Rules Of Thumb For Your Running Workout Schedule

Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN
myTreadmillTrainer.com

I have a love-hate-love relationship with running. 

On one hand, I love the feeling you get after a nice, hard run.  On the other hand, I hate the soreness and exhaustion that can get you after a run.  On the other, other hand (or foot), I love what running does for you.  Believe it or not, though, the love far outweighs the hate – if you have a good running workout schedule.

Why is a schedule important? When you are running, you are essentially punishing your body in the short-term for long-term gain.  It can take a ton of willpower to put yourself through it time and time again.  The good news is that a good schedule helps.

Why A Schedule?

A schedule puts things in an ordered sequence.  It lets your body know what’s coming up so it can prepare for it.  It also ensures that you get into a habit.

In another word (to quote a giant Marine Corps drill instructor): “DISCIPLINE!!”

Sorry for the yelling.  Discipline is what it’s about.  Without it, you won’t have a consistent workout, which will diminish your results.  Plus, you will actually be less motivated to run.

But if you’re reading this article, you probably agree that a schedule is a good thing.  Well, great minds think alike…

Running Workout Schedule Guidelines

Okay, so, I’m assuming that you either are a beginner or have run for a while but haven’t ever had a solid schedule.  Either one is perfectly okay.  These guidelines are useful for runners of all skill levels.

The first key to a running workout schedule is regularity. To get healthy from running, you have to run consistently.  Three times a week is good for beginners; up to five times a week is probably the max for anyone other than a professional athlete.  Try to run at the same time each day.  That will help to reinforce the routine.

The second key to a solid schedule is variety.  There are two reasons for this.  The first is to keep things from getting boring.  Boring workouts = skipped workouts.  (Trust me, I know from experience.)  A varied workout is also a well-rounded workout.  You should mix in a bit of speed work (shorter runs at a faster pace) for anything from weight loss to better athletic performance.

The third key to any good running workout schedule is graduation.  By this, I don’t mean awarding yourself a diploma every week. I mean scaling up your workout in difficulty until you find something that meets your goals.  If you just want to maintain your weight, it’s fine to find that comfortable yet effective plateau.  If you’re an athlete, you need to constantly improve by making your workouts progressively harder.

In short, creating a good schedule is all about enforcing discipline and creating good running habits.  Those three keys are good rules of thumb for any runner. 

Just be careful you don’t come across any drill instructors.

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