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Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four
Week Five
Week Six
Week Seven
Week Eight
Week Nine
Here
at Kick! we believe in starting off easy. Too many people have been turned
off of running simply by trying to start off too fast. Their bodies rebel,
and they wind up miserable, wondering why anyone would possibly want to do
this to themselves.
You
should ease into your running program gradually. In fact, the beginners'
program we outline here is less of a running regimen than a walking and
jogging program. The idea is to transform you from couch potato to runner,
getting you running three miles regularly in just two months.
It's
easy to get impatient, and you may feel tempted to skip ahead in the
program, but hold yourself back. Don't try to do more, even if you feel
you can. If, on the other hand, you find the program too strenuous, just
stretch it out. Don't feel pressured to continue faster than you're able.
Repeat weeks if needed and move ahead only when you feel you're ready.
Each
session should take about 20 or 30 minutes, three times a week. That just
happens to be the same amount of moderate exercise recommended by numerous
studies for optimum fitness. This program will get you fit. (Runners who
do more than this amount are doing it for more than fitness, and before
long you might find yourself doing the same as well).
Be
sure to space out these three days throughout the week to give yourself a
chance to rest and recover between efforts. And don't worry about how fast
you're going. Running faster can wait until your bones are stronger and
your body is fitter. For now focus on gradually increasing the time or
distance you run.
There
are two ways to follow this program, to measure your runs by time or by
distance. Either one works just as well, choose the option that seems
easiest for you to keep track of. Both methods are presented for each
workout. The distance option is in blue, and
the time option is in green.
If
you go with the distance option, and you are not using a track to measure
the distances, just estimate. It's not important to have the distances
absolutely exact.
Before
setting out, make sure to precede each session with a five-minute warmup
walk or jog. Be sure to stretch both before and after
Before
getting on with the details of the running program, you might want to
bookmark this page so that you can easily return to check on your
progress.
Week One
- Same
workout for all three days:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: Alternate jogging and walking every 100 yards for one mile
(that's sixteen 100-yard segments, or eight each of walking and
jogging). Walking segments should be brisk.
- Time
option: Alternate jogging and walking, with 60 seconds of jogging and
90 seconds of walking. Do this for a total of 20 minutes.
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Week Two
- Same
workout for all three days:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: Alternate jogging and walking every 200 yards for 1.25 miles
(that's ten 200-yard segments, or five each of walking and jogging).
- Time
option: Alternate jogging and walking, with 90 seconds of jogging and
2 minutes of walking. Do this for a total of 20 minutes.
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Week Three
- Same
workout for all three days:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: Alternate jogging and walking, varying the segments between
200 and 400 yards, for a total of 1.5 miles. That means you should do
two repetitions of the following:
- Jog
200 yards.
- Walk
200 yards.
- Jog
400 yards.
- Walk
400 yards.
- Time
option: Alternate jogging and walking, doing each for the same amount
of time. Vary the segments between 90 seconds and three minutes. That
means you should do two repetitions of the following:
- Jog
for 90 seconds.
- Walk
for 90 seconds.
- Jog
for three minutes.
- Walk
for three minutes.
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Week Four
- Same
workout for all three days:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: Alternate jogging and walking, but walk only half the distance
of each jog. Vary the jogging segments between 1/4 and 1/2 mile, for a
total of 2 miles:
- Jog
1/4 mile.
- Walk
1/8 mile.
- Jog
1/2 mile.
- Walk
1/4 mile.
- Jog
1/4 mile.
- Walk
1/8 mile.
- Jog
1/2 mile.
- Time
option: Alternate jogging and walking, but walk only half the time you
spend jogging. Vary the jogging segments between three minutes and
five minutes, so that you do two jogging segments of each:
- Jog
for three minutes.
- Walk
for 90 seconds.
- Jog
for five minutes.
- Walk
for 2-1/2 minutes.
- Jog
for three minutes.
- Walk
for 90 seconds.
- Jog
for five minutes.
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Week Five
- Day
One:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: 1/2 mile jog, 1/4 mile walk, 1/2 mile jog, 1/4 mile walk, 1/2
mile jog. Total two miles.
- Time
option: jog five minutes, walk three minutes, jog five minutes, walk
three minutes, jog five minutes.
- Day
Two:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: 3/4 mile jog, 1/2 mile walk, 3/4 mile jog. Total two miles.
- Time
option: jog eight minutes, walk five minutes, jog eight minutes.
- Day
Three:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: 2 mile jog, no walking.
- Time
option: jog 20 minutes, no walking.
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Week Six
- Day
One:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: 1/2 mile jog, 1/4 mile walk, 3/4 mile jog, 1/4 mile walk, 1/2
mile jog. Total 2.25 miles.
- Time
option: jog five minutes, walk three minutes, jog eight minutes, walk
three minutes, jog five minutes.
- Day
Two:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: 1 mile jog, 1/4 mile walk, 1 mile jog. Total 2.25 miles.
- Time
option: jog ten minutes, walk three minutes, jog ten minutes.
- Day
Three:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: 2.25 mile jog, no walking.
- Time
option: jog 25 minutes, no walking.
All
jogging from now on. Feel free to vary the pace of the jog if needed.
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Week Seven
- Same
workout all three days:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: 2.5 mile jog.
- Time
option: jog 25 minutes.
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Week Eight
- Same
workout all three days:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: 2.75 mile jog.
- Time
option: jog 28 minutes.
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Week Nine
- Same
workout all three days:
Do a brisk five-minute warmup walk.
- Distance
option: 3 mile jog.
- Time
option: jog 30 minutes.
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Taken from www.kicksports.com
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