One of my MFP friends is doing Hal higdon's half marathon training, I am interested in it also (heady goals!). Her name's rubysparkle on here, I'm sure if you message her she'll give you her opinion so far!

Hal higdon is a great program.

If you are planning a race well out in advance one suggestion would be to build up such that you go the distance(or longer) in one of your training runs. I think it makes a world of difference with your mental confidence.

Yup... this man knows his running! I'd go even further in training than the event itself. You'll end up with the best possible result. When I train for a half marathon (21Km) I usually train to run 24-25 Km... it helps overcome fatigue later in the race. When you train beyond the finish line, you usually have a little extra in the tank and start to blow past people at mile 11 or 12.

I'm doing the half novice level Hal program! My race is in March
Used him for 10K and it worked out well for me. Good luck to you!

I'll add my vote for Hal Higdons' plan. That one seems to be the consensus vote.

I'm currently training for my first half in May. I'm not going to start Hal's until 12 weeks out, but I'm working on speed work and strength training during the week, and doing along run on the weekends. Not a bad idea to get a good mileage base (even if it is slow) before you dive in to the program.

Good luck!

i used hal higdon's half training- novice. worked pretty well for me.
i think you just find a programme that suits you, but the important thing is to just do it. don't slack too much, and it will all be fine.

I'm definitely going to check this program out - have been thinking about training for a half marathon in 2012 (started running mid-2011). Thanks for the recommendations, really helpful!

Nice comparison, thanks ashimon.

I'm using the RunKeeper training plan, which I like because it has runs by distance rather than by time (which is better for me as I'm a slow runner) and it has two 14 mile runs in there. There're some plans that only have you running up to 10 miles in training, and that didn't sit well with me, I need to know that I can cover the distance and my 12 and 13 mile runs have been really hard for the last few miles, I can't imagine hitting that for the first time on race day.

I'm doing Hal Higdon's as well for my March 11 half. I looked at the Runner's World beginner program but it was a little advanced for me:

http://www.runnersworld.com/rwdcaspdf/HalfMarathon.pdf

I just started running in August, have only done one 5k and am currently at 4.5 miles max. You are more advanced than I am so it might work for you. In any case, the training tips on the first 2 pages are very helpful.

The only thing that makes me nervous about the HH and RW programs are that they only train to 10 miles. I may push a little farther than that in my own training. People talking about adrenaline taking over in the last 3 miles, but I'm worried in my case that exhaustion will take over instead.

Hi everyone, I've ran 5k's for over 10years and but stopped after my surgery that's going on 2yrs ago. So, I'm back to trying the 5k I did three this year. The first one was a Mud Run and the second one was at my sister's where she lives and the third one was in my home town. Now I'm getting ready to do another one in 2012 it's a Warrior Dash and pretty excited about it. But, my most challenging one is coming in June it's a 1/2 a marathon. So, I'm here to get as much motivation as possible because I'm scared to death about this one. I don't want to be last and I feel like I run like a snail at this time. The longest time I did on a 5k is 39mins and now I have to add an additional 10 miles to my 3, scary.

So, I will try to run at least 6 days a week not sure about the miles. I run at least 2-3 miles a day as of now but will be increasing for this 1/2 marathon.

Wish me a lot of luck I'm going to need it.

I used the HH Novice program for my first half. I think my longest run was 12 miles? That was back in November, and am now looking at the intermediate plan for a race I'm considering in March.