 on the clock. With the right training, pacing and race-day strategy, it’s an achievable goal, and we’re here to help you make it happen.

The half marathon distance

Half marathons need a new name. The word ‘half’ suggests they’re not a complete race, but running 13.1 miles as fast as you can is a challenge for runners of all abilities. And, as such, your training needs to be structured and taken seriously if you want to get faster and enjoy your race.

The training plans below are designed of runners who may already have a half marathon or two under their belt and are looking to improve their time. If you’re training for your first half marathon, you’ll find more plans here. If you’d rather try your hand at a 10K first, you can find a training plan here.

Training for a sub 2-hour half marathon

All runners will be working on their endurance through their long runs, not only to work on their fitness but to train their bodies to withstand the race distance. In order to properly work on your endurance, it’s important that you run slower than your intended race pace. For half marathon training, long runs should be run at around 20 per cent slower than race pace. So for a 1:45 half marathon, long runs should be at 9:30/mile and for a 2:00 half, around 10:40/mile.

For a half marathon, it’s also important to work on your lactate threshold pace. This is the point at which more lactate forms in your muscles than can be used. As more lactate accumulates in your muscles, running will feel harder and harder. So during training, you should be working on your lactate threshold pace through tempo runs.

Read: How to run a faster half-marathon.

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Picking your sub 2 hour marathon race

If you’re aiming to run a sub 2-hour half marathon, give yourself the best opportunity to run fast and choose a course that doesn’t have hills. You can also look for races that have pacers as there will be a sub 2 hour half marathon pacer to help you run a nice even pace and hit your goal.

Half marathons are much easier for towns and cities to host than marathons, so you should have plenty to choose from and be able to find one close to where you live. You might decide to choose a big city race that involves travelling away so that the buzz of the crowds give you that extra boost to dig deep. Some runners prefer smaller races with fewer runners as they find it easier to run well with more space. Choose which is right for you. A few of our favourites are below.

• • Best spring half marathons
  • Best summer half marathon
  • Best autumn half marathons

Pacing a sub 2-hour half marathon

How you pace a race very much depends on the course. If you’re running a hilly route, it’s best to run to effort and run slower up hills then make your time up on the way down. If you’ve made life a little easier for yourself and picked a flat half marathon, then you should aim to run even splits throughout. Elite runners may make negative splits look easy (and fun) but for most runners, an even pace throughout your race is the simplest and, therefore, most successful option.

To run a sub 2-hour half marathon you’re going to need to average around 9:05 per mile or 5:39 per kilometer. This should give you a 1:59 finish which gives you a buffer of one minute should you need to walk through a drink station or do a very quick loo stop. Practice your pacing in training on some of your tempo runs so that you know what it feels like to run at this speed.

Image: istock/Zorica Nastasic

Choosing your half-marathon training plan

Before you pick a plan, here are some golden rules for training…

• Be flexible: You may find that life and weather gets in the way of your training, so it’s okay to move runs around. Make sure that, for those running five times a week, you don’t put hard sessions on consecutive days. Those following a three-four run schedule should space their runs out as much as possible.
• Avoid ‘catch up’: If you miss a run, don’t try to add it to the following week. Just write it off as a missed run and carry on. Overloading yourself the following week will only lead to injury, illness and burnout.

12-week plan for a sub 2-hour half marathon

Remember: both rest and cross-training are essential for success if you’re following this sub 2-hour 12-week training plan.

This plan requires just three runs a week and includes some interval training to help you focus on speed as well as endurance training as you build up from 3 to 13 miles.

You can view the condensed plan here, or click the button below to download a printable version. You’ll be signing up to receive our weekly Edit newsletter to support you with your training, as well as the odd promotional message, that you can unsubscribe from at any time.

12-week plan for a 1.45 hour half marathon

Follow this 12-week plan if your goal is a 1hr 45mins half marathon. You’ll be running five times a week, which means your body will need rest days in order to adapt to training.

This is a tough one: two interval training sessions, two easy runs and a long run per week. Give it a go if you’re a regular runner looking to beat your PB!

You can view the condensed plan here, or click the button to download a printable version below. You’ll be signing up to receive our weekly Edit newsletter to support you with your training, as well as the odd promotional message, that you can unsubscribe from at any time.

8-week plan for a sub 2 hour/1.45 half

If you’re pushed for time, follow the orange boxes for an eight-week training plan, with a goal of sub-2 hours, on three runs a week. Follow the blue boxes if your goal is sub 1hr 45mins, with five runs a week.

Be prepared that both plans involve some interval training, where you’ll be running race pace (or slightly slower) for short bursts with recovery jogs in between. If your goal is sub 2-hour, you’ll be running seven miles for your first long run and if your goal is 1hr 45mins or below then you’ll be running 8 miles from the first week.

You can view the condensed plan here, or click the button to get a printable version below. You’ll be signing up to receive our weekly Edit newsletter to support you with your training, as well as the odd promotional message, that you can unsubscribe from at any time.

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