Week One-Taking It Easy

     Alright this week is gonna be the most important run you will ever have, except for when you run the Chicago Marathon or any other marathon. Starting off week one we must find out what pace you will be training throughout the rest of the runs. You can do this by running 3 miles at a pace you find comfortable running in. I recommend that you run at a location that is near water because once you start running you will get really hot and a best way to stay cool is to run where a nice breeze can hit you. Before running the 3 miles you should get a watch to time how long it took you to complete the run. By doing this you can figure out the pace that you should be placed in.

"Me in the past"

     Heres a formula to figure this out: Time it took divided by miles that you ran. So lets say you ran 3 miles and you completed these miles in about 27 minutes. We would have 27 divided by 3 miles and the pace you should be running at would be at a 9 minute/mile pace. Also if your worried that you wont be able to complete 3 miles then just start off with 1 mile it should be almost the same results at the end. But I highly recommend 3 miles. For the reason that your body would be running longer which for most cases you will have to take a walk break and this will increase the time it took to complete the miles and give you an exact pace to run in.
     After you figure out your pace its now time to run during the week. You should be running at least three times a week including your long run which I recommend running on saturday mornings this will give you time to rest and recover. The two runs during the week you should be running 3 miles every time. You do this so that your body can be warmed up for the long runs and also so you don't get cramps or any injuries later in the season. Trust me I've gotten injured my first year for not doing this, learn from my mistakes.
     My schedule for this week is to run 3 miles on tuesday and thursday. Then on saturday run 4 miles because I already know my pace which is an 8 minute/mile. Try having at least one day off between your runs so your body can recover. Well hope week one goes smoothly for you and try to get a partner to run with you because it will give you more support to keep going when it starts to get difficult.