How to Run a Faster Half Marathon: 5 Things I Did to Break

Over the course of 2023, I focused on the half marathon distance and reduced my PR from 1:24 in the beginning of the year to 1:19 in October. Here are the five biggest strategies I used to get my time down.
0:00 - Intro
1:17 - Strategy One: Long-Term Planning
3:48 - Strategy Two: High Mileage
5:57 - Strategy Three: Race Pace Workouts
10:48 - Strategy Four: Faster Pace Workouts
13:11 - Strategy Five: Gear & Fuel
19:00 - Tying It Together
Midlife Runner KZbin: / @midliferunner
Andrew's Strava: / strava
Andrew's IMDB (who knew? I guess it checks out): www.imdb.com/name/nm2129075/
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[@MidLifeRunner]

Just listened to this on my Sunday 2 hour run. Love it! I appreciate the intel. Higher mileage here we come (and more race pace and faster )

[@supwell]

for sure - and how's the race recovery going? that's a quick turnaround!

[@MidLifeRunner]

@@supwellyes, a bit of a gamble. I did it last year too after the Austin 3M half marathon. My body was more trashed from the half with a lot of downhill than I was in Houston. I think my limitation was aerobic conditioning more than physical- so I’m going to get a lot of slower time on feet to up the mileage w/ some threshold. Going to put a video out Friday with 2024 race plan. Great to see your channel taking off! Selfishly, a video on how you balance work, dad life, running while consistently posting to KZbin is a video I’d love to see

[@denisyeo122]

Thanks for sharing 👍, will implement some of your plans into my marathon training 😊.

[@bettinapoulos7891]

Great tips here !!! Thank u

[@supwell]

you're very welcome! let me know if you have any other questions you'd like me to answer in a future video

[@fecardona]

Man…those are not “hobby jogger” speeds. Come on.

[@supwell]

hobby jogger is a lifestyle not a speed ;)

[@robbarnett524]

I'm doing Chicago too. Flying over from England 🤟. Would be good to meet you

[@supwell]

amazing! yes we should coordinate something closer to the race

[@robbarnett524]

@@supwell sounds good. Our pb's are very similar too over all distances according to strava. Should be good 👍

[@AndrewCho730]

Great video! How do you manage your training with your work/family? With 100miles a week, you gotta be doing some doubles. Thanks!

[@supwell]

yes i do doubles 3 to 5 times a week. sometimes i take my son out in the stroller for that second run. other times i squeeze it in on one of my breaks. i'm fortunate to work from home and live in an amazing neighborhood for running where i can step out my door and get anything up to 16 miles without leaving the area. in the mornings i typically do 10 to 12 miles and then will do 4 to 8 most afternoons. i've been doing three weeks on, 1 week off with the down week at 75 miles to give my body a recovery period

[@ucatani]

Interesting video. Do you change mileage in different seasons? Do you run long and tempo run as progression runs?

[@supwell]

yes after a big race i will always take at least 3 to 4 weeks of down mileage. and a few times throughout the year i will naturally cycle my mileage down. and yes tempo runs i do as progressions where i usually end faster. for the long run it really depends on how i feel. because my life is so busy with family, work etc, i can't always guarantee that i'll feel great for the long run - so sometimes i'll do it at a nice relaxed pace, sometimes i'll do a workout in it, sometimes i will fast finish. the ideal is to finish the long run with the last 3 miles at marathon pace, but i'm not always recovered enough from the week to do that (and i'd rather get the aerobic mileage in than risk an injury pushing it)

[@CorGP]

Doing my 3rd half in September and first full in November. I just decided that I’m going to start doing my middle of the week run at race pace. I’m still working on cracking sub 2 on the half and I want to run with the 4:30 group during the marathon. My fastest half time is 2:07.

[@supwell]

More miles at race pace is super helpful for half and the full - I'm starting to work that in for my full training as well. Let me know how it goes!

[@CorGP]

@@supwell for sure! I found your channel about a week ago and have been hooked. I think what you’re doing is amazing!

[@foreverjz9284]

It's so damn impressive how you progressed from your first marathon to where you are right now in such a short time. It's just under two years, if I got it correctly?

[@supwell]

thanks and yes first marathon was charlotte in november 2022. i ran for a few years before that so had some experience with getting my long run mileage up to 13+, but didn't put the structure around it until that first marathon training block

[@timtrenholm3698]

Transitioning to standing desk at work has been a game changer. Sitting is the devil. It's like S&C you can do 8hrs a day without having to schedule it in!

[@WhatMatterstoMatt]

Funny you mention that. Requested a standing desk for work just last week

[@Jon-hb6gx]

Most people should sit down at their desk sometimes as well

[@Strizzle81]

Great content! During your April marathon, how many grams of carbs per hour are you aiming to consume? Also, how often are you fueling during a marathon?(every 20-25min?)

[@supwell]

thanks! i haven't nailed down my exact strategy yet but what i've been doing with success during my long runs is a full bottle of the tailwind endurance fuel (2 scoops, so that works out to 40 grams of carbs or 250 calories). and then 2 maurten 100 caffeine gels, each of which have 25 grams of carbs. so that works out to about 75 grams of carbs total, plus a carb heavy breakfast before, which is probably an additional 50+. but i need to finalize this still - if anything i would add 1 or 2 extra maurten gels

[@DimasM04]

You have great info but for me it is so difficult to hit over 45-50 miles a week due to the fact I have a family and I work 12.5 hr shifts as a nurse. I am only able to run 4 days a week.

[@Ziggymundus]

whats the longest mileage (in daily training) you did in Rebels?

[@supwell]

i took them up to 16 once or twice. and 10 to 12 a bunch of times

[@Ziggymundus]

wow! for me anything more than 6km is a struggle (andd everything under 6 km is great). Maybe its a insole issue (its superthin and slippery and tends to roll under toes (in result u work with my toes to keep it on place, i press them and die them a little. I think ill try to put some glue under a insole (in the front) and try to run 10k+@@supwell

[@67gosteelers]

Dam, dude, u r fast! What is your body weight?

[@supwell]

hahaha i am 6' 2" and 160 lbs

[@pickelbarrelofficial1256]

Stand up if you love the half marathon.

[@supwell]

the best race distance!

[@Bassgesicht]

Justan honest question - How do you find time during the week to do 100 miles per week? As a non professional athlete

[@supwell]

i don't have much of a life outside of running hahaha i work from home so i have no commute. every morning i run 10 to 14 miles before work, then i find time in the afternoon to do 4 to 8 on top of that. weekends i do an 18 to 22 miler on one of the mornings - if you have a family it helps to have a partner who is supportive and to alternate time on weekends watching the kids

[@Bassgesicht]

@@supwell thx! I feel it's such an underrated part of serious marathon and ultra training, to fit all these miles into your schedule and still have somewhat of a social life haha