Who this plan is for
- ✓You've run a half marathon between 1:58 and 2:10 and have been running for at least 12 months
- ✓Your comfortable conversational pace is around 6:20–7:00/km (10:11–11:15/mi)
- ✓You've completed at least one half marathon and want to bring your time down meaningfully
- ✓You run 3–5 days per week and want a plan built around realistic weekly schedules
- ✓You want to understand what threshold training is and why it applies to your goal
- ✓You're ready to commit to one genuinely hard session per week alongside easier running
What your training actually looks like
Every session in the plan comes with a plain-English reason, not just a pace. Choose your schedule below to see what Week 1 looks like.
💡 Aerobic foundation: every run should be conversational this week. Easy runs are doing real work — mitochondrial density, fat oxidation, connective tissue conditioning. Miss a session? Skip it and move on.
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Build my Sub 1:55 Plan plan →The four phases
Base phase (weeks 1–3)
Easy aerobic running with long run growing from 12 to 14 km. All sessions conversational. Building the engine before turning up the intensity.
Strength phase (weeks 4–6)
Weekly threshold tempo runs of 4–5 km at 5:23–5:28/km. Long run reaches 15–17 km. Tempo is the key session each week.
Speed phase (weeks 7–9)
600m intervals at 5:00–5:10/km introduce VO₂max stimulus. Long run peaks at 18–19 km. Total volume near peak.
Taper phase (weeks 10–12)
Volume drops 30–38%. Maintain intensity in shortened sessions. Arrive at race day fresh and absorbed.
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Build my Sub 1:55 Plan →Frequently asked questions
What pace should I target for sub 1:55?
To finish in 1:54:59, you need to average 5:26/km (8:45/mi). Threshold tempo training runs at 5:23–5:28/km (8:40–8:48/mi). Easy runs sit at 6:25–7:05/km (10:19–11:24/mi). The gap between easy and tempo is significant by design — running easy days too fast is the most common reason runners stagnate around 2 hours.
What 5K or 10K time suggests sub-1:55 is achievable?
A 5K around 27:30–28:30 or a 10K around 57:00–60:00 suggests sub-1:55 is the right target. If your 5K is slower than 30 minutes, build towards sub-2:00 first — the training adaptations transfer directly.
How is this plan different from a sub-2:00 plan?
Sub-1:55 plans introduce threshold work earlier, run longer long runs (peaking at 18–19 km vs 16–17 km), and include a speed phase with 600m intervals. The overall volume is slightly higher. The pacing targets are different throughout — every session is calibrated to the 5:26/km goal, not 5:41/km.
What's the most important thing to get right in training?
Running easy days genuinely easy. Runners targeting 1:55 typically run their easy days at 6:00–6:15/km (9:39–10:03/mi) when the correct pace is 6:25–7:05/km (10:19–11:24/mi). That grey zone — not easy enough to recover, not hard enough to adapt — is where most improvement stalls.
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