Some tips for how to get started on becoming a regular jogger

My name is Lisa Menninger. I am a 42-year-old athlete and coach, and I'll be writing "Training with Lisa" for GeezerJock. I race distances from the mile through the 50k, was a pro duathlete, have competed in powerlifting competitions and cycling races. I love sports. It is a giant part of my life and has given me more than I could ever hope to give back.

I coach a cadre of athletes from runners, to cyclists, to triathletes, to folks who just want to get moving again. My clients have ranged in age from 13 to 77, and I have learned much from them. I get a kick out of sharing what I've learned, and I'd love to answer any questions you have about training. You can write to me at lmenninger@geezerjock.com with your questions.

So, here's our first question:
Q. Lisa, if I'm 50 years old and haven't run in five years, how should I spend my first month getting back into running?

A. This is an excellent question. People oftentimes don't know how to get started. How much is enough, but not too much? The very first thing anyone should do when starting an exercise program is to see a doctor. Let your doctor evaluate your health and give you the green light before you do anything.

Once your doctor gives you the go ahead, make sure you have good shoes. Go to a store that specializes in running shoes. Stores like these will analyze your running gait and put you in the right shoes for your body.

Now it's time to get started: Begin easy. Walk for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then start to jog at a nice easy pace. One of the biggest mistakes new runners make is to take off at too hard an effort. You will go quickly into oxygen debt and have to stop. If you feel it is doable, run for 10 or 15 minutes at that easier pace. As the body warms up, your pace will automatically adjust, and you will settle into something that feels right. Once you have run for the allotted amount of minutes, go back to a walk. If you are running 10 minutes, walk for about five before you start to run again. Having been a runner before and having experience with the activity, you will find it comes back fairly quickly.

Don't be discouraged if it's challenging. The first minutes are almost always the ones that feel the worst.  If you run for five minutes and really need to stop, then go back to a walk. Walk for two to four minutes and start jogging again. 

Do this walk/run combo for the duration of your workout.  Usually, 30 to 40 minutes is a good place to start for the total time of the workout, using the last 10 minutes to cool down, going back to the walk. 

Then over the next days and weeks, as you grow stronger and more proficient, you can extend the number of minutes you are running and shorten the walk breaks, until you have eliminated them entirely. Once you can run for 30 minutes straight, you can begin to gently increase the number of minutes you run. But add those minutes gradually; generally about three to five minutes at a time. If you add minutes two to three days consecutively, you'll need to go back to your original time for a run or two to let your body assimilate. 

Don't try to run every day right off the bat. You need to let the muscles and tendons get stronger with the work and not overload them. So if your goal is to work out every day, then do your run or walk/run every other day, and walk -- just walk -- on the days between. Walking is something you can always do without too much concern of overdoing it.

Here's a sample schedule of how your workout schedule might look in your first month if your goal is to workout five to six days a week:
 
Monday: Walk/run for 30 minutes. 
Tuesday: Walk for 30 to 40 minutes.
Wednesday: Walk/run for 30 minutes.
Thursday: Walk for 30 to 45 minutes. 
Friday: Walk/run for 30 to 40 minutes, increasing the number of running minutes.
Saturday: Off.
Sunday: Run/walk 40 minutes with longer running segments. Again, you continue to add running minutes until you can run without the walk breaks over the course of the month.

After four to six weeks of building up, you can begin to run on consecutive days. You can string two to three days of running together, and then take a day off or walk on that day to give the legs a break. And then repeat that cycle.