How to run a half marathon faster

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Just finished your first half marathon? Or maybe you’re on your 50th? Either way, it’s likely that you’ll want your next race to be your best yet! In running every millisecond counts, so whether you just want to knock a few seconds off your current personal best, or complete your first half marathon in under 2 hours (or less!), we’ve put together a few top tips for how to run your next race faster.

A change of pace

It might seem like running faster, harder and for longer throughout your training would be the best way to improve your pace, but this is actually not the case! You should vary the pace of your runs throughout your training; some should be more challenging speed runs, while others should include slower recovery runs to avoid injury. Slower, longer runs will help to build the strength needed to cover the distance of a half marathon too.

Tapering

Your training for a half marathon will span over several weeks or even months, but as you get closer to race day you should start to taper down the intensity and number of you are completing. It’s a good idea to start tapering down about a week before your race, during this time stick to shorter tempo runs and don’t throw anything new into the mix. Avoiding injury and exhaustion on race day will certainly help to keep those times down!

Get into the right mindset

As much as running a half marathon will push you physically, it will also challenge you mentally. Getting into a positive mindset when you are feeling the burn isn’t always easy, but it can make a real difference to your performance. Try to break the course down so that you think of it as a series of checkpoints or landmarks; running a few 3 mile stretches sounds much more appealing than one long 10 mile stretch, doesn’t it? Most importantly, run with confidence – you can do it! It’s easy to compare yourself to other runners, but just remember that everyone is running their own race.