This post is going to give you tips and tools to start running and stay with it!
A lot of people I know use the Couch To 5K method of training. The rundown of that can be found here. It is an excellent program if you have the personality that can look at a clock and not give up when you realize you have only run thirty seconds of your five minute stretch. I am not that person. Not by any stretch. I can't be trusted to finish a run on a treadmill when I know how much time I have left to run. I'd rather lie to myself and stand on the sides of the treadmill and trick the machine into thinking I'm actually running for that amount of time. Music, however, I can hang with!
If you look over the C25K and decide it is great in theory, but you can't be trusted to follow it, don't have access to a treadmill, or just want to have a little more fun, read on. When beginning to run, I started to use my iPod (technically it was the tiny little iPod that had a belt hook, one smaller than the mini, and I thought it made me look like a total badass) and would alternate running for one song with walking for one song. After a few weeks of that, I decided to come up with my own method to get up to five miles, then ten miles, then ran my first half marathon (13.1 miles) one year after beginning running with a crappy half mile on a crappy treadmill, in a crappy over-crowded gym. This is what I did:
Week 1: Walk three songs, run one song, walk three songs, etc. for 30 min
Week 2: Walk three songs, run one song, walk three songs, etc. for 40 min
Week 3: Walk three songs, run one song, walk three songs, etc. for 50 min
Week 4: Walk three songs, run one song, walk three songs, etc. for 60 min
Week 5: Walk three songs, run two songs, walk three songs, etc. for 40 min
Week 6: Walk three songs, run two songs, walk three songs, etc. for 50 min
Week 7: Walk three songs, run two songs, walk three songs, etc. for 60 min
Week 8: Walk three songs, run three songs, walk three songs, etc. for 40 min
Week 9: Walk three songs, run three songs, walk three songs, etc. for 50 min
Week 10: Walk three songs, run three songs, walk three songs, etc. for 60 min
Week 11: Walk two songs, run three songs, walk two songs, etc. for 40min
Week 12: Walk two songs, run three songs, walk two songs, etc. for 50 min
Week 13: Walk two songs, run three songs, walk to songs, etc. for 60 min
Week 14: Walk one song, run three songs, walk one song, etc. 40 min
Week 15: Walk one song, run three songs, walk one song, etc. for 50 min
Week 16: Walk one song, run three songs, walk one song, etc. for 60 min
Week 17: Run for 30 minutes without walking
Once you can jog/run for thirty minutes without walking, CONGRATULATIONS! Now you will start to shift the focus to mileage. Don't increase your mileage by more than 10% a week, you will increase your odds of injury and then you'll experience how horrible it is to be a runner who cannot run. It sucks. I promise you. Don't try it.
I would hope this goes without saying, but when making your playlists, keep all of the songs similar in length. Your run songs should not be one minute songs while your walk ones are things like Bohemian Rhapsody and Celine Dion's seven minute tirades. The tempos can absolutely be different, but the time should be similar. It will help. Being over zealous and having the run songs significantly longer than the walk ones isn't a good idea, either. Again, injuries suck.
About three years in to my love affair with running, I misplaced my beloved badass tiny iPod and had to *gasp* run without music. It was not fun at all. By my third week without music, I began to listen to the sound of gravel under my feet (now one of my all time favorite sounds, second only to my husband asking what flavor frozen yogurt he should get me) and pay attention to my surroundings. I would look for squirrels, count how many red, green, blue, and hybrid cars would pass. If I was running on a trail, I'd let my mind wander to the episode of Law and Order: SVU I watched the night before and freak myself out, causing me to run faster. I ended up randomly ordering this super old book* from Amazon and have not run with music in four years. This includes two full marathons, a couple of 10K's, and a handful of half marathons. That's a lot of race day and training mileage with something you used to depend on.
Like any other form of exercise, stay hyrdrated--with water.
Happy Running! Feel free to contact me for more specific running plans.
* I was going to post a link to the book, but I can't find it on the Internet...probably an operator malfunction, but I'll look into it. I let someone borrow it, so I can't even take a picture, but it was called "Total Running" and had a purple cover. It's from the 70's and talks about running with your senses and a bunch of other zen-like stuff. I'm going to keep searching for it! Plus, it was like $0.99 and who doesn't love cheap?!
If you look over the C25K and decide it is great in theory, but you can't be trusted to follow it, don't have access to a treadmill, or just want to have a little more fun, read on. When beginning to run, I started to use my iPod (technically it was the tiny little iPod that had a belt hook, one smaller than the mini, and I thought it made me look like a total badass) and would alternate running for one song with walking for one song. After a few weeks of that, I decided to come up with my own method to get up to five miles, then ten miles, then ran my first half marathon (13.1 miles) one year after beginning running with a crappy half mile on a crappy treadmill, in a crappy over-crowded gym. This is what I did:
Week 1: Walk three songs, run one song, walk three songs, etc. for 30 min
Week 2: Walk three songs, run one song, walk three songs, etc. for 40 min
Week 3: Walk three songs, run one song, walk three songs, etc. for 50 min
Week 4: Walk three songs, run one song, walk three songs, etc. for 60 min
Week 5: Walk three songs, run two songs, walk three songs, etc. for 40 min
Week 6: Walk three songs, run two songs, walk three songs, etc. for 50 min
Week 7: Walk three songs, run two songs, walk three songs, etc. for 60 min
Week 8: Walk three songs, run three songs, walk three songs, etc. for 40 min
Week 9: Walk three songs, run three songs, walk three songs, etc. for 50 min
Week 10: Walk three songs, run three songs, walk three songs, etc. for 60 min
Week 11: Walk two songs, run three songs, walk two songs, etc. for 40min
Week 12: Walk two songs, run three songs, walk two songs, etc. for 50 min
Week 13: Walk two songs, run three songs, walk to songs, etc. for 60 min
Week 14: Walk one song, run three songs, walk one song, etc. 40 min
Week 15: Walk one song, run three songs, walk one song, etc. for 50 min
Week 16: Walk one song, run three songs, walk one song, etc. for 60 min
Week 17: Run for 30 minutes without walking
Once you can jog/run for thirty minutes without walking, CONGRATULATIONS! Now you will start to shift the focus to mileage. Don't increase your mileage by more than 10% a week, you will increase your odds of injury and then you'll experience how horrible it is to be a runner who cannot run. It sucks. I promise you. Don't try it.
I would hope this goes without saying, but when making your playlists, keep all of the songs similar in length. Your run songs should not be one minute songs while your walk ones are things like Bohemian Rhapsody and Celine Dion's seven minute tirades. The tempos can absolutely be different, but the time should be similar. It will help. Being over zealous and having the run songs significantly longer than the walk ones isn't a good idea, either. Again, injuries suck.
About three years in to my love affair with running, I misplaced my beloved badass tiny iPod and had to *gasp* run without music. It was not fun at all. By my third week without music, I began to listen to the sound of gravel under my feet (now one of my all time favorite sounds, second only to my husband asking what flavor frozen yogurt he should get me) and pay attention to my surroundings. I would look for squirrels, count how many red, green, blue, and hybrid cars would pass. If I was running on a trail, I'd let my mind wander to the episode of Law and Order: SVU I watched the night before and freak myself out, causing me to run faster. I ended up randomly ordering this super old book* from Amazon and have not run with music in four years. This includes two full marathons, a couple of 10K's, and a handful of half marathons. That's a lot of race day and training mileage with something you used to depend on.
Like any other form of exercise, stay hyrdrated--with water.
Happy Running! Feel free to contact me for more specific running plans.
* I was going to post a link to the book, but I can't find it on the Internet...probably an operator malfunction, but I'll look into it. I let someone borrow it, so I can't even take a picture, but it was called "Total Running" and had a purple cover. It's from the 70's and talks about running with your senses and a bunch of other zen-like stuff. I'm going to keep searching for it! Plus, it was like $0.99 and who doesn't love cheap?!
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