Training for the Big Beach Half Marathon

Tomorrow I’m running the Big Beach Half Marathon. My friend, Steve, is running the marathon to celebrate his 60th birthday, and many of us have secretly been training to join him for the weekend.

We surprised Steve yesterday so I can finally publish my training details.

Tomorrow I’m running the Big Beach Half Marathon in Gulf Shores, AL. My friend, Steve, is running the marathon to celebrate his 60th birthday, and many of us have secretly been training to join him for the weekend.

My training cycle started in October, and I’ve been updating this post along the way. We surprised Steve yesterday so I can finally publish.

This was my first training cycle for 2026.

My previous training cycle went fine, but no VDOT increase. I continued training at my current training VDOT of of 42.9.

My strength training strategy for the previous cycle went well for strength, but I felt less than peak during phase four and going into the final race. With squat on a Heavy-Light-Medium program, I can adjust the backoff amounts on the Light/Medium days to help with recovery. I was waiting to feel a struggle before adjusting those amounts, but this training cycle I will tried proactively increasing the back off amount each phase.

My previous long run was 60 minutes, which is less than I’d prefer for a half marathon. I plan to lengthen it only to 65 minutes, still less than I’d prefer for a half marathon. I’d rather go into a big race day strong than push the volume increase. I think my knee issue from 2023’s marathon training was from building back my aerobic fitness faster than my muscular fitness. I plan to race the half at whatever my fitness is when I get there.

My plan is very loosely adapted from Jack Daniels’ half marathon plan from Daniels’ Running Formula.

Phase One

Phase one was primarily easy running with one Marathon (M) pace workout. M pace is Jack’s “marathon” pace, though it’s usually aggressive as a true marathon pace. It’s supposed to be on the upper bounds of easy pace, and I think is mostly psychological, training to hold a sustained effort at a pace that becomes uncomfortable.

Phase one was four weeks long and started on October 20. The timing of the race put the first down week on the second week. The volume increase was on the third week, but that’s also the M workout.

Week 1
1. Monday: 45 min Easy (E)
2. Tuesday: 30 min E + 8 Strides (ST)
3. Wednesday: 45 min E
4. Thursday: 30 min E + 8 ST
5. Friday: 30 min E + 6 ST
6. Saturday: 60 min E
Week 2 (down week)
1. Monday: 30 min Easy (E)
2. Tuesday: 20 min E + 8 Strides (ST)
3. Wednesday: 30 min E
4. Thursday: 20 min E + 8 ST
5. Friday: 20 min E + 6 ST
6. Saturday: 45 min E
Week 3 (volume increase)
1. Monday: 45 min E
2. Tuesday: 30 min E + 9 ST
3. Wednesday: 45 min E
4. Thursday: 30 min E + 7 ST
5. Friday: 30 min E + 7 ST
6. Saturday: 15 min E + 30 min M + 10 min E
Week 4
1. Monday: 45 min E
2. Tuesday: 30 min E + 9 ST
3. Wednesday: 45 min E
4. Thursday: 30 min E + 7 ST
5. Friday: 30 min E + 7 ST
6. Saturday: 65 min E

Phase Two

Phase two started on November 17 and lasted three weeks. It introduced Repetition (R) and Threshold (T) workouts. R workouts are anaerobic and help with running efficiency and training neuromuscularly for fast running. T workouts train at the lactate threshold to increase velocity at lactate threshold.

I missed a workout on the first week for some stomach issues, but otherwise it went according to plan.

Week 5
1. Monday: 10 min E + 9 x 200m R with 200m jog recoveries + 10 min E (this is the day I missed, so I actually did this work on Wednesday and missed Wednesday’s workout)
2. Tuesday: 30 min E + 9 ST
3. Wednesday: 10 min E + 15 min T + 10 min E
4. Thursday: 30 min E + 7 ST
5. Friday: 30 min E + 7 ST
6. Saturday: 65 min E
Week 6 (down week)
1. Monday: 10 min E + 200m R with 200m jog recovery + 200m R with 400m jog recovery + 400m R with 200m jog recovery + 10 min E
2. Tuesday: 30 min E + 9 ST
3. Wednesday: 10 min E + 2 x 5 min T with 1 min rests + 10 min E
4. Thursday: 30 min E + 7 ST
5. Friday: 30 min E + 7 ST
6. Saturday: 45 min E
Week 7
1. Monday: 10 min E + 3 x 200m R with 200m jog recoveries + 3 x 400m R with 400m jog recoveries + 2 x 200m R with 200m jog recoveries + 10 min E
2. Tuesday: 30 min E + 9 ST
3. Wednesday: 10 min E + 15 min T + 10 min E
4. Thursday: 30 min E + 7 ST
5. Friday: 30 min E + 7 ST
6. Saturday: 15 min E + 30 min M + 10 min E

Phase Three

Phase three started December 8 and lasted four weeks. It introduced Interval (I) workouts, which are train at VO2max to increase velocity at that effort.

Dem Calves was December 20, so I re-worked that week. Saturday’s M workout moved to Wednesday, and Wednesday’s workout dropped. I gave that race my best, but James was clearly the best runner and left all of us in their dust.

Week 8
1. Monday: 10 min E + 5 x 2 min I with 1 min recoveries + 10 min E
2. Tuesday: 30 min E + 9 ST
3. Wednesday: 10 min E + 15 min T + 10 min E
4. Thursday: 30 min E + 7 ST
5. Friday: 30 min E + 7 ST
6. Saturday: 65 min E
Week 9
1. Monday: 10 min E + 3 x 3 min I with 2 min recoveries + 10 min E
2. Tuesday: 30 min E + 9 ST
3. Wednesday: 10 min E + 3 x 5 min T with 1 min rests + 10 min E
4. Thursday: 30 min E + 7 ST
5. Friday: 30 min E + 7 ST
6. Saturday: 15 min E + 30 min M + 10 min E
Week 10 (down week)
1. Monday: 10 min E + 2 x 4 min I with 3 min recoveries + 10 min E
2. Tuesday: 20 min E + 9 ST
3. Wednesday: 10 min E + 10 min T + 10 min E
4. Thursday: 20 min E + 7 ST
5. Friday: 20 min E + 7 ST
6. Saturday: 45 min E
Week 11
1. Monday: 10 min E + 3 x 800m I with 2 min recoveries + 10 min E
2. Tuesday: 30 min E + 9 ST
3. Wednesday: 10 min E + 3 x 5 min T with 1 min rests + 10 min E
4. Thursday: 30 min E + 7 ST
5. Friday: 30 min E + 7 ST
6. Saturday: 15 min E + 30 min M + 10 min E

Phase Four

Phase four started January 5 and lasted three weeks, with the final two being a taper. For half marathons, I like a two-week taper where the first week is ~75% of normal volume, and the second week is about 50% normal volume. T pace was the primary focus for this phase.

The race is supposed to have Gatorade on course, so I did my long runs with Gatorade to help get my stomach used to that. I expect to finish under 2 hours, so I just need a bit of fuel to trick my body into not being conservative with it’s glycogen.

Week 12
1. Monday: 10 min E + 3 x 5 min T with 1 min rests + 10 min E
2. Tuesday: 30 min E + 9 ST
3. Wednesday: 10 min E + 20 min M + 10 min E
4. Thursday: 30 min E + 7 ST
5. Friday: 30 min E + 7 ST
6. Saturday: 65 min E
Week 13 (taper week 1)
1. Monday: 30 min E
2. Tuesday: 20 min E + 9 ST
3. Wednesday: 10 min E + 2 x 5 min T with 1 min rests + 10 min E
4. Thursday: 20 min E + 7 ST
5. Friday: 20 min E + 7 ST
6. Saturday: 45 min E
Week 14 (taper week 2)
1. Monday: 30 min E
2. Tuesday: 15 min E + 9 ST
3. Wednesday: 10 min E + 1 mi T with 2 min rest + 10 min E
4. Thursday: 15 min E + 7 ST
5. Friday: OFF
6. Saturday: 15 min E + 7 ST
7. Sunday: RACE DAY!

Race Strategy

My VDOT half marathon equivalent time is 1:44:37, a pace of 7:59/min. With my relatively low volume, I’m concerned about its accuracy. I don’t want to go out too hard, blow up, and struggle.

There’s a general rule I’ve come across that I think works up to about a 2-hour race where for every 5% reduction in pace you can double the distance. I’m breaking the race into quarters with upper limits for pace. Using my VDOT equivalent pace for the final quarter, the second to last quarter 5% slower, the second quarter 5% slower than that, and the first quarter 5% slower than that, my pace upper limits look like:

Miles 1-4: 9:15/mi
Miles 5-7: 8:48/mi
Miles 8-10: 8:23/mi
Miles 11-13.1: 7:59/mi

In reality, I will take that final 5k as fast as I can. I’ll plan to use an effort-based limit as well. Measuring my breathing by steps per breath in/out, I don’t want to be breathing harder than 3 steps per inhale and 3 steps per exhale. I’ve found that to be a decent indicator for race efforts of this duration.