Im a rookie at running any suggestions?

Question

my Husband runs 5ks half marathons and full marathons and I would really like to join him starting off with 5ks. I have never ran as a workout before so I want to ease into it. What do you suggest i do everyday? How many mins should I run everyday? Whats easier street or tredmill?

Answer 1

You can try coolrunning.com they have a program called the couch to 5k. It it about 9-10 week program that will ease you into running.  Good Luck!!

Answer 2

I would recommend starting out on a treadmill. If you have never run before you need to get your leg muscles used to the continuous movement. Many people find running on a treadmill for 15mins to be a LOT easier than running on the street for 15mins. This is because the treadmill is doing a certain percentage of the forward movement effort for you. I would suggest getting on the treadmill for the first month of your running. Run on it every second day starting at 10 minutes. Then increase it by 1 min (or if this is too much 30 seconds) every run until the end of the month. (I'm assuming you have a small amount of fitness, if not start at 5 minutes with 30 second increases for 2 months. I know it sounds like a long time but it will improve your immunity to injury by a lot.)

This will let your muscles adapt to the movement and prevent injury when you hit the streets - the reason behind this is be cause the actual Cardio work out will be significantly less on the treadmill then the street meaning you would be less susceptible to injury due to fatigue.

Once you hit the streets it is really up to your own fitness level (after the treadmill exercises for one month I would recommend starting at 2km flat jogging, building by 500m every 4 weeks til you hit your desired distance (5k-10k) then you can work on speed and hill running). But remember to give your legs ample time to recover, always have 1-2 rest days between runs and every week or two have 3-4 rest days. Otherwise you will injure yourself quickly and lose motivation and fitness. Don't over do it!  And Enjoy the healthiest addiction out there!