Half Marathon Training Tips for Beginners – Best Running Advice – Prevention.com

It starts with a song. Run for one full song. That’s your first goal, your first milestone along the way to running a half marathon, a.k.a. 13.1 miles.

You really can do this. I’m a good person to ask, because I used to hate running. Remember that Presidential Physical Fitness Test, the one that Obama phased out in 2013 (bless him)? It was my least favorite day of school. I’d slog through all four laps around the track, which amounted to one mile. Other kids would lap me once, sometimes twice. It was embarrassing, which only made me even more “allergic” to running.

Years later, I became a poor college student. I wanted to stay in shape, but it needed to be cheap. And running was free. I started by running down the block and back—not even a full song. Still not much of a distance runner after graduating and moving to New York City in 2010, I kept at it, either outside or on the treadmill. Never more than a mile or two. Then, one winter, a friend wanted a group of us to sign up for New York Road Runners’ annual Midnight Run on New Year’s Eve—a 4-mile distance. I’d never run that far in my entire life, but I didn’t want to be left out, so I signed up. Crossing that first finish line was the most exhilarating feeling—I’d just done this thing, with others, that felt tangible and significant. I was proud.

I signed up for my first half marathon in 2014. By then, I was an editor at a prominent health and fitness magazine, and the editor-in-chief at the time liked to swing by the fitness editors’ pod and talk shop—mostly, they exchanged tips for their shared interest in triathlons. That editor created an environment where it was cool to talk about athletics, and as a young, eager staffer, I wanted to be part of the office cool crowd. I wasn’t drawn to a triathlons, but a half marathon? That felt big but not out of reach. And it wasn’t. It isn’t for you, either.

Four half marathons later, here’s what I know will get you to the finish line feeling strong:

1. Sign up for a race.

As in pay to register, don’t just mark it on your calendar. But choose one that’s more than 12 weeks away. Three months out, you should be logging around six miles a week—a couple 2-3 mile runs. Depending on how terrifying that sounds, give yourself 4-8 weeks to get to that point. I call it “pre-training.”

2. Follow a professional’s plan.

I use this one from Runner’s World. But think of it as a first draft—something you can revise as needed. If the weather is bad, or if you have an early meeting on the day it says to run 5 miles, you can and should switch things around! Run on the days when you’ll have the best energy, and the best weather. Just make sure you’re hitting that weekly mileage total. That, and…

3. Do the damn strength training.

Building strong muscles will help you charge up hills and prepare you to go longer distances. I especially like the leg days on Jillian Michaels’ My Fitness App, where you can input any equipment you have at home or at your gym (or ask for no-equipment workouts). If you have a resistance band, we also have a bunch of great moves here.

4. Know that you can walk.

I don’t know why, but when I trained for my first couple half marathons, I thought I had to run each distance on my training plan without stopping. My former twenty-something body somehow made that work up to a certain point, but it derailed my efforts to accomplish my longest and most important training runs. You. Can. Walk. During. Any. Of. Your. Runs. Once I realized that, the second half of my training plan felt more manageable. Roberto Mandje, an Olympic distance runner and senior manager of runner training and education at New York Road Runners, recommends the run/walk method. Say you have a 20-minute run coming up. “Break it down into bite-size,” he says, “so run for 5 minutes, walk for 2 minutes, and carry on like that until you get to 20.” As your body acclimates to running, you can shorten your walk time and lengthen your run time as you go.

5. Tackle any “side effects,” but don’t let them hold you back.

The more you run, the more you sweat. And the more I sweat, the more my back breaks out. Ugh, gross, I know. Bacne is notoriously stubborn, so I went to a dermatologist, who wrote me a prescription for Tretinoin, a topical Retin-A that cleared things up with regular use. I also tried SkinSpirit’s Back “Facial” Treatment, where you’ll get all the benefits of a facial—cleansing, exfoliating, and even extractions!—but on your back. My point is, when minor aches, pains, or bacne inevitably crop up during your training, seek help from professionals rather than use them as excuses to veer off course.

6. Nutrition really matters.

It may take some experimentation to learn which foods fuel you best and make you feel charged (versus cramped) on your runs. I have a sensitive stomach in the mornings—when I also prefer to run—so I usually skip coffee and just hydrate with water unless I know I’ll have at least an hour or so before I hit the road. Then I fuel up with an apple or banana with peanut butter, plus a protein bar if I feel like I want more. After my run, I eat a full, proper meal of whatever I’m craving.

7. Train your brain.

Once I get about halfway through my training plan, the first couple miles feel hard in a completely new way. I used to spend them agonizing over how I felt: Is that pain in my foot plantar fasciitis? Can I really go six more miles? I had to learn to manage the thoughts in my head. So, when I found myself thinking about the daunting task ahead of me, I’d work to bring myself back to the present moment. Breathing in two three, out two three. Distract yourself until you kill those first couple miles, and soon thereafter you’ll settle into your running pace and be able to go the distance.

8. Do the damn stretches, before and afterward.

This will eventually become a procrastination tactic and you’ll decide you absolutely need five or 10 whooole minutes of goood, quuuality stretching before your run. The other thing is, you don’t need to be fancy about it. There are lots of bougie recovery businesses emerging around cryotherapy and handheld drill-looking things. I’ve tried them, and in my experience, they don’t do much—certainly not enough to warrant paying hundreds of dollars. The most effective recovery tool I own is still this $35 foam roller (and here’s how to use it).

9. Run with your gear.

You’ll hear plenty of runners talk about their favorite energy gels (mine is Gu’s chocolate coconut), and in spontaneous moments with your phone in-hand you’ll Google new sneakers. Whatever you plan to have with you or on you for race day, wear it ahead of time. Note how it feels, what you like and don’t like. Oh, and a tip within a tip: Tuck some toilet paper into your pocket or running belt. Those Porta Potties along the route aren’t exactly overflowing with Charmin.

10. If you’re traveling, stay somewhere nice.

We’ve made it to my favorite tip. Virtually every article like this will give you the basics: follow a plan, stretch, strength train, hydrate, fuel. You’ve done all this work—at least a quarter of a year!—for this one day. (Two or three hours, really.) Make that day about you. My most recent half marathon was in Austin, and I was graciously hosted by the Fairmont. I had ample room to spread out my things, and there was zero worry of a kid or pet barreling in and chewing up my bib. Small things like nightly turn-down service and rose-scented body lotion made me feel relaxed. When I woke up at 5 a.m. on race day with a headache, a very kind bellman brought me Aleve (something an Airbnb can’t do). After my race, I came back to a freshly made bed and had a massage booked downstairs, which was so fabulous that by the time it was over, my calves didn’t feel sore. At all. It was weird. So whether you’re coming in from out of town or booking a staycation, it’s worth a relatively small monetary investment after all the time you’ve put toward this major achievement.

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Devin is Prevention.com’s executive editor and her writing has been nominated for a Hearst Excellence Award three years in a row.