Running For Fitness

When you are running you should aim to train like a professional runner; you should train properly even if you are only a fun runner or just running for fitness. With this in mind I thought that I would dig out one of my old training plans for you to follow.

The first step is to get your doctor to check that you are fit and well. Next start running once every three days, if you find this tough try running for five minutes and then walking for five minutes.

Build up to the point where you can comfortably run for thirty to fourty minutes without walking. Now that you have a solid base we can look at a simple workout plan. You should run every other day and put a long (over an hour) run in once a week.

The rest of the week you should run for thirty to fourty minutes at a steady pace. After a couple of weeks of this then you should start building in a quicker run once a week.

A simple plan might be Monday is a recovery run (easy run), Wednesday a quick run of thirty minutes and then Friday or Saturday, a long easy run.

For our fast session we want to make sure that we are properly warmed up. Start jogging slowly and build until you are feeling comfortable.

Then start slowly again and build into a semi-sprint. When you start to feel the burn, back off. When you feel ready to go again then start to build the pace again.

When starting out you might only get five or six of these sprints into a session but as you feel fitter you should build up the time and distance of your sprints while shortening the recovery.

Take the next couple of days as rest days and then when you feel ready to run again you should put in a long slow run and start your training week again.

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