May 2012
Hope you’re well in to the swing of the running at this stage. You should be running 20 minutes comfortably at this stage. To build on your fitness there are a few more things we can do. The first is to extend the time that you are running for so we need to build it up to 30 minutes. It’s actually much easier to add this time than it is at the start. The second way to build fitness is to start running a bit faster. The third way to get fitter is to add another days running so that you are running 4 days instead of 3. It is important that you add one of these 3 options one at a time. Don’t think by doing it all at once that you’ll get there faster. There is a danger of injury otherwise.
So for the next 3 weeks add another 20 min run so you are doing 4 20 min runs a week. After 3-4 weeks extend one of the runs to 22 mins and add 2 mins a week so that in 5 weeks you are running 30 mins. With this plan you will be doing 3 20 min runs and 1 longer run at 30 mins.
When you feel comfortable with this, you can try a fartlek type session with one of the runs. In the 20 min run, try the following: warm up for 5 min, then run a little faster for 1 min and then recover at your normal pace for 2 min. Repeat this 5 times and then recover for the remaining minutes. You’ll find this more challenging than a straight run but the benefits are great. The idea is to get you more out of breath and challenge heart and lungs to the next level.
In 8 weeks time your schedule should be the following:
Mon: 20 min run comfortable pace
Wed: 20 min fartlek session
Fri: 20 min run comfortable pace
Sat 30 min run.
You’ll really see the changes when you start doing all of the above. You’ll be able to run further and run faster. Get those runners on and get going!!