Advanced Half Marathon – 4 Days per Week
Magic Training
About the plan
A 12-week plan for advanced runners who want to perform in the half marathon while training four days a week. There are four runs a week: two quality sessions, a short recovery run that bridges them, and the long run. The other three days are complete rest. The difference from traditional advanced plans is not intensity — the quality sessions are the same — but base volume, which stays in the range that fits someone who trains before work. Threshold grows from 5 km continuous to 10 km sustained, with two race-pace time trials (10 km and 12 km) in the second half. The long run goes from 10 to 15 miles (16 to 24 km). Weeks 4 and 8 are recovery weeks, week 11 is a sharpening week, and week 12 ends at the 13.1 miles (21 km). All paces come from your times in the Magic Calculator; adjust your reference time in your profile before starting so threshold, interval and race paces are calibrated.
The plan in numbers
- Duration
- 12 weeks
- Runs per week
- 4
- Weekly volume
- 29 mi → 39 mi
- Longest run
- 15 mi
Week 1 starts at 29 mi and volume builds to 39 mi in week 10, the heaviest of the plan.
A typical week has 4 runs, and the longest session reaches 15 mi (Long, week 10).
Over the final 2 weeks volume drops from 39 mi to 9.2 mi so you arrive at the race rested.
Race day (18 mi) falls on Sunday of week 12; the week holds 9.2 mi of running before it.
There are 3 tune-up races on the way to the goal race.
Key workouts
The quality sessions that come up most in this plan:
- Interval11 sessions across 11 weeks
- Long11 sessions across 11 weeks
- Threshold9 sessions across 9 weeks
- Repetition1 session across 1 week
Who it's for
Advanced level. To start safely you should already be running about 29 mi per week and be comfortable with a 9.9 mi session — that is what week 1 asks for.
Week 1 — workout preview
29 mi this week
7.6 mi
5 mi
6.2 mi
9.9 mi
Week 10 — the heaviest of the plan
39 mi this week
8.3 mi
6.8 mi
9.3 mi
15 mi
Plan Structure
12 weeks · 48 workouts · 36 rest days
See the full plan
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