To People Who Want To Run - but don’t know where to start

If you’ve been thinking about getting into running and can’t bring yourself to start, I have to remind you that you have run before! 

We’ve all run at some point, whether it was team sports growing up, on the schoolyard, or running around a playground trying to get to the good swing first! 

So rather than viewing it as starting your running journey, let’s frame it as reintroducing running into your routine.

You were made to run 

Running is something innate to us as humans, because our bodies are physiologically designed to run.

Making this realisation is important. Running is something you were made to do, and something you have already done at many points in your life. 

Which begs the question… Why do we ever stop? 

There can be many reasons for this. Maybe you have a bad relationship with running, perhaps you don’t have a need for it, or maybe you were working on something else. 

Whatever the reason, I’m a strong believer that we should be doing what our bodies were designed to do, so let’s think about how we can start again. 

Kickstart Your Running Journey

Depending on how long it has been since you’ve gone for a run, and what you have been doing in the meantime will influence how you reintroduce running into your routine.

“I haven’t done any exercise for years” is going to look different to “I have been lifting weights and doing various conditioning exercises consistently for the last 10 years”, but the general premise is the same. Use rational thinking to see where you would start on the steps below based on how active you’ve been in recent times.

Purpose

Before beginning anything it’s important to know the purpose behind why you’re doing it to help drive adherence. Do your best to identify your purpose and make it specific and meaningful. I will be releasing another article to aid this process at a later date.

Walking

If you have been relatively sedentary for an extended period of time, it’s important to focus on getting your body moving consistently. So walking is a great place to start. Aim for 2-3 days per week initially and build up to 5-7 over a 4-week period. Start at 20 to 30 minutes, then build up to at least one hour per week. 

Walk Run

Next, start introducing segments of running into your sessions. You might start with 1 minute run, 1-minute walk, then build to 3-minute intervals. Once you’ve got beyond 3 minutes, start making the walking intervals half the run interval, until you reach 10 minutes of running. Apply this to the same frequency and overall duration as walking. Don’t worry too much about how fast you’re running, just aim to go at a pace that feels natural.

Continuous running

Now you can start aiming for continuous runs, starting with half your weekly sessions as easy continuous runs and half maintaining the intervals above, but gradually increasing how fast you run the intervals. Ensure the continuous runs are done at an easy pace, where you could be having a conversation at the same time (you should be able to breathe through your nose comfortably).

Try to build your capacity over 4-week blocks from walks, to walk runs, to continuous runs. After 12 weeks you will have found your stride. 

And I guarantee if you get to the point where you can go on continuous runs, you will be yearning for more. The sky's the limit once you start to build momentum, and your body will love you for it. 

At this point, you will want to see what you are capable of, whether it be a 5km run, 10km run, or even a marathon. 

I have general running programs available to help with that, depending on your level of fitness. Alternatively, I provide personalised coaching. 

As a running coach, I work with you to tailor a program specific for you - your training history, your goals, your schedule, and anything else that is important to you. If this is something you would be interested in, click the button below to get in touch with me and book a free discovery call.

Yours in running and life,

Daniel Lucchini