Training Plan Running Level 1

When someone decides to start running, they usually want to start running immediately. They put on their shoes, go out, start running, and then somewhere between three hundred meters and one and a half kilometers later, they realize that this whole thing seemed like a much better idea while sitting on the couch at home. They run out of breath, their legs start to ache, their heart is pounding, and it’s right about at this point that they start bargaining with themselves as to whether they really need this whole thing anyway. By the time they get home, they already know exactly that they won't be running tomorrow, but at least the new running shoes have been bought, and the agreement is made that we'll start over on Monday. Which Monday, however, is less important.

This is exactly what I want to avoid, because this program was not created to prove to you on the very first day how out of shape you are. You probably already know that anyway; you don’t need twenty minutes of suffering to figure it out. This program has a completely different logic, because we don’t start from what you could somehow endure once with gritted teeth, but from what you can do consistently. And there is a huge difference between the two.

You can endure a lot of things for a single session. You can walk ten kilometers, you can run five, even if you feel like you’re dying four times over, and then somehow you stumble home, only to walk like you’ve been beaten up the next day. But that doesn’t make you any fitter. Real progress begins when you do something on Tuesday, you are able to do it again on Friday, then the next week too, and then suddenly, after two or three weeks, you notice that what was a burden the first time is now completely natural, and that is exactly what we are going to build up.

If you haven't exercised regularly for a long time, you first need to re-accustom your body to the very simple act of working physically several times a week. Not hard, not heroically, not in a way that leaves you limping proudly for two days afterward, but simply consistently. The trinity of walking, brisk walking, and jogging is perfect for this. Your legs begin to work, your ankles, knees, and hips get loaded, while the impact is much lower than running. In other words, we start to build the foundation upon which running can later be added.

The first level is for someone just starting to move, and, of course, for those who are carrying an extra twenty or thirty kilos, or as much as you want. Running shouldn't be a special event, it shouldn't be an all-day mental preparation, and you shouldn't have to stress from three in the afternoon that you HAVE to work out tonight.

By the end of this level, I want it to be natural for you to work out 3 times a week, and for you to be able to move continuously and comfortably for 20–40 minutes. Not while struggling for your life, not while doing the last ten minutes just because if you quit, it would be yet another failure in a long line of disappointments, after which months would have to pass before you forget this defeat.

WEEKLY PROGRAM

Day	Task
Monday	5 min brisk walk + 20 min comfortable walk + 2 min jog
Tuesday	Rest
Wednesday	5 min light walk + 10 min brisk walk + 5 min light walk + 3 min jog
Thursday	Rest
Friday	25 min comfortable walk + 5 min jog
Saturday	15 min relaxing walk + 10 min jog
Sunday	Rest

That’s it. And you don’t necessarily have to do more next week. For some reason, this is terribly difficult for people. Once we start training, we immediately want to improve. If it was twenty minutes this week, then next week it should be thirty; if three kilometers were manageable, then it should be four; if something seems easy, we immediately want to make it harder. As if only things that are more, longer, feel like crap, or are faster count as progress.

Yet, one of the most important parts of the body's adaptation is precisely repetition. You do it. You do it again. And you do it again, and suddenly the same load becomes a smaller load. That is progress, not doing more.

Pulse

If you have a watch or a device that measures your pulse, use it, because the pulse is very useful feedback on how hard your body is currently working.

In this program, we use a simple, conservative safety rule: there is nothing to prove at a pulse of 160. If your pulse reaches 160 beats per minute, significantly reduce the load. If you are running, switch to walking; if you are walking fast, slow down; if you are doing other movements, reduce the intensity. 160 is not a magic number below which everything is perfectly safe and above which an alarm suddenly goes off.

It is simply a safety ceiling in this program. Once you’ve reached it, there is no need to prove that you can handle another two minutes. Who cares? You'll do it another time.

If your pulse just went high, but you otherwise feel fine, usually don't come to a dead stop, just slow down. From running to walking, from fast walking to slow walking, then observe how your body reacts. Training doesn't make you fitter because you beat yourself up at all costs. Spend at least two weeks at the first level. The level gate is simple: covering 3 kilometers by walking, brisk walking, or jogging in no more than 40 minutes.

If you complete the 3 kilometers in under 40 minutes any way you like and feel fine, move on to level 2.