First, hold a mirror up to the final three weeks of either of my advanced programs. That is exactly how you want to train (or not train) for the next several weeks. You might call this a reverse taper. Respect the mirror. It will help you rejuvenate your body and (sometimes more important) your mind. Tuesdays offer a variety of speed workouts – hills, short intervals at 5k pace, longer intervals at 10k pace, and some mile repeats at race pace. Thursdays feature increasingly long tempo runs – 60 minutes at their peak. The amount of work isn’t deadly, but it’s fairly intense.

Traditionalist: this is someone looking for an established, traditional plan with no particular innovation and novelty.

8K Training

Racing: Consider doing a couple of races to familiarize yourself with the sport. I have suggested a 5-K race at the end of Week 6 and a 10-K race at the end of Week 9. If you can’t find races at those distances on the weeks suggested, feel free to modify the schedule. Try shorter events. Races at 5-K, 10-K and half-marathon distances still are worthy of your attention. They can serve as speedwork. In this article, I’ll be your personal guide, leading you from the couch to the starting line of a half marathon and even crossing that glorious finish line.

Hal Higdon is a Contributing Editor for Runner’s World and is the magazine’s longest lasting writer, having contributed an article to RW’s second issue in 1966. He also is the author of more than three dozen books, including Marathon: The Utimate Training Guide and the recently published Hal Higdon’s Half Marathon Training. In 2003, the American Society of Journalists and Authors awarded Hal its Career Achievement Award, the highest honor given to writer members. Marathon training plans differ but at least partly because there is no consensus on what is best. I think however there are some key attributes to consider. What's the difference between the Intermediate 1 and the Intermediate 2 Marathon Training Programs? A little bit of mileage, that's all. Runners who choose...

Other

HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED TO TRAIN TO RUN 10K? If you possess a good level of fitness (because of participation in other sports) you probably could run a half dozen miles on very little training. That might include running shorter races, such as a 5K or an 8K. The Galloway plan could reduce your training stress significantly, but if you're not used to Walking Breaks you will have to ease into this gently. While walking may seem trivial compared with running, the transition between the two states can cause some unexpected stress. The terms used in the training schedule are somewhat obvious, but let me explain what I mean anyway. Depending on the severity of your problem it may be better to give up on your chosen race, and restart your training cycle, targeting a later date. To give you an idea of what Hal Higdon’s half marathon training plans are like, here’s a sample week (week 7) from his Intermediate 2 plan: