This is a post for all of us who have a few extra pounds around our waist and cannot simply decide to go run 10 miles today.
What Is My Running Plan?
Simply, my plan is to do a 5K in November in under 30 minutes.
I have done the Jeff Galloway approach over the last couple years, which is a run/walk method. It is very effective.
However, this time I don’t want to do the walk part. I want to run the full 5K (3.1 miles) without walking. I’ve done it before, but I got so used to doing the Jeff Galloway approach, I feel like it made me weaker in the endurance area.
Working up to running it will take some time.
So, here’s my plan:
Week 1 – run 2 minutes, walk 2 minutes – 8 times for a total of 32 minutes.
Week 2 – run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes – 6 times for a total of 30 minutes.
Week 3 – run 4 minutes, walk 2 minutes – 5 times for a total of 32 minutes.
Week 4 – run 5 minutes, walk 2 minutes – 5 times for a total of 35 minutes.
Week 5 – run 6 minutes, walk 2 minutes – 4 times for a total of 32 minutes.
Week 6 – run 8 minutes, walk 2 minutes – 3 times for a total of 30 minutes.
Week 7 – run 10 minutes, walk 2 minutes – 3 times for a total of 36 minutes.
Week 8 – run 12 minutes, walk 2 minutes – 3 times for a total of 42 minutes.
Week 9 – run 15 minutes, walk 2 minutes – 2 times for a total of 34 minutes.
Week 10 – run 30 minutes
Week 11 and onward – run 30-40 minutes, doing speed training and hills once per week to improve my speed. One of my runs per week will probably be longer – 4 – 5 miles.
I run every other day. My knees and body do not work well running every day.
That’s pretty much it. Run 30-40 minutes every other day, taking 10 weeks to build up to running the full 3.1 miles without walking.
And… as a side note, I’ve lost 8 pounds in 5 days 🙂