Training Plan - Half Marathon

by Roberto
(Indonesia)

Hi Nicole

Robert Here

I wanna ask some question about this MAF training
but this detail about me

1'm 30 years old, already can walking and little bit run for 10 km for the first time last week with pace 10 min / km. i also doing intermittent fasting for my weight loss. today my weight are 97 kg, before is 107 kg in april.

it is oke if i walk to keep my HR bellow the MAF rate ?
i want to do half marraton in october, could you suggest me how many time that need to running in MAF dan Interval run ?

hope you can help me

thank you so much for your help

Nicole's reply:

Hi Roberto, thanks for your question.
MAF training is all about keeping your heart rate within a set limit and if that means you have to walk or run/walk, then that is absolutely fine. You will find that as your aerobic system develops, you will be able to run more and more. It sounds like you are making great progress already which is great.

That is great that you have set yourself a running goal but I would say that a half marathon is quite a big goal if you are new to running. You might want to consider just finishing it and staying in good shape (i.e. no injuries) rather than setting a time goal.

For the training I would suggest that you do at least 80% of your runs/walks within your MAF range and then maybe once a week you could do something a bit faster. Decide how many days a week that you can train (perhaps aim for 4-5 days) then do all of them within your MAF range except perhaps one day you could do something a little faster. One of your MAF days should also be a slightly longer run than your usual so that you get used to going the distance for the half marathon. Every 3 weeks, make sure to have a slightly easier week to give your body time to rest and adapt and also make sure to have at least one full rest day a week. Each week (apart from your easy week), increase the time of your long run by a 5-10 minutes if you feel able to. Try and do some strength work too (core particularly) a couple of times a week.

Best of luck and please let me know you get on!