I found an 8 week long program in the magazine pages I kept to ease back into running. I'm excited to get started and work up to a 5k. It would be great to run the 5k for homecoming at Concordia- but that might be a bit too soon for me to run that far.
Here's the program I'm starting from Fitness R/X magazine in August 2006:
Week 1:
Monday: Walk for 20 minutes at a comfortable pace. Since this is your first workout, take it nice and easy. Walk at a pace that gets your heart rate up and makes you breathe heavier than normal, but you shouldn't be out of breath.
Tuesday: Walk for 30 minutes at a comfortable pace.
Wednesday: Walk for 30 minutes at a comfortable pace.
Thursday: Walk /jog for 30 minutes. Walk for five minutes and then jog for 30 seconds. Follow that sequence for the entire workout. This is your first taste of running. Don't run for more than 30 seconds at a time. Run at a pace that is fairly comfortable.
Friday: Rest. Let your body recover from its first encounter with running.
Saturday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for 5 minutes, jog for 30 seconds. This is the same workout as Thursday. Keep your pace comfortable.
Sunday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. You make a slight increase in the jogging interval here. Walk for five minutes and jog for one minute. You'll start making consistent increases in the time of your running intervals.
Week 2:
Monday: Rest. Every Monday is a rest day in this program.
Tuesday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for five minutes and jog for one minute. Keep the pace fairly comfortable.
Wednesday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. This will be an easy day. Walk for five minutes and jog for 30 seconds.
Thursday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for five minutes and jog for one minute.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for five minutes and jog for two minutes.
Sunday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for five minutes and jog for two minutes.
Week 3:
Monday: Rest.
Tuesday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for five minutes and jog for three minutes. Keep the pace nice and easy.
Wednesday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for five minutes and jog for two minutes.
Thursday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for five minutes and jog for three minutes.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for five minutes, jog for four minutes.
Sunday:Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for five minutes, jog for four minutes.
Week 4:
Monday: Rest.
Tuesday: Walk for 30 minutes. You eliminate the running portion for this workout because you have made a lot of increases in the last two weeks. This will give your body a little more rest this week.
Wednesday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for five minutes, jog for five minutes. You are now jogging as much as you are walking. Remember to keep the pace fairly comfortable.
Thursday: Walk/ jog for 30 minutes. Walk for five minutes, jog for four minutes. You back off a bit today to recover from yesterday's harder workout.
Friday: Rest..
Saturday: Today you'll start to decrease the amount of your walking intervals. Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for four minutes, jog for five minutes.
Sunday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for four minutes and jog for five minutes.
Week 5:
Monday:Rest.
Tuesday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. You'll make another decrease in your walking interval today. Walk for three minutes, jog for five minutes.
Wednesday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for four minutes and jog for five minutes.
Thursday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for three minutes, and jog for five minutes.
Friday: Rest or cross train.
Saturday: Walk/ jog for 30 minutes. Decrease your walking interval to two minutes. Walk two minutes, jog for five minutes.
Sunday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for two minutes and jog for five minutes.
Week 6:
Monday: Rest.
Tuesday: Walk/jog for thirty minutes. Decrease your walking interval to one minute. Walkd for one minute and jog for five minutes. If at any time you feel you're struggling, back off to the prior week or to a point at which you feel more comfortable. Remember, however, that you must push yourself to make improvements.
Wednesday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for two minutes and jog for five minutes.
Thursday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for one minute and jog for five minutes.
Friday: Rest.
Saturday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Today, you'll decrease your walking interval to 30 seconds. Walk for 30 seconds and jog for five minutes.
Sunday: Walk/ jog for 30 minutes. Walk for 30 seconds and jog for five minutes.
Week 7:
Monday: Rest.
Tuesday: Today you're going to do something different. Warm up with vigorous walking for 10 minutes and then jog 2x1 mile repeats. To perform this workout, jog one mile and then walk for five minutes. Then jog another mile. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
Wednesday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for 30 seconds, jog for five minutes.
Thursday: you'll extend the distance of your workout today. After a 10 minute warm up, jog for 1.25 miles. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
Friday: Rest.
Saturday: Warm up for 10 minutes. Jog 2x1 mile repeats. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
Sunday: You'll extend your workout again today. Warm up by walking 10 minutes. Jog for 1.5 miles. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
Week 8:
Monday: Rest.
Tuesday: Warm up by walking 10 minutes. Jog 2x1 mile repeats. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
Wednesday: Walk/jog for 30 minutes. Walk for 30 seconds, jog for five minutes.
Thursday: Warm up by walking for 10 minutes. Jog for 1.75 miles. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
Friday: Rest.
Saturday: Warm up with 10 minutes of walking. Jog for two miles. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
Sunday: Warm up for 10 minutes. Jog for 2.25 miles. Cool down with 10 minutes of walking.
