The Half Marathon: The Perfect Distance for Grown-Ups
Long enough to feel like an achievement but short enough that you can still walk normally the next day. It's challenging without being punishing.
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There's something rather civilised about the half marathon. It's long enough to feel like an achievement but short enough that you can still walk normally the next day.
It requires training but not the complete life overhaul of a full marathon. It's challenging without being punishing.
In short, it's the perfect distance for people over forty who have jobs and responsibilities and can't spend every weekend running for three hours.
But here's the thing: training for a half marathon at forty-five is different from training at twenty-five. Not worse. Different. Your body recovers differently. Your schedule is probably more complicated. And you've learned, hopefully, that ignoring warning signs from your joints is a bad idea.
What Changes After 40
Training for a half marathon over forty requires understanding these key considerations
Recovery Takes Longer
This isn't defeatism, it's physiology. Your muscles don't repair as quickly, and pretending otherwise leads to injury.
Consistency Beats Peaks
One brilliant training week followed by three weeks of injury isn't useful. Steady, sustainable progress wins.
Life Complications
You've probably got more demands on your time than at twenty-five. The plan needs to fit your actual life.
Injury Prevention
At forty-plus, skipping stretches and ignoring niggles catches up with you fast. Prevention is paramount.
Building a Half Marathon Plan That Actually Works
Generic half marathon plans follow a predictable formula. Run three to four times a week, do a long run on the weekend, increase distance gradually, taper before the race. Simple.
The problem is, this formula doesn't account for you. It doesn't know about your tight hamstrings or your demanding job or the fact that your weekend long run needs to fit around family commitments.
It just assumes you're a training robot with infinite flexibility.
The Flikness Approach
Flikness builds your half marathon plan around your actual circumstances.
- Considers your current fitness and injury history
- Adapts to your actual schedule
- Monitors how you're responding via journal
- Gets you to the start line healthy and ready
And because it's connected to a journal where you log how training is going, the plan adapts as you progress. Feeling strong? It pushes a bit harder. Struggling? It eases off.
This responsive approach is particularly important for runners over forty, where ignoring fatigue often leads to setbacks.
The Long Game
Training for a half marathon over forty is as much about the long game as the specific race. Yes, you want to get to the start line fit and ready. But you also want to keep running for the next twenty years.
Flikness helps you do both. It gets you to your half marathon goal while building sustainable habits that will serve you long after you've crossed the finish line.
Because the real achievement isn't just finishing one race — it's still being a runner years from now.
Train for Your Half Marathon
Get a plan that respects your experience, works with your schedule, and gets you to the finish line healthy and proud — not exhausted and injured.
Free to start • Built for runners over 40