Half Marathon Training Guide

My wife wanted to run a competitive race for the first time before she turned 30 and so she decided to run the Nike Half Marathon in July of 2008. We came up with a training guide based on training guides online and she was able to stay healthy and finish in 2:12 - about a 10 minute/mile pace!

She had a base of about 10 miles per week for about a month and then started the more rigorous training. The key was to run 3 to 4 days a week (every other day) for 2 months. Running every other day helped her stay away from overuse injuries, stay fresh, and heal quicker. 1 day per week was the long run that increased up to 10 miles about 2 weeks before the race. Another day in the middle of the week was the speed workout (aka fartleks). The other days were easy runs focused on keeping a pace throughout the run.

Here's the training guide:

Week 1: 4M 4F 3M 5L
Week 2: 4F 4M 6L
Week 3: 3F 4M 3M 7L
Week 4: 4F 4M 3M 8L
Week 5: 4F 5M 9L
Week 6: 5F 5M 10L
Week 7: 4F 5M 6L
Week 8: 3M 3M 13.1L

KEY
#M=keep a pace for # miles
#F=speed/fartlek workout (includes 1 mile warm up, 1 mile cool down)
#L=long run