Welcome to Week 1 of the Couch to 3k Training Plan

Congratulations on setting yourself the goal of running 3km. This could be a life changing experience.

I have worked as a physiotherapist for the past 25 years, and I have helped thousands of people “learn” to run. Running has changed the lives of many people. The mental health, weight loss, and general health benefits are all well documented.

“Learning” to run seems like a strange description given that we have all been able to run since we were toddlers. But our modern lifestyle with too much sitting and not enough moving, means that most of us have lost our natural running patterns, and it is something we have to re-learn.

The statistics on the injury rates in runners are very high. More than 50% of recreational runners who train frequently will sustain a running-related injury every year. Most of these injuries are simply caused by doing too much running too soon. It takes your body a long time to adapt to the impact and stresses of running, so you have to be patient and build your volume very gradually.

Poor running technique, lack of flexibility and lack of stability are also significant contributing factors to developing running injuries.

My 25 years of working as a physiotherapist and treating runners has helped me to develop this 4 week training program which is specifically designed to help you remain injury free, so that you will ultimately learn to love running.

The 4 week training plan includes:

• A progressive running plan that increases your distance very slowly over the 4 weeks
• 2 sessions of “Body Maintenance” every week working on some simple, but effective, strength and stability exercises.
• 2 Foam Rolling sessions each week teaching you how to relieve and relax your tightest muscles
• Running technique lessons – easy to follow video guide and instructions
• A 1 minute stability test which will help you to identify your areas of strengths and weaknesses.

Strength and Stability – What exercises should you be doing this week?

Strength and Stability are two different things. Strength describes the ability to use your big “movement” muscles efficiently. Stability describes the fine-tuning and coordination of all the little muscles in your body to help keep you balanced.

The ability to stand on one foot with your eyes closed for 60 seconds requires you to have good stability.

We will work on both strength and stability during this program. If you have a stable “core” when you run you are much less likely to get injured.

Test your stability now

To get an understanding of stability, I want you to do this simple one minute test. Stand on one leg, close your eyes.  Start counting in seconds 1, 2, 3…………

How long did you last until you had to put your foot down?.

If you made it to

• less than 10… You have a lot of work to do
• 10 – 30 ……. Still not good. Your lack of hip stability might cause some injuries
• 30 – 45 …….. Better, but still room for improvement
• 60 seconds …….. Great. Keep doing what you are doing

Write down your score for both legs.  We will revisit this later in the program and see how you have improved.

Running Technique

We will start this journey into running by working on the absolute foundation of what will keep you injury-free. Your running technique. Running with the correct technique reduces the stress and strain on your muscles and joints, so getting it correct from the outset will make your transition into becoming a runner much easier.

This video describes the basics of running technique.

The main things you should focus on when running are:

• Stand up tall
• Take short steps

These two queues alone can make all the difference to your body.

Choosing Your Shoes

Have you purchased some running shoes yet? The most important thing at this early stage is to get a pair which feels comfortable.

Don’t worry about going for maximum cushioning or maximum support, just choose a pair which feels nice and comfortable. If you buy them from a specialty running store they will usually let you run up and down the footpath outside the store. This will help a lot in your ability to judge if they are comfortable.

This pair of shoes will be all you need for this 4 week training program, and probably also for another 6 months after that. That might be the point at which you decide for a shoe “upgrade”.