1-2-3: Program for the Busy

So you’ve walked and ran. You kept at it. You went from being unable to jog 5 minutes in a row, to a solid 20 minutes jog. You are great and deserve praise!

Now it’s time, I believe, to spice your week up a bit. What I propose here a program (called 1-2-3 Program) that is easy to understand, it’s work- and family-friendly (only three runs per week required), it’s safe for your joints and it also brings great satisfaction – your endurance and speed will slowly but surely improve.

This plan leaves you with four days for resting, which are very important! But try to do something in at least two of those. Walking and cycling are great ways of recovering and keeping your fitness up without adding impact damage to your body. This is called “cross-training”.

Sample first week

• Monday: rest
• Tuesday: 2 km without walking, easy pace, don’t push it!
• Wednesday: cross training, even just a 30 min walk, a swim, a bike ride
• Thursday: 1 km without walking, but with some speedy bits. Run a bit faster from one lamp post to another, or from this car to that car. Go by feeling. It should be fun, not hell, so don’t overdo it. If feeling too tired, simply run 1 KM at an easy pace.
• Friday: rest
• Saturday: again cross training, your choice
• Sunday: 3 km! You can add a walking break in between, it’s OK. Or a shuffle (look it up). Run very slowly, this is the run where you look at your surroundings. Choose a park, somewhere nice, and go for a very relaxed stroll.

Coming next Tuesday, evaluate your body. How are you feeling? If for some reason it was too much, repeat it, and slow down if needed. Only move on when you feel you got it.

Important! Remember to always warm up before each run, possibly with some dynamic stretching. Only do deep stretches after a run.

The three runs are 2-1-3 km respectively for the Steady-Speedy-Long workouts. As you increase mileage, you must keep that proportion – that’s the most important bit.

NB: you can convert distances with times, if you prefer. Many people train by time, and that’s perfectly acceptable – even recommended by some. You could start with 5-10-15 minutes, or 10-20-30 minutes. You can then keep adding 5 minutes each week, or 10. It entirely depends on you.

Workout Types

• Steady: an average-length, easy run. It’s an easy-to-moderate effort that consolidates your running performance. On some weeks, you’ll want to run it like a Long. On other weeks, you can run it slightly faster.
• Speedy: it’s a short workout that mixes fast sections with slower ones. Every once in a while you can push harder, but generally it shouldn’t leave you exhausted. It should make you feel great afterwards!
• Long: a staple in every reasonable plan. Your longest run, where you stretch your maximum distance and train your endurance, is as useful for Marathons as it is for 5Ks. Never compromise on this workout: always run it as slow as you can.
• Recovery: as short as the Speedy, as slow as the Long. Switch your Speedy with a Recovery if feeling particularly tired, or if recovering from injury or from a race. It’s also the workout to use if you wish to add days: a cross-training workout can easily and safely be swapped with a Recovery.

Read more about them here.

Training Cycles – Adding mileage

To increase mileage, we add 1 km per week. You add first to the Long, then to the Steady, and finally to the Speedy or Recovery.

After you finish Week 7, you have a few choices. You could do one “cutback week”: repeat week 1, thus doing only half your weekly mileage. Or you could do a 5K training plan and find a race close to you. You could also repeat the last 2-3 weeks, if they felt too hard.

Whatever you decide, eventually you’ll want to start a second cycle. The first week of Cycle II should be equal to Week 7 of Cycle I, with a 4-2-6 progression. This helps your body consolidate the distance. Then, increase 1 km per week, like above. It’s as simple as that.

After other 7 weeks, you’ll be running 18 km per week, with a 6-3-9 progression. This is a great base to start a 10K race training plan, for example. In fact, you might even go straight for a 5K race – but I would suggest one cutback week in between.

If you do another cycle, you arrive to 8-4-12, ready (if you wish) for a 10K race, or to start that half-marathon training plan you always wanted to do..

Conclusion

After two or three cycles, you’ll know if it makes sense to keep using the 1-2-3 Program, or if you need to go on more specialised plans. You’ll probably want to add more weekly runs too. I suggest adding Recovery days, and to only add one day per cycle. But your mileage may vary (yes, pun intended!).

Part of the job of a serious runner is to find what works for them, explore, learn from mistakes.. but most of all, never give up. Keep running!