As you read through the white plan, you will notice that I have not indicated you must run every day, but there is no problem with some running on a daily basis, and those who have adequate time may want to run more often. Again, people who are not in very good shape when starting out in a running program do not need to train very hard, or often, to gain considerable benefit.
If you have not been running at all, there is no doubt that getting in some running on 3 or 4 days of each week will produce positive results. I do suggest that when running only 3 days each week, it might be better to spread those 3 days over at least a 5-day period rather than doing 3 days of running in a row and then having 4 days in a row of no running. However, if your situation requires 3 consecutive days of running, followed by 4 days of no running, that approach is certainly better than not running at all. I have bolded the workouts in the workout tables that are recommended for minimum participation.
The 16-week white plan begins by asking for 30 minutes of your time each day of training and reaches a high of only 45 minutes in any of the training days. Basically, as time goes by, you’ll spend more of the total time actually running and less time walking.
Later in the white plan, I have you add strides (light, quick runs of short duration, with full recovery between the individual strides) throughout some training sessions. These strides help improve running economy and prepare you for faster running as you progress in fitness. Sometimes mixing strides with some E running gives a nice break from just steady running, and it may also allow you to arrive at different locations during an E run where the footing is flat and soft, where strides become more comfortable.
Some people who decide to take up the white plan may think the training is not demanding enough, and for some who have been involved in other types of exercise, it may not be. If you are one of these people, try the phase I training for a couple of weeks, and if it is really of minimal stress for you, jump ahead into one of the subsequent phases of the white plan. If phase IV of the white plan is still of minimal discomfort, maybe you are capable of handling the red plan, which gets into more advanced types of training.
Once you have completed the 16-week white plan, you may be completely satisfied with how you feel and with your current level of fitness, and if that is the case, I’d recommend just repeating the phase IV training plan and seeing how comfortably you can perform at that level. Or maybe you found one or two of the daily training sessions (in any of the phases of the white plan) to be of particular interest; if so, you can just repeat your favorite sessions whenever you go out for a run.
After completing the white plan you could probably participate in some low-key road races, but make your first road race not too long (hopefully no longer than about 40 minutes), and remember it is perfectly fine to walk a little during a road race if the stress of running gets a little harder than you were ready for. Make a point of starting any races a little slower than you think is the pace you can handle for the full distance; it’s always better, after you finish a race, to believe you could have gone a little faster than to wish you had started out a little slower.
Table 7.1 details the white plan. In the table, W stands for walk and E stands for easy running. Strides (ST) are light, quick 20 sec runs (not sprinting); take 60 sec rest between strides.
If you have not been running at all, there is no doubt that getting in some running on 3 or 4 days of each week will produce positive results. I do suggest that when running only 3 days each week, it might be better to spread those 3 days over at least a 5-day period rather than doing 3 days of running in a row and then having 4 days in a row of no running. However, if your situation requires 3 consecutive days of running, followed by 4 days of no running, that approach is certainly better than not running at all. I have bolded the workouts in the workout tables that are recommended for minimum participation.
The 16-week white plan begins by asking for 30 minutes of your time each day of training and reaches a high of only 45 minutes in any of the training days. Basically, as time goes by, you’ll spend more of the total time actually running and less time walking.
Later in the white plan, I have you add strides (light, quick runs of short duration, with full recovery between the individual strides) throughout some training sessions. These strides help improve running economy and prepare you for faster running as you progress in fitness. Sometimes mixing strides with some E running gives a nice break from just steady running, and it may also allow you to arrive at different locations during an E run where the footing is flat and soft, where strides become more comfortable.
Some people who decide to take up the white plan may think the training is not demanding enough, and for some who have been involved in other types of exercise, it may not be. If you are one of these people, try the phase I training for a couple of weeks, and if it is really of minimal stress for you, jump ahead into one of the subsequent phases of the white plan. If phase IV of the white plan is still of minimal discomfort, maybe you are capable of handling the red plan, which gets into more advanced types of training.
Once you have completed the 16-week white plan, you may be completely satisfied with how you feel and with your current level of fitness, and if that is the case, I’d recommend just repeating the phase IV training plan and seeing how comfortably you can perform at that level. Or maybe you found one or two of the daily training sessions (in any of the phases of the white plan) to be of particular interest; if so, you can just repeat your favorite sessions whenever you go out for a run.
After completing the white plan you could probably participate in some low-key road races, but make your first road race not too long (hopefully no longer than about 40 minutes), and remember it is perfectly fine to walk a little during a road race if the stress of running gets a little harder than you were ready for. Make a point of starting any races a little slower than you think is the pace you can handle for the full distance; it’s always better, after you finish a race, to believe you could have gone a little faster than to wish you had started out a little slower.
Table 7.1 details the white plan. In the table, W stands for walk and E stands for easy running. Strides (ST) are light, quick 20 sec runs (not sprinting); take 60 sec rest between strides.
