Your Cardiff Half Marathon Training Guide
Courtesy of
Training schedule
Perfect for your fridge door! Whether you're a complete beginner or a half-marathon oldhand, we've got the right schedule for you.
Half-marathon Solutions
The half-marathon is a great distance goal for beginners and those looking to either bolster their stamina for shorter races or boost their endurance for a full 26.2-mile challenge down the road. Here are our top half-marathon articles.
Q+As
You're sure to have lots of questions before and throughout your training. Here are some of the most common ones (along with the answers of course) ...
Is it okay to move from 10K to half-marathon?
I only have one pace. How can I speed up?
What can I do to improve my kick at the end of a race?
Predict your pace
Calculate your pace - use one race time to predict another, or see how fast you'd need to run to hit a target time.
Training foundations
It's wise to follow a training schedule (see above), but whether you're a beginner or seasoned racer, here's a round-up of the key ingredients of training:
- First, if you're a complete beginner to running, you'd be best off with our BIG Beginners' Index - full of advice and basic get-started programmes.
- Otherwise, start with the three key sessions of any runner's week.
- Then, take a look at our basic guide to speedwork (once you're running regularly, this will make the single greatest difference to your race).
- If you've wisely invested in a heart-rate monitor to control your training effort, our introduction to heart rate training will come in handy.
- On top of that, 39 great speed sessions, from the simple to the murderous, and...
- ... race-specific speedwork (not for beginners!)
- And a guide to doing your weekly long run right.
- Finally, if you want to see how ordinary runners can move their training to its next level, Hard Training, with Mike Gratton, is a fascinating read.
Race day help
It may seem like a long way off right now but the time will fly by once you start training. Here's how to make sure the big day goes like clockwork:
- Easy does it - How to ease down for your race - The Magical, No-Mystery Taper
- Race-day bliss - Eight keys to racing perfection
- Race-day pacing strategies
- Small changes that work - 29 simple strategies for smarter racing and training: each with a calculated time saving!
- Avoid these mistakes! ... with our 'what went wrong' article
- Add a burst - How to throw in a sneaky spurt of speed mid-race, whatever your pace
More About Everything!
More about choosing shoes and kit
More about beating injury, nutrition and staying healthy
From the horses mouth
Need advice? Want to share a story? Or just fancy eavesdropping on hundreds of messages of running chat every day? Drop into the Runner's World forums!