Running training is split into various phases coinciding with an athlete’s goals.  For simplicity this program is designed for a beginner around 2 phases. 

Phase 1 or Start up phase – getting off the couch for those who are currently participating in minimal or no aerobic exercise.

Phase 2 or Build up phase – increasing intensity and distance

 
Phase 1

1.  Walk 5min to start and get your body warmed up a little.  Do some stretches.

2.  Start to jog at a pace at which you can easily maintain a regular breathing pattern for as long as possible.  Time how long you can run at this pace for and once you are puffed then stop and walk for 5 minutes again.

3.  Keep alternating the walk jog walk for 35 minutes for you first session.  You may find that there is more walking than jogging to start off with.

4.  Make sure you finish the session with a 5 minute walk and stretches.

Each time you go out for you walk/jog, try to increase the amount of jogging time by approximately at least 10%.  For example, if each jog only lasts 2 minutes on day 1, then on day 2, increase the time you jog for to 2 minutes 12 sec (10% of 120seconds = 12 sec). 

Tips

• If you feel you can run further, there is nothing wrong with trying.  Everyone is different and you know your body’s capabilities best.
• You may choose to just do one jog and the rest walking and increase just that one jog.  Don’t worry how fast or how slow you are going as speed comes with an increase in muscle strength over time.  For the first couple of months, the main focus is to increase the distance or the time you are able to run for.
• It is important to start strength and flexibility exercises at the same time if you haven’t already been doing them.  These may assist in avoiding injury and increasing your strength and speed at a faster rate.  You may find it easier to alternate your sessions between going out for a run/walk and spending time on strength sessions.  Cross training with another sport or activity is also beneficial in this early phase.
• If you miss a session, a cycle or even a month or too - don’t stress!  Just start slowly again.  There is no point dwelling on what you’ve missed, but there are plenty of reasons for refocussing on what you want to achieve. 

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Phase 2

After 2 or 3 months, depending upon your age, health or body type, you should be able to comfortably run 5km non-stop.  It is time to change the program and incorporate more variety with a little speed and a little more distance to keep strengthening muscles and increasing your level of fitness. 

This stage of the program is described as a training cycle.  At the start of this phase, you may enjoy entering a fun run to see what sort of time you can do. This is a great way to really see what you’ve achieved over the previous 8-14 weeks.

Some runners choose to just go for the same run at the same speed each time they go out but eventually improvement is limited.  By mixing up the program with hills and different speed runs, not only is the monotony eradicated but sometimes you can squeeze in a quicker shorter speed session without having to put aside so much time for the usual long loping run! 

The number of sessions you are able to do each week may depend upon your work and family schedule.  Some runners train 6 days per week and elite athletes often train at least twice per day.  However, most of us have other commitments which restrict our time. 

So instead of describing these sessions in a weekly cycle, you decide how long you want your training cycle to be.  It may be 1 week or as long as 3 weeks. During each training cycle you should include a session of each of the following types of runs. 

Long Run
Tempo Run
Fartlek
Hill Sprints
Recovery Runs
Rest Days



Increasing Intensity and Distance

It is important to increase mileage and intensity slowly to avoid injury.  You also should feel good and refreshed later in the day or evening after training, not zonked.  The whole idea of exercise is to increase your energy levels, not feel exhausted all the time so take things slowly.  Your times and fitness will improve naturally, you shouldn’t have to force it.

Keep a track of how many miles you do each cycle.  Many sources recommend that mileage should increase by no more than 10% each cycle. 

After 3 months again, you may find you are ready for the next phase – further increases in speed but maintaining distance.

Long Run

Run at a comfortable speed at which you do not get puffed.  This is the longest run of the cycle.  The aim is also to maintain consistency so you should be able to run all the way in this session.  It doesn’t matter how slow you go in this second phase.

Tempo Run

Jog for 10 minutes to warm up, stretch, then run as fast as you can for at least a few minutes to begin with. This is not a sprint so you will need to be able to maintain a regular breathing pattern but your breaths are much deeper and harder.  Finish off with a 10 minute slow jog warm down and further stretching.  If you are racing regularly with a club, in events or with other groups, you may count that as your tempo run.  It’s a good idea to diarise the times so that you can see how your running is improving.

Fartlek

This is a Swedish word meaning ‘speed play’.  In this session you jog to warm up for 10 minutes, then alternate between a fast run and a slow run. 

There are many different ways to do fartlek depending on how far or for how long you want to run hard.  Here are some variations.

• Run hard for a minute then jog for 3 minutes
• Sprint for 100m then jog for 500m
• Run at 5km race pace for 400m then jog for 400m
• Sprint between 2 telegraph poles, jog for 2 telegraph poles, walk for 2 telegraph poles!

 Choose whichever method you like or make up your own, depending on how you feel on the day and what level of fitness you have. 

Hill Sprints

Jog for 10 minutes to warm up, stretch, then run 4-6 hills as fast as you can (remember to not use all your energy in the first one – you have at least 4 to do!) and either walk back down or jog back down to recover. 

Try to keep the same recovery time in between each hill sprint.  This may be 2-5 minutes or even longer if you are running a circuit to get back to the hill.  Pick the length and angle of the hill you want to run depending on what your level of fitness is.  This may be a trial and error judgement, although few find any sort of hill easy.

Recovery Runs

After any tempo run or if you feel heavy from training or just feel off for the day, a recovery run is a great way to rejuvenate.  Go out for an easy jog at a pace which you can comfortably breathe regularly but easily and can carry on a conversation. 

Distance should be equivalent to what you have been racing or shorter if you feel really flat.  Alternatively stick to around 30 minutes or less. 

At this stage, you may find you need a couple of recovery runs each cycle.  Early in this phase it may be easier to do a recovery run every second session then as fitness improves, slowly drop the recovery runs to once a week – which can take months as I have found from personal experience.

Rest Days

At this stage, if you have just started running in the last few months, you may need a rest day more than once in each cycle.  If you still feel flat after a recovery run or if you have any pain, regardless of how small or insignificant you may think that pain is, take a day off.  It won’t hurt. 

Listen to your body.  It needs time to heal especially during this phase as you are continually increasing intensity and increasing distance.