About Our Coach Hannah Nolan. 

In 2012, Hannah Nolan was the cover story for Irish Runner magazine, with the headline “A Woman Reborn.” The story told the inspiring story of how running helped her lose eight stone and rebuild her life.

Hannah was shocked into action about her weight, and in 2008, she started her first tentative steps towards fitness and weight loss in the lead-up to Christmas of that year- the start of a journey that would eventually take her down the marathon road to a new and invigorating lifestyle while also qualifying as a personal trainer and nutritionist. 

Hannah’s Half Marathon Training Schedules have been well-tried and tested, and they have already helped many runners achieve their running goals.

A longtime contributor to Irish Runner magazine, Hannah has set impressive personal best times for the 10k—41 minutes 40 seconds, the Half-Marathon—1 hour 31 minutes, and the Marathon—3 hours 18 minutes.

Hannah set up her first Couch to 5k training group back in 2013 and has been coaching runners ever since. She has progressed well in her own running career, winning county cross-country and road titles in her age group and going on to win national medals.

Hannah will be happy to connect with runners following her half marathon training schedules. Email: hannah@whyweightireland.ie 

Half Marathon Beginners Plan

The Dublin City Council Dublin City Half Marathon plan for beginners is perfect for those who have perhaps mastered the park run 5k distance or even ventured up to 10k and are looking for a longer distance challenge! If you cannot complete more than 3 runs per week, you can remove Run 3 from the schedule. If you can complete the 4 days per week, then that is preferable. However, if you are short on time or have other commitments, then it is still achievable to reach your half marathon goal with 3 runs per week or alternating 3 runs one week and 4 the next, etc. (the increasing long run to build endurance is the main focus). Runs can be organised in any order throughout the week, but generally speaking, it is good to space out your runs evenly between rest days so your body can recover.

Still, mixing running and walking? No problem! You can still extend your distance and build on your running fitness by taking short walking breaks during your runs so no matter what fitness level you are at – follow the plan and finish the distance in whichever way you need to!

N.B. On the long run, there are 2 distance options. Choose the lower option if you are moving from a couch-to-5k plan and the higher option if you are already running closer to 10k distances.

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Training Guide:

Even for beginners, introducing speed work is still a great idea. Speed work helps improve cardio fitness and benefits runners in improving both pace and endurance. Speed work is based on “effort”, so regardless of how fast or slow you are as a runner, you will constantly push yourself to your top range of effort. If the interval stated is a shorter distance, such as 1 minute, then your effort will be slightly harder and pace slightly quicker than for the 2-minute or longer intervals. Pacing can take a little while to get the hang of it, so don’t worry if the pace is a little wonky to start with – it will click eventually!

EASY: “Easy” is the term used to describe a run at a pace you can maintain for the entire run. Quite often, I find that easy runs do not feel easy at all despite being at a slower pace, so if you feel like that too, don’t worry – this is normal! Running slow and “easy” is often a challenge for many runners, but running at a leisurely pace is essential for active recovery and putting less pressure on the body while building your aerobic endurance base. An easy run should be a run where you can run alongside a friend and have a conversation. So easy pace refers really to a conversational pace effort. Easy pace will be considerably slower than your race pace effort – and with an easy run, always focus on the actual effort rather than the pace; my favourite quote is, “Easy is an effort, not a pace”.

1 min / 2 mins / 300m / 400m, etc.: Speed Intervals will be time- or distance-based. So 1 minute would be 1 minute of hard running followed by a recovery of 1 minute (recovery is slow walking and just enough to catch your breath before the next one begins) 300m or 400m are distances based on meters, and the same principle applies. All of these speed intervals help to push your heart rate close to a maximum effort and allow it to recover which trains your body to move faster and recover quicker. These short-speed efforts are supposed to be hard and fast, leaving you feeling like you are just hanging on and counting down the seconds until you are finished. TOP TIP: Start each interval slightly slower than you think for the first half of the interval, and then if you have anything extra in the tank at the halfway point, push a little bit harder to finish the interval strong and give everything at the end.

Tempo: A tempo run is another speed session that helps develop your endurance speed. Unlike the shorter intervals, the tempo run is sustained for a more extended period, so it is closer to the pace you would run in a race than a regular training run. I would describe a tempo-based effort as “comfortably hard”. So it is borderline uncomfortable, but you know you can just about breathe through and hold that pace for several kilometers or minutes. Whilst there are several different types of tempo runs a basic tempo run will involve 3 sections. 1) warm-up of easy running 2) tempo section with slightly faster running 3) cool down back at an easy pace.

Strides: Strides are short bursts of speed to open up the legs. They can be done at the end of an easy run to shake out any residual stiffness following speed work or long runs in the days prior, or you will often see athletes using strides after a warm-up before a race start to get the body primed and ready to go. Strides are a great thing to practice. So, for the stride pace, it isn’t a full-on sprint but just a brief acceleration. It is similar to if you are in a race and just trying to pass someone out who is slightly slower, so you accelerate to get past (or if you are out running and see a fellow runner or car coming so you speed up briefly to make yourself look faster) that is the effort for a stride.

Shake-out run: A “shake-out” run is a really easy pace, with no pressure run done before race day to get the body moving and the blood pumping without putting any strain on the body. The strides at the end again help to loosen off the body and prepare yourself for race day and can also help calm any nervous energy as the race week lead-up usually has a drop in mileage. If your legs feel heavy during your shake-out run – don’t panic! This is normal after all of your weeks of hard training, and the shake-out run serves its purpose here by clearing out that heaviness for the next day!

Top Questions:

Q: Why is the longest run on the beginners plan not the full race distance and should I not run the full race distance before race day?

A: On a beginner’s plan, the general idea is to gradually build up the time spent on your feet each week. Most plans for shorter distances, such as 5k and 10k, will go up to the full race distance, but as you progress to longer distances, such as the half marathon and full marathon, it is not necessary to run the full distance before race day. As you progress and have completed more half marathons and are starting to look to improve your times, then you can progress to a more advanced plan that will go closer or beyond the race distance – but for the first time half marathon runners, the goal is to get you to the start line fresh and in perfect shape to finish. On race day you WILL have enough training in the legs to complete the full 21.1km distance.

Q: I’m feeling really good on my long runs – should I run further?

A: Try and stick to the plan as closely as possible. Often, we can feel a runner’s high and begin to feel like we can do more, but the trick to avoiding injury further into the plan is to build up slowly. The main rule is not to increase your overall mileage by 10%. If you have started with the lower amount on the long runs of the beginner plan and feel capable of the longer distance, add an additional 1.5km per week to the long run for a couple of weeks until you have caught up with the longer distance and then continue with that.

Q: Do I have to do the speed sessions?

A: Speed sessions are beneficial to runners of all levels, and work in the same way as a couch to 5k plan where you would’ve mixed short running sections into your walks to progress to running continuously. Speed sessions continue to build on this and stretch your fitness and endurance further by challenging the boundaries and continuing to make improvements. That said, some people enjoy going for a run, but speed sessions are not for everyone. If you are losing enjoyment because of the speed work, then, of course, they are not essential (don’t get me wrong, I myself do not “enjoy” speed sessions, but I always feel GREAT afterwards, and I see the benefits in my improvements, so I push myself through the challenge of them). If speed sessions are definitely not for you as a beginner runner – then run the equivalent time or distance for that run and keep it at your regular easy pace without adding the changes in pace.

Half Marathon Intermediate / Advanced plan

The Dublin City Half marathon plan for Intermediate / advanced runners is suitable for runners who can already comfortably run 10 kilometers or more and are looking to either improve their half marathon time or progress from 10k up to half marathon distance. Like the beginner’s plan, there are 2 distance options for the long run, so choose whichever distance aligns closest to your current weekly long run. The plan is set over 5 days. If you wish to run 4 days per week, remove the shortest run of the week from the schedule. If you prefer to run 6 days per week, then you can add in an additional short, easy run. Bear in mind that rest and recovery are just as important as training, so always listen to the body. You can reorder the runs to suit your schedule. However, speed sessions and long runs should always follow either a rest day or an easy run day (i.e. do not run back-to-back speed sessions). The speed sessions during the week will also have a 2-3k option for warm-up and cool-down. For those with higher weekly mileage, choose the 3km warm-up and cool-down options, and for those looking for slightly shorter weekly mileage, choose 2km.

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Intermediate/Advanced Speed sessions: Speed sessions are an essential part of training for a more established runner to improve your endurance, pace, and race times. Once you have a nice solid base built up over months (or years) of consistent running, speed work helps to give you the extra boost you need to take you to the next level and see those improvements in your race times. Speed sessions are always based on effort or your perceived level of exertion. So when following your plan, you will need to adjust your pace depending on the duration of the speed section (i.e. a 1-minute or 400-mm interval will be substantially quicker than a 2-3-minute or 800-mm interval). The best trick I always find is to run the first repetition slightly more conservatively and then, based on how I felt and how quickly my recovery is, tweak the pace on the rest to settle on that “perfect” pace. Shorter speed sessions will always feel hard and like you almost won’t make it to the end. If you are completing them and recovering quickly, try and push harder! Likewise, if you cannot recover enough to hit the next one simultaneously, pull back on the effort.

Intermediate/Advanced Tempos: As a more experienced runner, your body will enjoy the challenge of more varied tempo run sessions. So, in addition to a basic tempo, there will be different tempo sessions to challenge your fitness. Despite being slightly different in structure to a basic tempo, all tempo runs will still work the same type of endurance fitness and are prolonged periods of higher-intensity effort. So, in simple terms, the word “tempo” means hard enough that the pace is challenging – but not too hard that you cannot sustain the effort for the time/distance stated.

Recoveries: The recovery period during speed sessions is usually “just enough” to recover before the next interval starts. You will feel like you want a little longer but should still be able to hit the same paces for the next interval. Recoveries can be walking or slow jogs. Generally speaking, I personally walk for the first few moments to catch my breath and then pick up into a very light jog or shuffle for the remainder of the recovery.

Intermediate/Advanced Half Marathon Plan