How To Create Your Own Running Program

Do you want to get into running and just aren't sure how to start?

You came to the right place. 

This is going to be general guide for beginners or people coming back to running after a long time to help you to build up your own program. 

Things I will be covering

• Where to start and how to progress

• General tips

• Reminders

Where should you start?

You can do anywhere from 3-7 days a week. Though, I would recommend starting out with 3 days a week and either resting or cross training on the other days. At the very least have 1 rest day. 

Start with your current ability level and start slow. A common recommendation is to go out for 30 minutes and walk for 1 minute and jog for 2 minutes. If that works for you, great! I have found that it makes the workout feel like it lasts forever. 

Starting from nothing: If you have not been engaging in any kind of physical activity, namely walking and you want to work up to running then you need to start with walks. Go out for 10 minutes then 20 then 30. Once that feels easy and doable you move onto the next step. 

Sample:

Monday: 10-30 minute walk

Tuesday: Cross train

Wednesday: 20 minute walk

Thursday: rest

Friday: 20 minute walk

Saturday: cross train

Sunday: rest

Starting from walking: You’ve gotten into the swing of walking, you do it most days if not every day and you can go for at least 30 minutes. Now lets work you up to 2 miles then a 5k (fairly common goal and there are plenty of ‘races’ you can enter once you get to that point).

Here you want to start with the walk, jog combo, for a set length of time. Let’s say we are going to go out and walk/jog for 30 minutes, we can split that into sections of 5, walk for 5 minutes, jog for 5 minutes. Depending on how easy or hard that is you can change the running time. 

Sample: 

Monday: cross training

Tuesday: 1.5 miles (walk/jog)

Wednesday: cross training

Thursday: 2 miles (walk/jog)

Friday rest

Saturday cross training

Sunday: 1.5 miles (walk/jog)

Starting from walk/jog: Once you get to the point you hardly need to walk we can start focusing on increasing the time and or distance. Some people find it more helpful to focus on the time they are out while others like to measure how far they go. Let’s shoot for 3 miles. If we need to, we can incorporate walking times (3 minute walking sections and 7 minutes jogging or even 10 minutes) 

Sample:

Monday: 2 miles (jog)

Tuesday: cross training

Wednesday: 2.5 miles (job)

: cross train

Friday: 2.25 miles (jog)

Saturday: cross train

Sunday: rest

Starting from jogging: Once 3 miles starts to become easy we can go one of two ways. Focusing on endurance or increasing our speed. With endurance we will slowly increase our distance with no mind to how long it takes us. You can increase it by .25, .5, or 1 miles.

To focus increasing speed there are a couple different techniques you can use. I will use Fartlek's as an example. During your run you will select a portion of it where you will run just a little faster than what you are used to, it can be a time like 3-5 minutes or a distance from where you are to a tree. 

Sample 1 (endurance):

Monday: rest

Tuesday: 3 miles (j0g)

Wednesday: cross train

Thursday: 3.5 miles (jog)

Friday: cross train

Saturday: 3 miles (jog)

Sunday: cross train

Sample 2 (speed work)

Monday: 3 mile with 5 sections or 1 mile of increased speed (run/jog)

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: 3.25 with 6 sections or 1.25 miles of increased speed (run/jog)

Thursday: cross train

Friday: 2.75 with 3 sections or .5 miles of increased speed (run/jog)

Saturday: cross train

Sunday: 3 miles with 4 sections or .75 miles of increased speed (run/jog)

You got it from there. 

General Tips:

Incorporate a warm up: it doesn't have to be longer than 5 minutes. Best time for dynamic stretching

Incorporate a cool down: great time for static stretching

Learn to pace yourself: Pacing is something that can be hard to grasp if you’ve never done it. Think of it as the speed you can keep the whole distance you plan on running. You will understand your pace the more you run.

Don't increase your intensity too fast: Overuse injuries are extremely common in people starting out a running program. Take care of your body and take rest days

Dress for the weather and your body temp: Right now it's winter and some people will go out in shorts, a layered long sleeve, gloves and a hat. While others will be in leggings a sweat shirt and gloves. Dressing for the weather will look different depending on how your body temperature fluctuates when you exercise. You can always take layers off. 

HYDRATE: Making sure you are getting the fluids and electrolytes back into your body that you expend. Don’t hesitate to take water and or snacks on a run even if its not like 10 miles. 

Cross Train: This just means doing another activity besides running, it helps rest certain parts of your body and helps prevent injury. Some examples include; swimming, cycling, hiking, yoga/Pilates, lifting weights. You can get creative with it. 

Heart Rate Zones: Unless you have a preexisting hear or lung condition you do not need to worry about heart rate zones when you are first starting out.

Reminders:

A certain body type does not make you a runner

You do not need to take part in races in order to be runner

Your pace does not determine if you are a runner or not

Start slow and keep going

It will get easier

Take care of your body

Trial and error is part of the process

I hope this provides a general guide on where to start when creating a running/jogging/walking program for yourself