How Fit Do You Have To Be To Run A Half Marathon?
Running a half marathon is a fantastic challenge for anyone new to running who wants to push themselves. It’s also a great distance for those who run often and want to push themselves hard over a longer period. Half Marathons are the most popular race distance with 1000’s on offer across the globe with the worlds largest being the Great North Run. A great place to sign up for a half marathon is at Lets Do This
At Coopah, we create and help athletes like you to complete a half marathon. To date, we’ve had over 1000 people complete our plans with over 95% achieving personal bests. We’re proud but we want to help 10 million people so keep reading on. This blog is for those thinking about running a half marathon and want to know how fit they need to be to run one. At Coopah, we are here to help get all runners ready for a half marathon.
Getting started
One of the main challenges beginner runners have when starting their half marathon training is finding a plan which is personalised. Many half marathon training plans tend to be generic PDF’s or PDFs. When running your first half marathon, you want a plan which is adaptable and listens to you after every run. Coopah knows this and thanks to our smart AI, we are able to adapt your runs based on your performance to ensure the plan fits you and only you.
How do I get Half Marathon fit?
Running a half marathon is no easy feat and getting to half marathon fitness is something you will be really proud of, let alone all that kudos you will get from your friends, family and colleagues. It’s important to start out by just enjoying running, you want to be able to come back from runs and really be smiling and be excited to go out for the next run. Once you are at that point and can run for 30 minutes easily, we recommend you download a plan which incorporates speed work to help you get fitter faster. This not only helps you get fit but it also means your running is always different so you don’t get bored.
I can’t run 13.1 miles
Let’s talk about running anxiety. This isn’t spoken about enough. Our co-founder, Pete has done more half marathons than he knows but still gets anxiety before every run. Can he actually run 13.1 miles, what if he can’t. It is all normal. The key here is to know that you’ve followed your half marathon training schedule and you’ve got this. Having these types of questions is not just in your mind but in everyone’s mind, even the elite athletes think like this.
To overcome this challenge, think about your training, review your plan, think about those great runs and know that you have done everything you can to absolutely smash your half marathon. Another good tip, think about that finish line celebration and visualise you crossing the finish!
In conclusion, everyone no matter your current fitness is able to complete a half marathon. It is key to follow a personalised and adaptable training schedule whilst ensuring that training plan incorporates a range of sessions such as speed, tempo and long runs.
The Coopah app was developed to help runners achieve more and also create a community to discuss any questions you might have during training. Trust us, runners love talking about running and very often your family might not, so come join the community today and let’s chat about your first half marathon.
For more information either email us on run@coopah.com or visit www.coopah.com
You’ve got this!