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I have never been able to run even a quarter of a mile straight. Even now, at 23 years old, I have to stop and catch my breath. I'd like to take up running. What are the best ways to ease into it?

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3 Answers

up vote 16 down vote accepted

Best way to start is a couch to 5k program. Teaches you to increase your mileage a little at a time over nine weeks. It is a walk run program. You start out walking more than running, but eventually you do not walk any.

There a lot of training programs, some are built for your phone.

Just remember that you do not need to be running 5 minute miles. Slow and steady wins the race to completing the program. Speed comes with training or you are a freak and born with it!

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I'd upvote couch to 5K twice if I could. – Ryan Miller Jun 23 '11 at 2:06
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And while waiting for the book to arrive from Amazon start walking a LOT now. As you get more comfortable with it, go faster and further. You'll be a better runner for it and will be less injury prone as you ramp it up. – Peter DeWeese Jun 23 '11 at 2:54
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Who needs a book? Plenty of online resources that have plans. – epascarello Jun 24 '11 at 4:32
Wow, I've never heard of this program. I must've been searching with the wrong keywords! Thanks very much. – Rachel Lopes Jun 27 '11 at 19:28
I'd add that if you're a nerd, like me, then there's apps that help you track and record your progress on the way to 5K. There's a ton of them, but the most fun ones have to be "Zombies 5K" (for total beginners), and "Zombies run" (best if you can already run 5K) check them out. – Agrajag Jan 21 at 9:25
up vote 2 down vote

Many runners will tell you they started at the same point you are now. Building a habit for running is, in my opinion, as important as the running itself. Every day you run a little farther. You will find many little victories along the way. The first day I ran for an hour was pretty amazing and when I started running I couldn't get to the end of the street. (Certainly the many programs online are a great tool)

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up vote 1 down vote

I would advise you to consider:

  • watching some videos (plenty of them on youtube) about the proper techniques to run; doing little exercises beside plain running would provide you with more natural, more energy efficient and cleaner movements.

  • buying yourself proper shoes. Pair of good shoes make huge difference (at least for me), because you get less impact on your feet from surface and proper running shoes should last longer also. Shoes similar to ones like these below would be great; be careful when picking, because lots of 'tennis' or even 'basketball' shoes look similar and those are not optimized for pure running in strait motion (nice scientific answer about shoes here).

    Nike Pegasus

  • eating at least certain time before running or don't eat before running at all. Find out what fits for you; maybe 45-90 mins before if you do.

  • taking something for drink (preferably not just water). I prefer using those multi-mineral & multi-vitamin(!) water dissolvable pills. Couldn't do without them.
  • finding yourself proper place to run - preferably, you don't ever want to run on too hard surface and if you could get to run on athletic stadium it would be perfect, because surface there would be good to your legs (try and see!) Check nearby parks or woods (if near) for some flat and softer walking paths; regular earth with low grass for example (other flat and soft surfaces would also be good).
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