Hey, I'm Ben.
Everyday runner who got into running later in life and never looked back. ASICS and Apple partner. ISSA certified running coach. I genuinely love helping new runners get into the sport — because I was you not that long ago. Do the work and you will go faster for longer. Simple as that.
THE HALF MARATHON
BLUEPRINT
12 weeks. No fluff, no filler. Just the stuff that actually gets you to the start line ready to run your best 21.1km.
Phase 1 — Base
Weeks 1-4. Boring? Yes. Skip it? Don't you dare. We are building the engine that carries you through phases 2 and 3. Easy kays only.
Phase 2 — Build
Weeks 5-9. Now we cook. Intervals, tempo runs, long runs up to 18km. This is where you earn it. Not today Satan.
Phase 3 — Taper
Weeks 10-12. Volume drops. You will feel slow and restless. That is the plan working. Sit down, eat your carbs, trust the process.
- 📌80% of your runs should feel embarrassingly easy. If you are huffing on an easy day, slow down. Ego is not a training plan.
- 📌Miss a tempo? Fine, make it up. Miss a long run? Bye Felicia, do not try to cram it in. It does not work like that.
- 📌Sleep is training. 7-9 hours. Not negotiable. Your phone can wait.
- 📌If it hurts (actual pain, not just soreness), take a day. A missed session beats 3 weeks on the couch injured.
- 📌Runs over 75 min need fuel. Every 30-40 min. Practice this in training so race day is not a surprise experiment.
Watch these before you start each phase. Short, specific, no waffle. Links coming as Ben films them.
Click a phase, then each week. Everything you need is in there. No excuses for not knowing what to do.
Find your goal time, get your paces, tattoo them on your brain. All per kilometre. Do not freestyle this.
Easy / Zone 2 Pace
| Goal Finish | Easy Pace | Feel |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1:45 | 5:30–6:00/km | Conversational. Nose breathing possible. |
| 1:45–2:00 | 6:00–6:45/km | Comfortable. Full sentences. |
| 2:00–2:20 | 6:45–7:30/km | Relaxed. HR below 75% max. |
| Over 2:20 | 7:30–8:30/km | Slow feels right. That is the point. |
Tempo Pace
| Goal Finish | Tempo Pace | Feel |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1:45 | 4:30–4:45/km | Comfortably hard. 3–4 word answers. |
| 1:45–2:00 | 4:50–5:10/km | Working but controlled. |
| 2:00–2:20 | 5:20–5:45/km | Breathing elevated. |
| Over 2:20 | 5:50–6:30/km | Sustained push. |
Race Pace
| Goal Finish | Race Pace | 5km Split |
|---|---|---|
| 1:30 | 4:16/km | 21:20 |
| 1:45 | 4:58/km | 24:50 |
| 2:00 | 5:41/km | 28:25 |
| 2:15 | 6:24/km | 32:00 |
| 2:30 | 7:06/km | 35:30 |
Every session explained so you are not just vibing out there with no idea.
Easy Run
Zone 2. Full sentences. Nose breathing if possible. If you are puffing, slow down. Yes, slower than that. This is not a race.
Tempo Run
Comfortably hard. 3-4 word answers only. Sustained 20-40 min. Raises your lactate threshold. Not fun. Very effective.
Intervals 800m
Hard repeats, easy jog recovery. 5x800m at 5k effort, 90 sec between. It hurts. That is literally the point.
Intervals 1600m
Longer repeats at 10k effort. More race-specific. Full 2 min recovery. Do not shortcut the rest, it matters.
Race Pace Run
Sustained at your goal pace. Your body needs to know what this feels like before race day. Practice the feeling.
Long Run
Always easy. Always. Time on feet, not speed. This one also builds the mental toughness. Respect the long run.
Strides
6-8x 20-second accelerations, full recovery between. Bolted onto easy runs. Keeps your legs from forgetting how to go fast.
Deload Week
Volume drops 30%. You will feel like you should do more. You should not. The body adapts during rest, not during the grind. Embrace it.
Set up your HR zones first so we know what we are working with. Then log every run. After each one, grab your story card and go show off.
Flat surface, HR monitor, proper warmup. Takes about 25 min. Do not attempt this cold or you will have a bad time.
- Warmup: 10 min easy jog, then 5 min at moderate effort.
- Run 3x 1 min at maximum effort with 1 min easy jog between each.
- On the final rep, sprint the last 20 seconds.
- The highest HR recorded is your Max HR. Enter it below.
Already know your zones from Garmin, Polar or Whoop? Legend. Enter each zone's upper limit below and we are off.
No zones set yet. Go do the test or enter them manually. We need these to actually make sense of your runs.
Run History
You have done the work. Do not blow it on race morning by being an idiot.
- 🌙Night before: Lay everything out like a flat lay. Normal dinner, nothing wild. Bed on time. Set two alarms because you will not trust just one.
- ☀️Morning: Eat 2-3 hours out. Oats, banana, toast. 500ml water on waking. Coffee only if that is your normal thing. Today is not the day to experiment.
- 🏃Warmup: 10-15 min easy jog plus leg swings and high knees. Skip the static stretching, this is not a yoga class.
- 🚀First 5km: Slower than you think. Every single person who blows up in a half went out too fast. Do not be that person. The race starts at km 15.
- 🍬Fuel: First gel at km 5-6. Then every 30-40 min. Wash it down with water. You practiced this. Use what you practiced.
- 💧Aid stations: Walk through them and drink properly. 10 seconds of walking beats spending 2 minutes on the side of the road choking.
- 🧠Km 15 onwards: This is where races are won. Break it into 2km chunks in your head. Focus on cadence, shoulders down, lean forward. One chunk at a time.
- 🏁Finish line: Empty the tank. All of it. 12 weeks of work for this moment. Go absolutely feral.
- 🥤Within 30 min: protein and carbs. Chocolate milk is genuinely elite recovery food. Eat something real.
- 🛁Days 1-2: walk around, gentle movement, contrast shower if you are fancy. Zero running. Your legs said no.
- 😴Days 3-5: sleep like it is your job. Your body is rebuilding right now. Let it.
- 📅Back to running: easy only, after 7-10 days minimum. Most post-race injuries happen from coming back too fast. Bye Felicia, take the rest.