Some advice about running please...?

Hi





I am not overweight but I am trying to tone up a bit and get more healthy, my diet is fine now and I drink plenty of water but I would like some advice about exercise.





I am at college 5 days a week and at weekends have a lot of work, so I am trying to fit in a run in the early morning about 6:30 which seems to work ok.





I am managing to run for about 20mins around my local area (city) I only stop about 3 times. But I would like to know how I should build up my running and how many minutes would be good to do a day?





When will I start noticing a difference? I am also trying to do about 10-20 sit ups after running, how should I build this up?





(there are no hills or slops in my area so I am running on flat residential streets, thats all I really have in the middle of the city, but the streets are empty)





Thanks xxxxSome advice about running please...?
Hi There -





I have been a runner off and on for many years and here are some of the things that have helped me:





1. Take a calcium supplement every day (you can buy at grocery store) this helps to avoid shin splints


2. Run as long as you can and stop when you need to, try to increase the amount of time you run by 30 seconds or 1 minute each day if it is possible, this will help you to build up endurance


3. You should run at a pace that you are not out of breath, you should be able to talk to another person while running, this is what your breath should be


4. If you have itunes / ipod / mp3 player, etc. it helps to use your music as sort motivation, like you have a warm up song as the first sone, then the next song, maybe more fast paced, then the next, a little slower to recover, then the next a little faster (you get the picture)


5. Run slow if you have to, eventually you build up endurance


6. Most important wear good running shoes, you should replace every 300 miles





Hope this helps!





the w8losschickSome advice about running please...?
Hi


Sounds as though you are doing just fine - the only advice i would give is rather than stopping try slowing down but keep going as this will build your stamina. Also make sure you have some proper running shoes as if you are running this regularly and you dont have proper shoes you will damage the arches of your feet.





Good luck :-)
Seems ok but you shouldn't be stopping, you should be continuously running/jogging. If you have to stop in 20mins then you should lower your pace. You should be keeping your heart rate at a constant beat, instead of going from a high rate to a low rate to a high rate to a low rate.......... The best way to improve is to keep it at a constant. Like the guy above me says you should'nt really be running on the streets 7 days a week, you might find you end up with an injury such as jumper's knee. So you need to give your body time to repair. You do also need a pair of decent running shoes. Try just 5 days a week, you'll still see a huge difference.





After a week or so you will find yourself being able to go for longer or faster. After a month you'll see a huge difference. As for sit ups just add an extra 5 or so every week.





You shouldn't be able to talk to someone like the guy below me says, by the end of your run you should out of breath and finding it hard to talk. You need to push yourself in every run, it's the best way to build your endurance.
Ok, what you need to do is run every other day. Don't run everyday because it will cause stress fractures and your body needs to rest up and heal.


As for a running routine, try walking and running at the same time. I see that you stop 3 times during your 20 min runs. Try walking for 5 mins, then jogging for 3 mins.


Do each 7 times each, which will be a total of 21 mins jogging and 35 mins of walking, which comes out to be a total of 56 mins of walking/jogging. Not bad huh?


Trust me, I was out of shape bad, until I started doing this and it helped get me into kickass shape


As for the sit-ups, do them every other day as well.


Do 4 sets of 50 sit-ups and 4 sets of 50 crunches.


If you have anymore questions feel free to ask!


Hoped this helped and best of luck to you!