With so many scheduled runs filling the annual calendar and more and more of them organised to raise money for worthy charities around the world, its hardly surprising that more and more people who wouldn’t naturally consider running are dusting off their running shoes and hitting the pavements.

The vast majority of these beginners will run into trouble early on in their preparation for the big day for a number of reasons.

Too many people have been turned off  running simply by starting off too fast.  Their bodies rebel, and they wind up miserable, wondering why anyone would possibly want to do this to themselves.

You should slowly ease into your running program.   In fact, a beginners’ program is less of a running regimen than a walking and jogging program and ideal to transform you from a couch potato to a 5-10km runner in a short period of time.

It’s easy to get impatient, and you may feel tempted to skip ahead in the program, but hold yourself back.  Don’t try to do more, even if you feel you can.  If, on the other hand, you find the program too strenuous, just stretch it out.   Don’t feel pressured to continue faster than you’re able.  Repeat weeks if needed and move ahead only when you feel you’re ready.

Each session should take about 20 or 30 minutes, three times a week.  That just happens to be the same amount of moderate exercise recommended by numerous studies for optimum fitness.  The program should get you fit and should fit into almost everybody’s busy lifestyle.

Be sure to space out these three days throughout the week to give yourself a chance to rest and recover between efforts.  And don’t worry about how fast you’re going.  Running faster can wait until your bones are stronger and your body is fitter.  For now, focus on gradually increasing the time or distance you run.  A pedometer or even a heart rate monitor is an excellent piece of kit for measuring time and distance and some can even record calories burned - fantastic if you are wanting to lose weight too!  It is well worth investing in one.

There are two ways to follow our 5km program, either measure your runs by time or by distance.  Either one works just as well.  Choose the option that seems easiest for you to keep track. If you go with the distance option, and you are not using a track to measure the distances, just estimate.  It’s not important to have the distances absolutely exact.

Before setting out, make sure to precede each session with a five-minute warm up walk or jog.  Wear suitable clothing that keeps you cool on hot days, warm on cold days and dry on wet days.  Remember there’s no such thing as a cold, wet or warm runner, just an unprepared one!  Make sure that you have a good pair of comfortable and suitable running shoes, its well worth investing in them…. and finally make sure that you stay hydrated and take water with you if needed.