The half rewards sustained tempo and honest, even pacing more than any other distance. Vertical builds your plan around your real threshold, teaches race pace until it feels repeatable, and reshapes the week when life gets in the way.
The gap
For most runners the half is lost to pacing, not a lack of fitness. You go out on adrenaline in the first 5k, bank time you think you need, and pay for it with a grim final 5k where the wheels come off. A generic plan cannot warn you, because it has no idea what pace you can actually hold. It hands you round numbers and hopes they fit.
The other gap is the work itself. The half sits right on your threshold, the effort you can hold for about an hour, and lifting that ceiling takes the right dose of tempo and cruise intervals week after week. Too little and race pace never feels controlled. Too much, too soon, and you arrive flat. Getting that balance right takes a coach that reads your training as it happens. A template printed before you ran a step cannot.
How Vertical coaches your half marathon
Vertical derives your threshold from your watch data or a recent race, then progresses tempo runs and cruise intervals at the right effort. The dose grows as you adapt, so your sustainable pace keeps climbing week after week.
Vertical treats the long run as more than time on legs. It layers in blocks at goal pace and progressions that finish strong, teaching your body to hold effort when it is tired, which is exactly the bind you face in the final miles of 13.1.
The plan rehearses your target pace often enough that it stops feeling like a gamble on race day. Pair it with the free pace calculator and race pacing planner so your goal sits on your current fitness.
Sick for three days, traveling, or a session that felt far harder than the numbers suggest? Tell Vertical and it rebuilds the week for you. The plan bends to your life, so a rough stretch never quietly ends it.
The short version
Your tempo run held 4:15 pace with heart rate steady in your threshold zone, exactly the sustained effort the half rewards. Next week we stretch that block to 8k so goal pace starts to feel like cruising instead of pushing.
In practice
If 13.1 is your next distance up, the jump is mostly about endurance at effort. Vertical extends your long runs sensibly and builds the threshold base the half demands, without turning easy days into a slog you cannot recover from.
Targeting sub-1:45, sub-1:30, or a fresh PR? The plan works backward from that goal pace, checks it against what your data says is realistic, and rehearses it until race day feels like a repeat of training you have already done.
When work travel or a bad night collides with your key session, you do not lose the week. Tell Vertical what happened and it reshuffles the priorities, protecting the threshold work that matters most while easing the rest.
How it works
Spend about two minutes connecting your watch or answering a few questions. You get a clear picture of where your fitness sits, what you are good at, what is holding you back, and the right next step. No card needed.
Vertical derives your threshold and paces from your data or a recent race, then periodizes the weeks from base through sharpening so the build peaks at the right time for your half.
Ask why a session is prescribed, how a run went, or what to do about a niggle. Vertical answers in plain language, drawing on your training and a library of 500-plus peer-reviewed studies.
As race week nears, use the pace calculator and race pacing planner to set an even-effort strategy for your course, so you run the smart 13.1 instead of the one adrenaline talks you into.
A PDF is fixed the day it is printed and knows nothing about you. Vertical builds your plan from your actual threshold and paces, then adapts it as your training unfolds. Get sick or travel, and it reshapes the week for you.
Enough to raise the pace you can hold for an hour, dosed to your own fitness. Vertical progresses tempo runs and cruise intervals as you adapt, and eases off when your data or how you felt says the load is too high.
The assessment shows you where your current fitness sits, and the free pace calculator translates a recent race or your training data into an achievable half marathon target. If your goal is a stretch, Vertical says so and maps the path toward it.
That is a great starting point. The half is largely about holding effort longer, so Vertical extends your long runs gradually and builds the endurance base you need, without over-reaching. Many runners step up from 10K to their first strong half this way.
Garmin, COROS, Polar, and Suunto. Once connected, Vertical reads your runs automatically, so your threshold, paces, and progress stay current without any manual logging on your part.
The assessment is free and takes about two minutes with no card required. If you want the full plan plus daily coaching, there is an optional 7-day trial so you can experience the whole thing before deciding.
Get started
Get your free assessment in about two minutes, then your half marathon plan. No card required.
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