I need to pass a fitness test that involves being able to run X distance in Y minutes. I've never done any running before (have always hated it, when I've had to for school, etc.), so I'm well and truly a beginner. I've done some research online regarding proper posture, training regimes, etc. The posture stuff seemed relevant and interesting, but most of the training advice seems geared at people with more experience and who have long term goals/plans for running. I just need to pass this test.
On a treadmill, I'm doing 10km/hour right now and lasting about 1.5ks (~9 minutes). I guess my questions are:
- Should I focus on distance or time first? i.e. would it be better to keep the 10km/hour rate and try and last longer and longer (i.e. stretching that 9 minutes out until I can keep going for longer) and then try to go faster, or try and go faster until I hit my target speed and then try last longer?
- Is there any harm to running every day? Assuming unlimited time and motivation (ha! neither are unlimited, but I'm going to try...), if I run every day is that great or is that just going to be counter productive? (i.e. I do weights training, and for that, training every day is a bad idea because you need to give your muscles time to rest. General recommendations are no more than 2-3 times a week).
- I run on a treadmill in a gym, because it's comfortable, and the scientist in me likes analyzing data (i.e. I like seeing exactly how many meters I ran, how long I'm running for, what my heart rate is, etc). How well does running on a treadmill translate to real life running? Is it okay to stick to the treadmill or should I really get onto a real running track asap?
- My limit seems mostly cardio related, and not muscle related. I.e. when I have to stop, it's because I'm out of breath, and not so much because my legs are tired. My legs were a bit sore after the first run, but haven't been since. Are there any other supporting exercises I can do that will help with cardio, or is just running itself the best I'm going to get?