How to Start Running, From Zero
I remember back in college, most of my business classes were in a new building at the top of a large hill on campus. I would make sure to leave 10 minutes earlier than I needed—not so I could be early to class, but so I had time to go into the bathroom to catch my breath and wipe off all the sweat that had accumulated.
I don’t tell this story for sympathy or kudos. I say it for context: no matter how far gone you think you are, it is never too late to start. It is never too late to work to be greater.
I’ve gone from being so out of breath that I needed to give myself 10 minutes to recover from walking up a hill, to running 50-mile weeks with two full marathons under my belt.
It’s not because I am some superior being—I'm definitely not. I was painfully mediocre at most things that I tried while I was growing up.
There really isn't anything special about me; I’ve just learned how to be incredibly consistent. If you can commit to Finding Your 1% every day—committing to small but steady improvement over an extraordinary period of time—you will eventually look back and realize you’ve climbed mountains and changed the trajectory of your entire life.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about how I’ve gone from being out of breath from walking up a hill to running 26.2 miles (willingly).
Increasing Your Time on Feet
Most people think that to start running, you need to do just that—start running. While for some, it can be that simple, not everyone has the physical ability to run right from the start.
When I was over 300lbs, if someone had told me to just start running, it would have been like telling a fish to fly. It was so unnatural to me that I didn’t even know where to begin.
Before we learned how to run, we learned how to walk. So, that’s what I did—I started by just walking more. I would intentionally go on three 10-minute walks every day.
Walking is low impact and something that almost everyone can do. The more time we spend on our feet, the stronger the muscles in our legs and feet become.
If running seems as daunting as climbing Everest—as it did for me—take a step back. Focus on just increasing the time you spend on your feet by spending more time walking.
Start with a time goal of 10 or 15 minutes, then work your way up to a distance goal of a mile or two-mile walks.
In order to start running, you don’t need to start with running. It begins with just moving our bodies more, and just like our friend Newton said, "a body in motion stays in motion."
The Beginner’s Tempo Run
The tempo run is one of my favorite training runs because they are designed to make you faster. These runs consist of periods of “hard, but sustainable paces,” followed by slower cooldown paces. These paces can vary depending on the overall fitness and experience level of the runner.
But a tempo run is not just reserved for the experienced runner busting out 6-minute miles. A variation of the tempo run can help a new runner build some baseline endurance for a pace faster than a walk. Here’s what it looks like:
1-minute run (there is no pace requirement—just move faster than a walk)
1-minute walk
Repeat until you hit a mile.
As a new runner, this helps us start to feel what a pace faster than walking is like (for me, it had been years) without having yet built the endurance to maintain a steady pace.
Now, for some (like me), 1-minute of rest was not enough. If you need more time to catch your breath after the 1-minute of a pace faster than walking, you can adjust the plan to:
1-minute run, 2-minute walk
Or:
1-minute run, 3-minute walk
The amount of rest needed will vary depending on the fitness level of the individual, and it can also be adjusted as your fitness improves.
I used this method as a way to slowly build endurance without burning myself out or pushing too hard, which is why most people start running but don’t stick with it.
Running has given me so much in my life: a level of fitness I only ever dreamed of, clarity on decisions and directions in my life, and a discipline that shows me that delayed gratification is key.
The things most worth it in life take time and hard work. But that’s exactly what makes them worth it.
The goal is not to be perfect. The goal is steady forward progress.
Find Your 1%
GTY
