Your plan in four answers
Rio Half Marathon has not announced its next date, so we have estimated August. Change the date below once you know it.
- Distances
- 5K, 10K, Half marathon
- Terrain
- Flat
- Field
- About 18,000 runners across the 21K, 10K and 5K (2026)
Course
The Rio Half Marathon course
A point-to-point half along almost the whole Zona Sul waterfront, starting in Leblon on Avenida Delfim Moreira and finishing on the Aterro do Flamengo between Praça Paris and the Monumento aos Pracinhas in Glória. You run Ipanema on Avenida Vieira Souto, cut behind Arpoador, then cover about 4 km of Avenida Atlântica in Copacabana before crossing to Botafogo bay with Sugarloaf ahead.
Read the full course notes
The second half is the Aterro, a short out-and-back past Santos Dumont airport and through the Túnel Prefeito Marcello Alencar, then back to Glória. The tunnel ramps are the only real gradients, so this is a genuinely fast sea-level course with the beach beside you for most of the way.
- Terrain
- Flat
- Distances
- 5K, 10K, Half marathon
- Field
- About 18,000 runners across the 21K, 10K and 5K (2026)
- Weather on race day
- August is winter in Rio and usually the best month to race there: the 6:40 start is typically around 19–23 °C with high humidity and a light sea breeze. On a clear morning the sun gets strong on the open beachfront after 8:00, so drink at every station and start a few seconds per km slower than goal if it is already warm.
What to train for
Flat and fast means pacing is everything: do weekly tempo runs of 20 to 40 minutes at half marathon effort and long runs of 16 to 20 km with the last 5 km at goal pace.
Practise running even splits on a flat loop, because the long straight beachfront roads make it easy to surge early.
A few short hill repeats will cover the tunnel ramps near the finish.
Sample week
A sample Rio Half Marathon 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
Taper
Tapering for the Rio Half Marathon
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 is flat, so pacing decides the day: rehearse your goal pace in short segments during race week.
Also in Claude
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Add AthleteSpace to Claude once, then paste this prompt and put in your own numbers.
Build me a training plan for the Meia Maratona Internacional do Rio de Janeiro (Half marathon) in August. I run [distance] a week, [days] days a week, easy pace [pace].
Rio Half Marathon training questions
How long should I train for the Rio Half Marathon?
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 Rio Half Marathon course hilly?
Flat. A point-to-point half along almost the whole Zona Sul waterfront, starting in Leblon on Avenida Delfim Moreira and finishing on the Aterro do Flamengo between Praça Paris and the Monumento aos Pracinhas in Glória.
What is the weather usually like at the Rio Half Marathon?
August is winter in Rio and usually the best month to race there: the 6:40 start is typically around 19–23 °C with high humidity and a light sea breeze. On a clear morning the sun gets strong on the open beachfront after 8:00, so drink at every station and start a few seconds per km slower than goal if it is already warm.
When should I start tapering for the Rio Half Marathon?
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 is flat, so pacing decides the day: rehearse your goal pace in short segments during race week.
Do I need an account to get a Rio Half Marathon 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.