already athletic but beginner to jogging

Question
Hi Nick,

I am 20 years old, 10 stone 4, and 5"7.5. The aim of the intended exercise is to lose weight (perhaps 1 stone) and to tone up. I would say I have a normal diet, eating mainly healthily with the occasional binge! Until about 2 months ago, I was fairly active, playing netball at least twice a week and spending 40mins-1.5hours doing cardio in the gym 2/3 times a week, so I would say my fitness level is (/was) ok.

However, I have moved house and no longer play netball or have a gym to attend. I want to begin jogging/running as it is convenient but am unsure what the best way of doing this is.

Last night I went a jog and ran for about 20 mins in total, plus about 5 minutes walking in the middle. Today, I ran for 25 mins without stopping. I think I would find it easiest to measure my job by time, not distance, as I can continue this on vacations etc. and have no easy way of measuring distance.

Would you please be able to suggest a fitness plan? I.e. how often I should run/how long for/how fast, and any other relevant advice! I am student so I do have the time to run daily if this is best. I will be running mainly on flat roads/pavements.

Final question - I have always been interested in doing an organised run, such as a 5k/10k/marathon etc. I have researched upcoming events near me and have found a marathon, a half marathon and an 8k in 8 weeks ti.e. Without too intense a programme, do you think I would be ready for any of these?

Thanks in advance
:)

Answer
That's great you want to start running Ree. I hope you can enjoy doing this the rest of his life.  I wouldn't do anything more than an 8k.  If you try to do more than this you'll risk injury and we definitely don't want that.  

A good plan for you is as follows:
5-6 days a week running
20-70 minutes a day
2-3 days a week you should do interval training
2-3 days a week you should do steady-state training


Interval training is running fast and then slow.  Your fast phase should be as fast as you can for 20 seconds to 2 minutes.  The slow phase should be about a minute long if you run fast for 20 seconds and about 2 minutes if you run fast for 2 minutes.  '

Your steady-state training should be about the same pace for the whole run.

Here is a link so you can experiment with different foot strikes. http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/4BiomechanicsofFootStrike.html
Try them all. I use them all in my running.  You want to run without pain and the best way to do that is to use different foot strikes.

Good luck Ree.  Let me know if you have any other questions or need a little more direction.