I’ve found my secret trick to always get me back into my morning runs!
Clint Sookermany
Co-Ceo FJORD QUDRA LTD, CEO Regenvita Consulting Ltd - Helping Executives harness AI and business vectors and compress time and cost
And yes, this also works for you who are 50-60+ and haven’t moved much in the last 25 years.
Every now and then life catches up with you and for whatever reason something get’s put on the back burner. Sometimes week goes by and the morning runs every other day I need to keep me clear headed and energised becomes more of a memory.
Two years ago I was sifting through some old boxes and found the original running program I used back in 2012 to get me into running. Well, actually it was a combination of that and Robin Sharma 's book “The Leader who has no Title”. I hadn’t been exercising for years, and mostly got depressed when trying to get back on it. Yet, the idea of waking up early, put on my running shoes and go outside and just start running, were constantly haunting my mind.
But all these "get fit" plans I found in the various running apps were not doing it for me. 5-weeks to 5K by some former Olympian Marathon runner etc. were all too drastic to get someone like me to stay the course.
Then, I came across something that made me think - "surely I can do this!". I mean the first weeks looked so easy. I have tried to find that post now but haven’t found it again (Credit and lots of gratitude goes to the ones that originally made this).
I still remember how out of breath I was after the easiest sessions in week 1 at first. But six months later I had a resting heartbeat of around 40, had dropped about 20 pounds and were constantly looking for new places to run with fantastic scenery. It literally changed my life. So now I’m sharing this program that will get you there too. If like me you have these visions in your head about finally being able to run while watching the sunrise - read on.
So here it is. Plug it into whatever your running app is. I personally are using Adidas Running (former Runtastic), but you can register this in the others as well. It consists of 3 runs a week for around half an hours.
Try and stick to those 3 times. Don’t stress yourself out if you’re sick one week and have to start over again. Just go back to the level you feel comfortable with and start from there.
ALWAYS start with 5 min walk for warmup and 5 min walk for cooling down after. You can put this into your app for every session so that it keeps track of it.
Week 1- Day 1, 2, 3
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then repeat the following intervals 9 times:
- Run 60 seconds
- Walk 90 seconds*
5 min walk cooling off.
*Last repetition doesn’t include the last walk interval
Total time: 31 min
Week 2- Day 1, 2, 3
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then repeat the following intervals 5 times:
- Run 60 seconds
- Walk 90 seconds
- Run 90 seconds
- Walk 90 seconds*
5 min walk cooling off.
*Last repetition doesn’t include the last walk interval
Total time: 36 min
Week3- Day 1, 2, 3
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then repeat the following intervals 2 times:
- Run 3 minutes
- Walk 2 minutes
- Run 3 minutes
- Walk 1 minute*
5 min walk cooling off. *Last repetition doesn’t include the last walk interval
Total time: 34 min
Week4 - Day 1, 2, 3
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 4 minutes
- Walk 2 minutes
- Run 6 minutes
- Walk 3 minutes
- Run 4 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 29 min
Week5 - Day1
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 5 minutes
- Walk 2 minutes
- Run 4 minutes
- Walk 2 minutes
- Run 5 minutes
- Walk 2 minutes
- Run 4 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 34 min
Week5 - Day 2
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 6 minutes
- Walk 1 minutes
- Run 4 minutes
- Walk 1 minutes
- Run 6 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 28 min
Week 5 - Day 3
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 7 minutes
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- Walk 2 minutes
- Run 5 minutes
- Walk 2 minutes
- Run 7 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 33 min
Week 6
Day 1
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 8 minutes
- Walk 3 minutes
- Run 8 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 29 min
Week 6 - Day 2
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 10 minutes
- Walk 3 minutes
- Run 10 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 33 min
Week 6 - Day 3
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 20 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 30 min
Week 7 - Day 1
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 20 minutes
- Walk 3 minutes
- Run 5 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 38 min
Week 7 - Day 2
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 26 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 36 min
Week 7 - Day 3
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 27 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 37 min
Week 8 - Day 1
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 28 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 38 min
Week 8 - Day 2
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 29 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 39 min
Week 8 - Day 3
Start with 5 min warm-up walk, then complete the following intervals:
- Run 30 minutes
5 min walk cooling off.
Total time: 40 min
Go through this program and voilà! Congratulations, - you are now a true ‘runner’🥇
As I said earlier, do not beat yourself up if you have to skip a couple while doing this. Just jump back in from where you feel comfortable and take it from there. Trust in the process, you will get there!
However this comes with a lot of side effects:
The beauty of it all? Every time I haven’t been running for a while, I just find the right place in the program above to jump back in, and it gets me going again.
And before you say it. If you live on the northern hemisphere, now is actually the perfect time to start this program and you will look forward to an amazing springtime.
I for one are 💯 in your corner and cheering you on! 👏