Advice For Starting (and Completing) None to Run

Written by N2R community member, Tony Easter.

The N2R plan has worked so well for me & I wanted to let people know I recently made it to the end….I still can't quite believe it.

I completed N2R, the 5k plan & the 10k plan.  

I now run 10k+ distances several times a week.

But, two years ago was a very different story.

Two years ago I was 53, overweight & very unfit.

I tried to learn to run back then & gave up. I'd not heard of N2R then & attempted a "DIY" approach! Instead, I ended up walking (a lot) to lose weight & to start my fitness journey; but I always looked at people running past me and thought - one day that will be me.

I became a runner earlier this year when I started run 1 of week 1 of the N2R intro plan.

It's not all been straightforward and there have been a few ups & downs along the way.

The advice I wish I'd learnt on day 1 which would have smoothed things out a lot for me, and I hope may help others, would have been:

1. Set up a regular run schedule - after a couple of weeks I ran the same days and same times each week - make it a habit and you'll start to look forward to the sessions & you'll really miss any days you can't make.
2. Don't cheat and miss any of the strength training (I did & had time-outs due to injury!).
3. If you can't get your breathing under control - slow down. Definitely remember there is no such thing as too slow!
4. It's totally OK to have a bad session, or two, or three, or.... just don't beat yourself up over it.
5. No one is going to have 36 perfect running sessions & 24 perfect strength training sessions in the N2R program - that'd be weird.
6. If the whole pace/breathing thing gets too hard to figure out - run without one earphone in. I found if I could hear my breathing it was so much easier to slow down and control. If you can still talk, then that's the pace you're aiming for. And yes, I would talk to myself to test this out.
7. But be prepared to be shocked. I often thought I was being chased by a loud, stomping, wheezing beast with an unknown number of legs in the early weeks - until I realised all the noise was me.
8. My vision of having a graceful, sleek, silent & gazelle like running style died on the spot.
9. The heavy breathing has gone, the stomping has stopped & my style is much improved; but I still run like a duck.

Hopefully, some of these points will help people avoid the mistakes I made. I wish everyone the best of luck in the pursuit of their own goals too.

As to what's next for me; in September I did a 100k event as a walker, but there were people running that distance too.

I thought - one day that will be me.