Plan for straight running (Read 472 times)

I'd stick to an overall 30 minute workout but try to do longer intervals of running/walking. 3-1, 4-1. Take it slow when you are running, should be comfortable pace without ragged breathing. don't worry about going fast.

Good luck!

Cory

Isn't it better to vary mileage daily? Should I do something like 1-2-3-2 for a while then increase?

What Cory said, gradually add to your intervals.  That's what I did a few years back.  Podrunner.com was my best friend for that, it took all the thinking out of the equation and let me just concentrate on form without worrying about time or distance.

Their 10K interval mix went gradually from a 2:1 ratio (4 minute run, 2 minute walk) to the last week doing 29 minutes run with a 1 minute walk  break.  Once the run got that close to 30 minutes, I realized I was only doing a walk break every 2.5 to 3 miles.  I just continued the extension by doing a walk break for one minute every 4 miles, then 5, etc.  Once I got to an hour straight, I dropped the intervals and went to straight running.

You could continued what you currently do in time or mileage and keep increasing the run/walk ratio from 2:1 to 3:1 to ...

If your goal is based on time, then I wouldn't base the plan on miles.  

This.

...and don't overcomplicate it.  I started into running doing some run\walk program as well, probably more conservative than I needed but it got the job done. Once I reached the stage of running 20 mins straight, I never run\walked again.  Just go out hoping for 20 mins, if you still feel good at 20 add an extra 5 mins. Soon enough 25 mins will be standard and go from there.  Eventually lengthening 1 or 2 runs a week like LTrain said.  It's obvious but needs to be said- make sure you go start slow enough so that you don't need a walk break.

The best thing to make this adaptation easier for you is going to be running more often a week, even if it's just for 20 mins.  Running only 2-3x a week is a hard way to improve fitness.

I don't see  a difference between gay or straight when it comes to running.

I took a quick look at that Bridge to 10k plan.  It seems sound but, as far as I'm concerned, there is a big conceptual flaw with it.  It is probably okay to do run/walk to complete a 5k.  That (C25K) plan or likes were developed probably because of all the Komen 5k Race for the Cure craze.  Run/walk method is probably the easiest and the safest way to get you up the duration/distance that you had never been able to complete...quickly.  In other words, even if you are not actually quite ready to run a marathon, you can still go the distance.  There are actually quite a few--more than most realize--physiological and mechanical differences between running and walking.  Think about it; today, for the Race for the Cure, a big thing is that "walk 60 miles in 3 days".  I don't have any statistics or evidence, and I don't even want to get into this argument, to show which is harder or what-not but, well, that's actually why people, when they can't go on running, they stop and walk.  Also (and I've seen this argument else where on the other thread and I've been meaning to get back there but I just hadn't had much time lately...), once you stop running, you WILL lose some physiological benefit of CONTINUOUS running.  It does NOT to say that the whole run is washed out wasted.  But you just DO lose some physiological benefit and it's proven too.  So, in other words, once you get up to the point where you CAN actually run 15-minutes continuously, to continue this run-walk combination up to an hour, 1:30 and more, is, in my opinion, redundant.  You've got to get the duration of your continuous run longer; not just simply the over-all duration of the exercise.  Take this extreme example; when we were creating VO2Max Interview on Running Wizard, I picked several (about 30 or so) people at my gym who don't run regularly.  And I went through the original interview.  One of the question was; "how often do you exercise and how long?"  Mind you, these are the people who regularly work out at the gym.  Most replied and said 1~2 hours 3 or 4 times a week...something like that.  We plugged in this information into the original formula and it would come up with, say, a 5k predicted time of something like 28 minutes.  We'll have them run 5k or they just ran it or something and it'll come out as 34 minutes...  So when we sat down and thought about this discrepancy, we quickly realized these people, when they say they "work out" for 2 hours at the gym; that's like weight session of 2 hours or some station exercises and TOTAL of 2 hours....with lots of breaks.  You just cannot get the same physiological reaction from total duration of "workouts" and continuous running.  I think we came up with a formula of something like 2-hour gym work is equivalent of 20-minutes of running...something like that.  Granted, there are different types of "gym work", and there are other reasons than just simply "stop-and-go" type of exercise that affected this difference; but you get the picture.  Run-walk just simply will NOT get you the same benefit--and difference is actually much bigger than you'd think--as continuous running.

Unfortunately, I'd say the first sign is; when you are running a lot (say, 1:30 or 2 hours like you seem to) and yet you're not getting any faster--which should be the sign of your aerobic fitness improving--, that's probably a good indication that you are just not getting the same benefit as you should have from the way you "run-walk"...how do you say it in English?  Not getting the "bang for the buck"?  Something like that.  You might spend 3-hours on weekend run-walking; and other person might be running 1:45 continuously and he/she would be improving a lot more rapidly.  Some might argue that there's no research out there to prove that.  I'd say there's no research to support that you'll get the same benefit either.  And, by observation, I think I'm right.

It is MUCH BETTER to train time-based than distance based.  When you measure your run, then you'll start to worry about the pace and all that and it can get ugly.  Just don't worry about how fast you're going; just cover whatever the duration, say, 30-minutes, at whatever the pace you feel happy about.  And it is very important that you do need to fluctuate your runs.  If you are used to run-walk for 2-hours, maybe with a friend(s) or a group; fine.  Keep doing that.  But I would really strongly suggest you skip the walking breaks and move toward continuous run; and, if you'd have to shorten your daily runs because of that, so be it.  Trust me; you'll get so much more benefit and, in no time, you'll get up to whatever the total time you had been spending without walking break.  That said, I'm getting a mixed message from what you saying and your log.  So where ARE you at right now?  Supposed right now that you can run 30-minutes "straight" and you'd like to keep that up, of course, don't try to run 30-minutes "straight" day in and day out.  It should look something like below.  Just look at the column, "Duration", it would go something like (if you're running 4-times a week) 30min.--14min.--25min.--17min...thereabouts.  At first, going 30-minutes non-stop may be a bit of a challenge to you.  But you'll know that the next run is "only" 14-minutes.  That would give you physically and mentally a little break.  This is "straight" (;o)) from our Running Wizard beginner's plan.  If you're interested in something like this, let me know.  I can create a plan for you--I'm always interested in a guinea pig for the Beginning Plan!! ;o)

Phase	Date	Rank	Workout	Distance	Duration	Pace	RPE	Min	Max
Aerobic	3/10/2013 Sunday	1	Long Aerobic Run	2.5 mi (2 - 2.5 mi)	30:00 (26:00 - 33:00)	13:17 / mi (14:29 - 12:37 / mi)	3 - 5	131	151
	3/11/2013 Monday		Rest Day	—	—	—
Aerobic	3/12/2013 Tuesday	4	Easy Fartlek	1 mi (1 - 1 mi)	14:00 (12:00 - 15:00)	13:09 / mi (14:21 - 12:25 / mi)	2 - 6	121	159
	3/13/2013 Wednesday		Rest Day	—	—	—
Aerobic	3/14/2013 Thursday	3	Aerobic Run	2 mi (1.5 - 2 mi)	25:00 (21:00 - 28:00)	13:05 / mi (14:17 - 12:24 / mi)	3 - 5	131	151
	3/15/2013 Friday		Rest Day	—	—	—
Aerobic	3/16/2013 Saturday	2	Out & Back	1.5 mi (1 - 1.5 mi)	17:00 (15:00 - 18:00)	12:21 / mi (13:27 - 11:38 / mi)	4 - 7	140	163

When I look up beginning running plans, most results are run/walk. I can currently run/walk up to HM distance using 2:1 intervals. I'd like to take the summer to try, again, to run without walk breaks. I believe if I set out slowly, I could probably run 1, 2, even possibly 3 miles without a walk break. I think I'd struggle most with the mental aspect of my mind thnking I have to walk.  Is there a plan for beginning running that doesn't take 9 weeks just to run 30 mins straight? I'm fairly sure I could do that already. I basically want to build up to an hour after building a base of being able to run 30 mins three or four times a week until that is easy. Any suggestions?

Ive tried and failed before to transition to runnjng only. I need a plan to follow.