If you’re not at the 30-minute mark for walks quite yet, you can get there! Just choose three days per week for walking and start where you are, whether that’s around the block or 10 minutes. Each week, try to go a little bit further. Once you’ve built up to a 30-minute brisk walk, you can begin Week 1 of the program.
One other note: If you haven’t been exercising at all for a while, it’s a great idea to check in with a medical pro before you begin this (or any other) exercise program. That’s especially true if you have a chronic health condition or mobility concerns.
You’ll master the number one key: consistency.
You won’t run every day—but you will run regularly. In my experience, the sweet spot for building a running habit is three days per week, so that’s what I’ve programmed here. This provides your body with a strong enough stimulus to strengthen your muscles, bones, and cardiovascular system while also allowing enough rest time, which is when all those vital physiological adaptations occur.
Your three cardio workouts are scheduled on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday, but you can shift them around as needed. Just aim to space them out regularly, leaving at least a day but no more than two in between. This keeps you in the right rhythm to reap rewards while decreasing injury risk.
Your weekly schedule includes a “long run.”
Over time, your third weekly cardio workout becomes a bit longer and more challenging, which helps you build fitness and endurance. That’s one reason why it’s slotted on Saturday—so many of us have more time to train (and also recover) on the weekends.
Note that there’s one weekly longer session; you don’t want to go overboard. Even experienced runners training for a marathon typically only do one long run per week. Getting into the habit of mixing up your distances allows you to maximize your progress without extra strain on your body (or, for that matter, your calendar).
Each week builds up…unless it doesn’t.
The core of this program is gradually building up the total time you spend running, so you’ll notice a linear increase as you check off each week on your cal—well, mostly. Say hello to cutback weeks! Weeks 5 and 9 deliberately decrease your amount of running time after several weeks of building. These are so, so vital and are another way to allow your body to adapt to all the hard work you’re doing so you can go even longer and stronger the next week.
And sometimes illness, travel, or, well, life, also make it a necessity to cut back, even outside of the plan. And that’s perfectly fine! If you happen to miss any of the weekly workouts, feel free to repeat the whole week (or even skip back to the week before that) rather than pushing ahead.
Along that note, if you find that the jump from any one week is feeling a bit too big, go ahead and repeat the one you just did. This doesn’t mean you’re mentally or physically weak, unfit, or not “meant” to be a runner. On the contrary, taking your time because you notice some extra fatigue, soreness, or a dip in mental motivation means you’re listening to your body and avoiding overreaching—a crucial skill for staying healthy throughout your running life. (All that said, growth comes when you step outside your comfort zone, so we encourage you to try the next step if you’re just a bit unsure!)
“Comfortably challenging” is the name of the game here.
Nope, not breathless, not gasping for air, not completely winded. Rather than aiming for any particular speed, your goal is to keep your effort relatively steady—and pretty comfy. Gauged by the “talk test,” you should be able to speak more than a few words when you’re running, but you shouldn’t be able to sing. Consider this around 3–4 on a scale of 1–10. You don’t need a watch or app that tracks your pace, heart rate, or any other metrics for this plan; it’s all by how hard you feel like you’re working. For your walk intervals, keep them brisk, or around 2–3 on that effort scale.
