I have a plan, just wondering if it needs some tweeks.

[iplaymusic131]

For the past nine years (I'm 26, male, Minnesota) I had been a heavy marijuana smoker.
Due to unforeseen circumstances I had to quit, and that happened on March 25th, 2009.
I quit pot, drinking, and having my occasional cigarette. 2 months after that, after some sober time, I got into jogging at the end of May. I started easy and just jogged 1 mile for 2 weeks straight, right after I woke up in the morning. Accomplished that fine, went from about a 9:30 min mile to about a 7:30 min mile.

I then decided instead of trying to increase my speed in the mile (I was trying to get it down to my high school 6:36 min mile time) that I would increase the distance instead. So for the past couple weeks I have been increasing my distance by about .33 miles each week. So far, everything has gone fine, I have managed to keep jogging without stopping at all during the jog. My last week I was up 2.35 miles and it took me 19:27. I've been jogging Monday - Friday and resting Saturday and Sunday, for the past two weeks, that's how I did it. Before that when I 1st started I jogged 27 days straight before resting. Realized that resting is just as important as actually partaking in the jog itself. So theirs the back ground.

My plan:
To continue to increase by about .33 a week, every week, until it is November. If my planning is correct I should be jogging about 8 miles by then(I am starting 2.66 miles tomorrow) . So, is 17 weeks of sticking to it going to be long enough to get myself into that kind of shape. I want to be able to keep an average of a 9 min mile the entire time. So far I have been able to do it with the shorter distances, just hoping I can keep it up at the longer distances.

Now for my question's or concerns:
Are my goals realistic? Should I be increasing more than .33 miles , or less, each week?
When I get into the higher mile area, should I be resting more than 2 days a week, or should I split my rest days up instead of having them 2 days off, 5 days on. '
Could I get up to 8 miles any quicker than I have planned or is it sound like I have a good system set up for increasing my distance per week. I am happy with my progress so far and look forward to jogging in the morning. I want to keep it that way. So, any tips, comments or advice would be much appreciated. I will take them all into consideration.

Thanks,
Shawn

[iplaymusic131]

Seems odd that I am the 1st person to reply to my message, but oh well, I was only looking for validation from some more experienced runners as far as what I had planned. What I have came to find out is:

01.I think the .33 increase was good for the beginning, but now I think I may be in good enough shape to increase by .40 a week instead, So I will get to my 8 mile goal 2 weeks earlier.

02. Judging by my experience, I think 4 days of running my goal mileage (M, T, W, F) of the week is good, and because of less time available to run on Thursdays I run either 1 mile as fast as I can or 2 miles as fast as I can, to switch up the slow and fast twitch fiber use. I have made strides in both of my times, so far doing it twice.

03. I am thinking I may be able to start to increase by a half mile a week as in the next month so maybe I will get to my 8 mile goal sooner than even the new expected time.

04. Since I am still a beginner, I don't have much valid advice other than my short experience, but so far I suffered no injuries from my regimen and I have met my goal of never having to stop while running. I have 63 days of running under my belt I think from going from a stoned couch potato who took like 10 minutes to run his 1st mile back, to someone who can now run 4 miles, consecutively in a row and manage to average an 8:17 mile time, is very good in my mind. I am happy with my gains and soon enough I won't be jealous of the 8 mile runners, because I will be them, in less than a half a year. Awesome, who would have thought.

SO coming a from a beginer, if your thinking about starting to run/jog and are not looking to disappoint yourself by taking on a hardcore running regimen from the get go I would give a shot at my program. It's worked for me so far. I drink a cup of water before I go and little juice or gatorade (I do it in the morning 10 minutes after I wake as well, so the juice is to get the night's taste out of my mouth mostly.) I am thinking of bringing some water with soon though, as I am finding my self getting thirsty.

WEEK 1 = 1 mile - Did it 7 days a week, to build consistensy, and motivation
WEEK 2 = 1 mile - Did it 7 days a week, to build consistensy, and motivation
WEEK 3 = 1.3 miles Did it 7 days a week, to build consistensy, and motivation
WEEK 4 = 1.6 miles Did it 6 days on, took my 1st rest day - maybe take 1 week before
WEEK 5 = 2.0 miles M,T,W,T,F Rest S,S
WEEK 6 = 2.3 miles M,T,W,T,F Rest S,S
WEEK 7 = 2.6 miles M,T,W,T,F Rest S,S
WEEK 8 = 3.0 miles M,T,W, - Ran 2 miles T, F, Rest S,S
WEEK 9 = 3.4 miles M,T,W, - Ran 1 mile T, F Rest S,S
AT week 10 I managed to make a big stride and increase up to:
WEEK 10=4.0 miles - and this is where I am at currently, Half way there.
WEEK 11=4.4 miles
WEEK 12=4.8 miles
WEEK 13=5.2 miles
WEEK 14=5.6 miles
WEEK 15=6.0 miles
WEEK 16=6.4 miles
WEEK 17=6.8 miles
WEEK 18=7.2 miles
WEEK 19=7.6 miles
WEEK 20=8.0 MILES!!!

So, that's the plan and I am sticking to it, UNLESS someone actually posts a reply telling me of some things I might need to adjust and or look out for. Until then though, I will do what I know so far has been working for me.

The big question is when I get to 8 miles , in October, what do I do when theirs 2 feet of snow on the ground.......that's the next obstacle, to tackle, assuming I keep it up.

[NBorchers]

Your plan will easily get you to your 8 mile mark in the 20 weeks you have alloted. In all reality though, if you wanted to get to the 8 miles faster you could easily get up to that distance in half the time you have planned to. .33 miles per week increase isn't very much, but if you're just running for leisure, what's the hurry right? Good Luck

[JoeC]

Nice job!

http://jo5000.webs.com

[runwithjill]

The plan posted above is a gradual increase in miles and will work great. Do not feel like you need to run everyday! You can progress and improve with just 4 runs per week. That being said, you should increase your mileage as shown in the previous post, but also add speed work once per week. This way, you build endurance and speed.

Just one run a week needs to focus on speed. To do this add intervals to your run. The intervals should be 30 sec to 1-minute in duration. Start with 3 sets and add one more each week until you reach a max of 8.

Example: Warm up jog 5 minutes easy, run hard 30sec, run easy 1-minute. Repeat two more times

Feel free to make the intervals in different time frames. Just give yourself a longer recovery run inbetween. (ie 1 minute hard, 2 minutes easy)
Hope this helps and good luck