Running....Away??

start with walking then work up to running. you can do five minutes of walking with two minutes of running and go back and forth for about 30 minutes. as you get better you can decrease the amount of time spent walking and increase the amount of time spent running until you are running nonstop. hope this helps.:happy:

That's exactly what I did and now I can run for about 20 minutes straight. I don't know about marathons, but I am working toward some 5Ks. There also is a podcast that someone told me about called "Couch potato to 5K" or some such.

Good luck, but I must tell you something one of my marathon runnin' friends said,

"People say they run for fun and that's crap. Running isn't fun. It's painful and it's supposed to be."

Running is a great way to tone the whole body and get some good cardio. Interval walk/jog/run is great. I've never been a good runner, but I do like to interval run/walk for a good cardio workout, but I try to take it easy and walk more when my knees start aching, which they do after a few months of running often. While it is a great workout, do be nice to your knees and give them some time off from pounding the pavement hard.

I am the crankiest runner around but I still do it....alone! I am a sprinter and running long distnaces kill me. I am doing the Hartford scrambles this year. They are extreme 5k's. this way I won't get bored LOL. I have been out of the running loop due to surgery last year...so I am starting at square one....I am doing 3 min runs 2 min walk with an 8% incline. I do this for 45min. I will time my mile next week.

The couch potato to 5k as suggested is great.

goodluck dd

Let me start by saying, I don't like running/jogging.. but here is my two cents...

I knew that I wanted to do a Sprint Trialthlon (Run 5k, bike 12mi and swim 400m) this year. I have a timed indoor event in April and a Sprint Tri in May, so I needed to start training now.

A 3.5 weeks ago, I could jog for 3 minutes on a tred mill at a 4.5 setting (12.5 minute mile speed). I kept adding a minute every other day and playing with the speed while I was running till I ran a mile in 12 minutes.... Then I started just adding time (not increasing speed). I have now reached 20 minutes at a 5.0 (12 min mile).. wich turns out to 1.67miles. I have done the 20 minutes twice this week, and tonight will be the same. Although I will probably jog 1 mile tomorrow, I am going to do a spin class and yoga, and then walk on Sunday, but come Monday, the goal will be to add another minute or two to the time.

Now remember how I said I hated running? Well, the last 8 minutes of the run is always a yelling match with myself in my head... I want to stop, but i know neither my muscles nor my lungs are failing.. I just want to stop... so I have this same, stupid conversation with myself for the 8 minutes, and voi la!

That said, I also get on the hill setting of my bike (when at the gym) and do 25 minutes or so on that too, as well as swim twice a week.

I haven't seen much weightloss, but I sure feel better and my legs are looking better too.

Best of luck ! you can do it!

I wanted to start running too, so I think I will try your tips with the walking and running thing!

I used to run loads when I was younger, but now I doubt I could make it to the end of my street without collapsing!