What is the average time to finish a half marathon?

Answer 1

• Obviously depends upon your fitness and, in particular, your endurance.To use myself as an example, over a 21.7km course my average pace will be almost identical (maybe 1/10th of a km per hour off) to my 5km run pace.Generally speaking, you have to be a fairly stong runner to make it in under 1hr 30 min, very stong to make it in under 1hr 20min.For most people with decent running ability a sub 2 hour time should be achievable, however if not used to the endurance aspect it should be noted that many people 'hit the wall' at around the 1/2 to 2/3rd mark (primarily due to going out too hard at the start & trying to keep pace with the lead pack) Running a 1/2 marathon for an avg man in the 30-34 brackets,,,,1:35:00-1:40:00 thats with training. Hill works is what you want when getting faster.

To improve upon the above answer:

• It would be suicide to attempt to race a half marathon at the same pace one would race a 5K. If the original poster actually does this, he is merely running all races at a comfortable pace...not actually racing.
• Typically, 5K pace would be 30-40 seconds faster a mile than half marathon pace. In other words, if you can run a 5K in 21 minutes (about a 6:45 pace), your half marathon pace would be about 7:15.
• "Hill work is what you want" to get faster may or may not be true. For any runner, more MILES equals faster times. It's that simple. Once you have a consistent base of miles, adding speedwork (not hills) is your best bet. Hills definitely can make you stronger, but head to the track first.