Hi all,
Am undertaking this training plan from another website (am about half way through) - would this be considered a good introduction?

Week 1
Run 2 minutes,
walk 4 minutes.
Repeat 5 times.

Week 2
Run 3 minutes,
walk 3 minutes.
Repeat five times.

Week 3
Run 5 minutes,
walk 2.5 minutes.
Repeat four times.

Week 4
Run 7 minutes,
walk 3 minutes.
Repeat three times.

Week 5
Run 8 minutes,
walk 2 minutes.
Repeat three times.

Week 6
Run 9 minutes,
walk 2 minutes.
Repeat twice, then
run 8 minutes.

Week 7
Run 9 minutes,
walk 1 minute.
Repeat three times

Week 8
Run 13 minutes,
walk 2 minutes.
Repeat twice.

Week 9
Run 14 minutes,
walk 1 minute.
Repeat twice.

Week 10
Run 30 minutes.

Cheers!

I'm not too sure I completely understand... so say for week one, do you run 2 then walk 4 mins five times (totalling 30mins) and that's it for the week? Or do that everyday that week? Either way I'd argue there were better schedules to get you started.

Yes sorry my post isnt very clear. It means in week 1 run/walk as suggested 4 times in that week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday). Then move onto week 2, and so on...
What might be better?

Cheers!

Hows the schedule suiting you? Perhaps I jumped in a bit ahead of myself without thinking that this schedule is to take you from not running at all to running a constant 30mins. Though I would maybe recommend that on the 4th run of the week, that you aim to do the same amount of time (in total) as it recommends but push yourself a little to run as long an interval as you can manage then walk for a minute and run again. e.g. Week six, go out for 30mins, run what you can (maybe 15mins) walk a minute, then run what you can again (maybe 10 mins), recover for a min, then run the remaining few minutes.

The only reason I say this is that the schedule is very generalised, some people who haven't ran before may find running 2 mins and walking 4 mins easy as anything, therefore the first couple of weeks may as well be skipped. Others may find it a struggle. The 'run as far as you can' day gives a chance to push yourself and has a few outcomes; It gives you something to compare each week to see how you're improving, It allows you to evaluate if the training programme is moving too fast or too slow for you, and also it gives a run that really pushes you each week.

As I often say, others may well give you different advice, but that would be my approach If you have a Heart Rate Monitor, then there's a great book "Heart Monitor Training for the Compleat Idiot" (yes i know it's spelt funnny, lol) by John L Parker, which has some great introductory schedules based on your HR, meaning the schedule should be the perfect intensity for anyone as the effort is based on that persons HR.

Either way Good Luck

Hi Finchy

I seem to have started the same kind of program as soon, mine was from the cool runnings site and was called the "couch to 5k challenge".

I am or was well over weight, not done any excercise for several years and decided I needed to do something about it and that schedule and this website were the best places to start. Mine started off by running 60 seconds and walking 60 seconds and repeating 10 times and then progressing. I must admit the first week was tough as I just hadnt done anything like excercise for ages but im pleased to say im now on week 10 of the schedule and running 30 minutes non stop 3 times a week.

Good luck and keep us informed of your progress.

Thanks for your replys.
This schedule is (kind of) fine for me I think - I have ended up doing a bit of a variation on it in fact...
It will take me longer to get to running 30 minutes straight through, but I do run go out running/walking(!) more often (generally 5 or 6 days a week).
I might push myself more now. I have cut out boozing at home now which was holding me up a bit I think...

Finchy, just remember to incorporate rest days as part of your training plan, especially if you are planning to push yourself more as well.

Take it steady, overtraining to early is a quick way to pick up an injury.

injury's are BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD, and so bloody frustrating! So as Granty says, take time to rest and recover!

I'm new to running.

I started 8 days ago and did 2 miles on the treadmill. That was week one done.

This week I did 2 miles on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That was because it fitted with my shifts and they were times when the kids were in school. So thats a total of 6 miles.

My plan is to increase my weekly total distance by about 10% by increasing the distance of one of the runs each week. Should I increase them all equally or should I make it so that one of them is much longer?

I don't want to do too much too soon as I have had knee and hip problems in the past (I was carrying nearly 2 stone more than I do now, though). At what point can I sensibly start a training schedule towards a 10k?

Hi

Running schedules from web sites or magazines are a guide only, you must then alter them accordingly to suit yourself.

When writing a beginners schedule, you are writing for people who may not have walked to the shop for ten years, whilst others may be quite fit, due to their job.

Use the schedule as a guide, if you feel you can do more, do so. Set yourself goals, make them achievable, good luck

Paul Fletcher
UK Athletics Coach. B.Ed