12-Week Half Marathon Training Plan

Runners who already run 3–4 times a week and can comfortably run 4–5 miles. Pick a max weekly mileage between 20 and 80 miles; 20–30 miles runs 4 days a week with cross-training on the others, 30–40 runs 5 days, and 40 miles and up runs 6 days.

One workout a week works at any mileage: plenty of runners build great fitness from one quality session, a long run and a lot of easy running. Two workouts (Tuesday and Friday) need room around them, so the plan offers them from 30 miles a week and makes them the default from 40. At 30–40 miles two workouts leaves only two easy days between the hard ones, so most runners there do better with one.

Start from what you run now. Your max is your biggest week of the plan. About 10–15 miles per week above your current average is a sensible build over 12 weeks. If you have had injuries when mileage climbs, pick the lower end and let the workouts do the work.

Most of your running should be at a conversational effort, well slower than race pace. Enter a recent race time above and the plan shows your easy, steady, threshold and race paces. If you have no recent race, run on feel: easy means you could hold a full conversation.

Taper for two weeks. Two weeks out, keep most of your mileage but cut the hard running; your last real workout, a few minutes-long threshold reps with strides, comes about 10–12 days before the race. In race week, cut volume more: shorten easy runs a little, do one short race-pace session on Tuesday (2–3 × 1 mile), take a rest day three days out, and finish with a 3-mile shakeout with strides the day before. Cut the amount of hard running, not the easy running: easy miles keep you loose, hard sessions are what you need to recover from.

Skip a missed run rather than squeezing it in later. After a week off for illness, repeat the previous week before moving on. This is where a static plan stops helping: it can't tell whether you should push on, hold, or pull back. That judgment is what a coach adds.

Yes, if you already have a running base. Twelve weeks is enough to build your long run, add threshold work and taper. If you are starting from zero, spend a few weeks building up to 15–20 miles a week first.

Yes. There is a sample PDF at the default mileage with effort cues instead of paces. Enter a recent race time on the page and the PDF and Excel downloads carry your own distances and paces.

This plan is the same every week no matter how your training goes. Toga builds your plan from your own runs, adjusts it when you miss days, get sick or feel great, and coaches you through each workout on your phone and watch.