How to run a half-marathon in two hours

"When are you going to run a marathon?"

It's the number one question you're asked when you run half-marathons regularly. It's the one with the most obvious answer. Why on earth would I want to double the heel-cracking, spine mis-aligning pain that accompanies 13.1 miles?

I've always had a safe answer: I'll enter a marathon when I run a sub-2hr half marathon.

Ha! I thought. My first attempt took 2:29! It nearly killed me! It'll be years before I run sub-2hrs!

Then I ran London's Run to the Beat half marathon in 2:05. I think I know how - stay tuned for the end of the post for the (admittedly weird) secret.

To be completely honest I glanced down at my Garmin towards the end of the race, saw the time, and cursed my dehydrated brain for losing digital grip.

The next half-marathon I've entered is the adidas Silverstone half in March. And I'm going to try and shave off those stubborn five minutes.

The internet is a fantastic resource for runners planning their own training. To race sub 2:15 I used Runners' World's Garmin compatible half-marathon plan. I found the pace a bit slow (12:21 minute mile easy pace), but the mix of tempo runs and Long Slow Distance was perfect. Runners' World's Garmin-compatibility is incredibly useful: I use a Forerunner 910xt, the triathlon watch. It looks like this:

Garmin Forerunner910 xt Photo: bikeradar.com

... and if I left it alone long enough it could probably mount a space programme. But! Plug it into the Runners' World website, adjust pace goals, upload the programme to your Garmin and every single run in the training plan uploads to your watch. This is incredibly useful for interval training - the watch bleeps at the end of and start of every interval.

But make sure you alter the pace: there's nothing worse than jabbing feebly at a watch that's bleeped you to slow down every quarter mile of a 14-mile training run because you can't ramp down to 12-minute-miles.

I'm going to use Runners' World's sub 2hr plan - check it out here - even though the paces are thoroughly intimidating (you blast up from 10:44 steady for the sub 2:15 plan to 9:33 steady!)

At least if I don't make it I've won myself some extra time before I have to run a marathon.

So - time to credit the reason I think I managed to knock 25 minutes off my previous PB.

Smoothies.

No, I'm not joking.

I started out by joining the wonderful Angela Liddon's Green Monster Movement. A green monster is a super-green-super-healthy smoothie, usually structured around kale or spinach.

My housemate calls it "snail porridge":

Photo: greenmonstermovement.com

I'd been drinking these a couple of mornings a week when I went to the Inspiral Lounge, a fabulous raw/Vegan restaurant in North London (Camden). It also doubles as a psy-trance club. Their Green Goddess smoothy was like some kind of Michelin-starred version of mine - kind of like a vitamin-packed green ice cream.

I'm going to save you hours of experimentation, choking down too much Spirulina etc and give you my recipe for my super-hybrid best-out-there green monster goddess smoothie right here. Nutritional info (take a look and you'll see why I credit it with the running success) follows the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 dessert spoon chia seeds

1 dessert spoon milled flax

1/2 dessert spoon Spirulina powder (disclaimer: spirulina is an algae. I have heard tell of people who can handle a tablespoon of it at a time. I once sprinkled a tsp over some salad and had to throw the whole batch away. My smoothie quest has entirely been one to mask the taste of this superfood)

2 dates

1 handful raw spinach or kale

1/4 raw avocado

1 banana

1 cup water

Makes one serving - about a pint

Method:

Drop the seeds, flax, Spirulina and dates into a blender. Pack the spinach (tightly!) on top. Add the avocado, banana and water and blend until smooth. I find raw kale needs a slightly longer blend.

Inspiral add green chlorophyll to theirs. It has a minty taste that I'd love to replicate. Unfortunately, price per gram is similar to molten gold. When I win the lottery and get to experiment with this, I'll let you know.

Nutritional deets: 

Calories: 330

Carbs: 55

Fat: 13

Protein: 8 

Iron: 26mg 

TWENTY SIX MG OF IRON! That's double the amount of iron you'd get in a serving of chicken liver. And, whatever you think of Spirulina, I swear this tastes better. Iron is essential for women, runners and Vegans - so if, like me, you tick all those boxes, introduce this little green friend to your morning routine. Iron is an essential trace mineral, needed to ensure the delivery of oxygen to tissue and muscles. So: hyper-boost your internal oxygen delivery system and make space for that next medal!