How to Get Started Running For Fitness

Running is a great way to exercise for cardiovascular fitness, overall health, and to lose or maintain your ideal body weight. Running is also enjoyed by many as a great stress reliever, especially when choosing to run outdoors. Getting fresh air after working indoors all day and enjoying the beautiful outdoor scenery is a nice perk of running.

If you want to experience all these benefits, or even just a few, there are some steps to take to get you started in the world of running. It takes time and dedication, but with patience, you will easily begin to accumulate miles on your running shoes.

(Photo credit: Grand Canyon NPS)

Set Your Goals

No matter if your goal is to increase your physical activity level or to lose weight, the first step to starting a running program is to set goals specific to you. When you set goals that are personal to you, and are achievable, you will be more likely to stick to obtaining your goal.

Obtain Medical Clearance

If you have never exercised, it is important that you make an appointment to see your medical doctor. Ask for a complete physical, and let your doctor know that you are considering starting a running program. He or she will be able to tell you if a running program is appropriate to your current health.

Plan Running Days

You should make a commitment to schedule time in your busy calendar for a running session. Anywhere from three to five times a week, beginning with a minimum of 10 minutes, is great to start a running program. You can slowly build up this time, but in the beginning, your focus in on making that commitment to running.

ASICS stability running shoes, model GEL-Kinsei (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Purchase the Right Running Shoes

With each sport, there is certain equipment that is needed to protect you from injury. Running is no different. When it comes to running shoes, ensure that you purchase shoes that are designed specifically for running – not walking or cross-training – just running.

Running shoes have more cushion and support that is needed for this kind of exercise. If you are unsure as to which running shoes are good for you, visit a sporting store that sells running shoes and speak to a professional sales person. He or she will be able to guide you in your particular needs. Also see our earlier post on how to choose the right running shoe.

Build Your Endurance

Now that you are prepared, it’s time to begin your running program. Don’t start off by thinking that you have to run fast and run many miles. In the beginning, focus just on time spent running. If you start off running too fast, too soon, you could be setting yourself up for injury, which will ruin your running goals.

To begin, start with a brisk walk for about two minutes and run slowly to moderately for one minute. Keep repeating this process until you have completed 10 minutes. You can slowly increase this time to 20 minutes as you feel stronger. Once you are at 20 minutes, try increasing your running time to your walking time. For example, run for four minutes and walk for one minute.

You can then slowly increase this time to 30 minutes. Once you are running more, you will notice that you are covering more distance. This is a great time to start re-analyzing your goals if you just want to keep running just for weight loss or weight maintenance at 30 minute sessions, or whether you want to get into long-distance running and races.

Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we share some tips for starting a regular running practice, and even working up to running some races if that's one of your goals!

How to Design a Running Program That Meets Your Goals

Firstly I would like to apologize for the lack of posts last week. As it turned out, I came down with the flu, and was unable to work at all for several days - I guess it served me right for not getting the rest I needed.... I do tend to be quite the workaholic sometimes!  But we're back in action, and this week we're going to talk a bit more about running.

Okay, so you like to run, or you just want a fun new exercise program and you’re ready to get started running but you’re not sure how? One of the best ways to get started running is to sit down and plan it out. What do you want to accomplish and how will you get the job done? There are many running programs available online. However, you have your own goals and needs; why not create your own running program? Here’s how:

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Step One: What are Your Running Goals?
Why are you running and what do you hope to achieve? Are you running to lose weight? Are you planning to run a 5-K or other race? This is the first thing to write down before you start creating your running program. Everything else you do from this point on will support your goals and motivation.

Step Two: How Much Do You Have to Put In?

In this step you’re looking at the tangibles. How much time do you have each day? How far can you run in that time? When will you run? Start writing down the details. In the next step you’ll begin to pull them all together.

Step Three: Do the Math

Grab your calculator for this step. At this point you probably have a lot of information but no real plan. Now you’re going to start pulling it all together to accomplish your goals. This step is best explained with an example.

Sue is running to lose weight. She wants to lose 1 pound a week. She can run three times a week and she has 45-60 minutes to get the job done. Now it’s time for the math. Sue knows that a pound is 3500 calories. She also knows that by walking fast and running for an hour she’ll burn about 500 calories. If she runs three times a week she’ll burn 1500 calories. In order to lose a pound a week, she’d need to run seven times a week for an hour. This doesn't seem doable, so Sue knows she needs to cut her calories a bit more. This information gives her power. She can now plan her week and her weight loss.

Here’s another example, Joe wants to run a 5K. That’s 3.1 miles. He has signed up for the race and it is two months away. Joe can run every day for thirty minutes. At ten minutes a mile that’s enough time to get three miles in each day. However, Joe is new to running so he will be walking and running for the first few weeks until he can run the full distance. Joe gives himself a month to reach that goal.

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He starts by walking for five minutes and running for one and gradually adds running time. Running three times a week he has twelve runs to reach his goal of running for three miles straight. The second month Joe knows he has to start working on running faster. Each week he strives to decrease his overall time by a minute. He does this by running intervals two days a week. He increases his speed and lowers his overall time. In two months Joe will be ready for race day.

Start with your goal. Add what you know and need to work with then do the math to see what is possible. It is important to your health and safety that you take it slow. If you’re new to running give yourself time. Pushing too hard and doing too much right away is a sure way to get injured and sick, which could derail your progress and defeat the purpose.

So what about staying motivated to reach your goals? Check back Thursday, as we'll talk about this next....