question for runners

Every other day, especially for the first few months. You need to give your joints a chance to get used to the abuse. :laugh: If you feel like you need to do something on the days in between, find a low or non-impact exercise like swimming, biking, low-impact aerobics, yoga or weight lifting.

I run only every other day now, 6 months after I started but I'm running up to 6 miles per day. Some of that is time constraints but I also find that I have better runs when I only get out there every other day.

I would look into couch to 5k. Run at a pace you are comfortable at. Once you are regularly running try speed bursts during runs. Running hills help, too.
For me I wasn't looking to get faster per say, but I wanted to work on how far I could run. Now I can run 5k faster than now that I am running farther.

I'm just starting out as a runner as well, what I did was went online to www.runnersworld.com and they gave me really good tips about running. I wish you the best of luck!

I started by running small distances a few times a week (3 or 4) with rest days, then I started upping the distance, then I started getting more regular. Now I pretty much run every day. I ran 15.9Km today, I struggles to run 5 back in December! As in lots of stop/start/walk ... now I have managed to get down to 8 minute miles! so about 12km/ hr or 7.5 mph!

It'll happen, be patient with it, invest in good APPROPRIATE footwear for your biomechanics, sort niggles out early, strengthen joints by doing strength/resistance training too and push yourself but don't break yourself! Adequate hydration required too!

Yeah, I would definitely take it easy at first. See what your body is comfortable with and then make adjustments.

One more thing to keep in mind is training and races are two different animals. Many new runners go out and train like they are in a race. You should train 10 to 20% slower than your best or race pace for most runs.

I think every other day is the way to go and building endurance is the key as mentioned above. Do not worry about going faster it will come on it's own as you get stronger. Do not be afraid to use walk /run intervals as you progress to longer distance. Check out the Jeff Galloway books mentioned above he has some great programs to keep you going injury free.

As for the couch to 5K that is how a began running 5 years ago and I am thankful I found it but I like Galloway's plans better and find them more adaptable to current fitness levels.

Good Luck

I agree with the above poster. here's Galloway's site talking about walk breaks. http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/walk_breaks.html

This is what we teach at the Running Room.

Learning to Run is like building a house. You have a foundation, the walls and the roof. Every house needs a strong foundation and that is the base mileage that you do. It is your endurance running.

The walls are strength training... use this portion of training to make your legs, and core stronger. This includes things like running Hills.

As with any house, the roof is the last thing you put on... this is your speed training, intervals and speed drills. You can't put a roof on a house until the walls and foundation are built. Work on these first.

In all likelyhood, you will gain speed by building your base anyways. The more endurance you have, the easier it will be to run faster. Run more miles and work on your endurance and your speed will likely improve over time anyways.

I teach a 10 week course thru the Running Room, we don't normally touch on speed drills till week 7-8 and hills are usually about week 5. We stress the importance of your base mileage and long slow runs. Keep in mind also that you should only increase your mileage by about 10% per week to prevent injuries.

Cheers!