Doing some quick math you would have to run at a 6:24 km pace to achieve your goal. Right now you can't run 9k at a pace even close to this goal and you have 12 weeks to train.

My advice is to not focus on the pace. Can you even run the full HM distance? That's your first step. Then you need to increase your weekly mileage over a long period of time followed by another round of HM training that includes speedwork at least once a week.

If you are a new runner you can achieve dramatic speed increases over the first couple years of training (assuming the training is proper). After that it gets harder. A lot harder.

Good luck with your race and your training.

jbyers877 wrote: »

Training for my first hm as well. I know the goal should be just to finish, but what would an acceptable pace be? Don't want to find barriers down or water stations closed or anything like that.

The race website will tell you if there is a time limit. If your HM is held at the same time as a marathon, you'll get more time. Usually anything under 3 hours for a HM is fine. Most races assume you can cover 4 miles an hour. Even when races have time limits, usually you can finish the race, but you'd have to do it on sidewalks rather than the street. Water tables and such are likely to be based on 15 minute miles.

Not having a time goal is a way to avoid disappointment. That doesn't mean you shouldn't have some idea how fast to run. For a first, base it on your usual long run easy pace. If that feels super easy, then increase the pace midway. If you're still feeling good at 10 miles, speed up again. It is better to finish strong and happy than to go out too fast and fall apart before the end.

Good run. How was it? All go to plan?

kubnaja wrote: »

Thx, I will try 17km next time, and if I complete this then I will try 19km. I supose if I can run 19km a can complete hm?

You're already there. With a proper taper you could do it in 2 weeks.

I highly recommend putting cutback weeks in your training (these are built into HM plans). Then continue to build up to 18-19km.

Good luck.

Are you only running once a week?

I still think you can run it but if you really want to hit your goal in the future a good plan is a must. I'm not sure what the purpose is of the workouts you are doing but I doubt it is useful for running distances at faster paces (I'm not saying it is not useful for something, just not faster half marathons).

The best way to train for running races is to run!

The halhigdon plans that were linked above are a solid place to start. Any serious plan will have you running at minimum four days a week.

kubnaja wrote: »

What you suggest?

Assuming your goal is to run a HM at a faster pace you will need to run more often. HIIT is not really useful for distance runners. Cross training with weights or doing other cardio (biking, rowing, etc) can be helpful if not done too often.

The Higdon plans are good to get you to the finish. I would start with them and when you are ready (after consistently running for 6-12 months) you can move to more aggressive plans (like one from Jack Daniels - my favorite).