Your plan in four answers
Set for September 12, 2027, about 46 weeks out.
- Distances
- Half marathon
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Taper starts
- August 31, 2027
Course
The Great North Run course
The biggest half marathon in the world, run point to point from Newcastle to the seafront at South Shields. The course rolls throughout, opens with the Tyne Bridge, and ends with a long descent to the coast that is faster than it feels.
Read the full course notes
The scale of the field is the defining experience.
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Distances
- Half marathon
- Weather on race day
- Early September in the northeast of England is mild and unsettled: starts in the 50s, highs in the 60s, and a coastal breeze on the final miles. Warm years are uncomfortable because so much of the course is exposed.
What to train for
Rolling-terrain half marathon fitness and a plan for a very crowded start.
With tens of thousands of runners the first mile will be slower than your target no matter your corral, so train goal pace off a slow opening and use the closing descent rather than fighting it.
Sample week
A sample Great North Run training week
A week from the middle of the build, about six weeks out. Your plan sets the real distances and paces from your own fitness and adjusts them every week as you train.
- Monday
- Rest, or 20 minutes of mobility
- Tuesday Key session
- Intervals: 5 × 1 km at 5K to 10K effort, easy jog between
- Wednesday
- Easy run, 8–10 km
- Thursday Key session
- Goal-pace run, 11 km with 6 km at race pace
- Friday
- Recovery run, 6 km, or cross-train
- Saturday Key session
- Long run, 16–19 km easy
- Sunday
- Easy run, 6 km, then 6 relaxed strides
Your build to race day
Taper
Tapering for the Great North Run
Start the taper ten to fourteen days before race day. Cut your weekly volume by about a third, then by half in race week, and keep a few short efforts at race pace so your legs stay sharp. The course rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week. With the race on September 12, 2027, your taper starts around August 31, 2027.
Also in Claude
Ask Claude for this plan
Add AthleteSpace to Claude once, then paste this prompt and put in your own numbers.
Build me a training plan for the AJ Bell Great North Run (Half marathon) on September 12, 2027. I run [distance] a week, [days] days a week, easy pace [pace].
Great North Run training questions
How long should I train for the Great North Run?
Most runners give a half marathon twelve to sixteen weeks of focused training on top of an existing base. The plan above counts back from your actual race date, so if you have less time than that it builds the best plan the remaining weeks allow rather than pretending you have longer.
Is the Great North Run course hilly?
Rolling. The biggest half marathon in the world, run point to point from Newcastle to the seafront at South Shields.
What is the weather usually like at the Great North Run?
Early September in the northeast of England is mild and unsettled: starts in the 50s, highs in the 60s, and a coastal breeze on the final miles. Warm years are uncomfortable because so much of the course is exposed.
When should I start tapering for the Great North Run?
Start the taper ten to fourteen days before race day. Cut your weekly volume by about a third, then by half in race week, and keep a few short efforts at race pace so your legs stay sharp. The course rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week. With the race on September 12, 2027, your taper starts around August 31, 2027.
Do I need an account to get a Great North Run training plan?
No. The plan above builds in your browser with no account, no email, and no card. Make a free account only if you want to keep it, log your runs against it, and have the coach keep adapting it as your training goes.