Absolute Beginners
Even if you are a beginner, unless you have an injury or illness, anybody can get in shape to walk 8km! So if you are going to take on the challenge of the Streets of Galway, why not challenge yourself to run the whole way.
The key is consistency in your training. To be consistent you need to stay healthy so increase the training very gradually. I suggest you start with a mix of walking and running to allow your body chance to adapt to the rigors of running. Get a good quality pair of runners that are comfortable. Apart from shorts and t-shirt you should be good to go. The one other thing that would help though is a sport watch. It doesn’t need to be a fancy GPS watch, a simple stop watch will do the job or worst case the stop watch on your phone. It is important to monitor your progress by timing yourself. If you can record the training that you did in a diary or journal, then that can serve as a great source of motivation as you plot your progress. If you can do some cross training such as Pilates or swimming that will help your recovery and ability to stay injury free.
| Week | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 min fast walk to warm up, Repeat 5 times (1min jog follow by 1min walk) times, 10 min walk to cool down | 5min walk, Repeat 3 times(1min run, 1min walk, 2min run, 1min walk, 3min run, 1min walk), 5min jog | 5min walk to warm up, Repeat 4 times (3min run, 2min walk), 5min walk to warm up, | |||||
| 2 | 10 min fast walk to warm up, Repeat 6 times( 2min jog follow by 1min walk) s, 10 min walk to cool down | 10 min fast walk to warm up, Repeat 2 times( 6 min jog follow by 2 min walk) , 10 min walk to cool down | 10 min fast walk to warm up, 10 min jog, 10 min fast walk to warm down | |||||
| 3 | Walk for 5 minutes to warm-up. Then run for 4 min then take 2 minutes walk to recover. Repeat this 4 times so that you have run for a total of 16 minutes. | Out and back run/walk. Run for 8 minutes and make a mental note of where you finish. Walk for 2 minutes further then turnaround and walk back towards your starting position for two minutes then try to run back to where you first started the run in less than 8 minutes. | 5 min walk, 10 min jog, 5min walk, 10 min jog, 10-15 minutes’ walk. | |||||
| 4 | Walk for 5 minutes to warm-up. Then run for 6 min then take 2 minutes’ walk to recover. Repeat this 4 times so that you have run for a total of 24 minutes. | Walk for 5 minutes to warm up then try for 15 minutes continuous running. If you have to take a 1minute break to walk in the middle then no problem but don't let it become more than that. | Parkrun 5km -They are free and held all over the country. Sign up at parkrun.ie. There is one in Knocknacarra. Sign up at www.parkrun.ie. If you can run the whole way brilliant - you are ahead of schedule. If not then run a lap then walk for two minutes, then run again. | |||||
| 5 | 2min walk, 2min run repeat 15 times. 30 mins running. | 2min walk, 4min run. Repeat 5 times. Total 20 mins running. | After a brisk 5 min walk to warm up, see how long you can run for without stopping. Aim for 15 minutes but if you need to stop then walk for 1min and go ahead until you have run for a total of at least 18 minutes | |||||
| 6 | Run for 12 min take 2min rest, run for 10 min, take 2min rest, run for 8min, take 2min rest, run for 6min, take 2min rest. | walk for 5 min then run for 15-20 min, then walk for 5min | Run for 5 km | |||||
| 7 | Run for 1min, take a minute walk to rest, run for 2min, take 1min rest, then 3min run, 4min run, 5min run, 4min run, 3min run, 2min run, 1min run all separated by 1min walk | 5min walk , then 25 min run, 5 min walk | Run for 5.5 km | |||||
| 8 | Try to find a hill of medium steepness. After a 5min jog warm up, run 30 sec up the hill, jog back down the hill and then repeat the hill climb 4 more times, take 3min rest and then repeat the 5 hill climbs again, before a jog or walk home. | Run for 20 minutes then take 5min walk recovery before running for another 15 min | Run for 6 km |
The 3rd and 4th weeks of any training plan can be the most challenging and when injuries or illness often happen. You may find the initial enthusiasm is wearing off or you may have found the first two weeks easy and be tempted to increase your training rapidly. Now is the time to be patient and keep making incremental increases to the volume and/or pace of your training. It’s a fantastic time of year for training. If you are busy the bright early mornings and evenings provide extra opportunities to get your training done in daylight.
I have included a ‘parkrun’ as these are a great introduction to racing for beginners. Parkruns are free you just sign up online but just make sure you help keep them going by volunteering to help with one of the runs in the weeks after the streets of Galway. I have included a kind of ‘out and back’ run. These are great for helping to build up a sense of pace judgement and running faster at the end of run is a great way to build up your endurance. Remember if you want to supplement this with some easy recovery running or cross training on the other days that is great as long as you are able to get through the program and they don’t become hard days of training.
