My girlfriend is starting to run. She's done some running in the past, but not at the level that I've been at in the last years. Now I've never liked running with people who are at a lower fitness level than me, and not because of some ego, but out of a sense of worry for the new runner. Also, I am always cogniescent of my need to keep at a certain level of training. With both those thoughts in mind, I have been helping my girlfriend. Our first run was my warmup of 2k where I slowed my pace significantly and gave her command of where she stopped our collaboration. Then she went to her walk/run routine of 30 minutes. We've decided on a multi-week plan for her running program. She liked, as the poster says, a program of: 4 weeks to see a change in yourself, 8 weeks for friends to see a difference, and 12 weeks for the rest of the world to see a difference in you. Lastly, we're shooting for her to run with me at training pace for 10k in 6 months. Yet always remember a plan of experienced runner with a newbie should be flexible and non-binding.
Here are two things that I've thought of during the past week...
1. If your newbie is sedentary, encourage her to start with three weeks of walking, four times a week, for 30 minutes. And then move to walk/run episodes of 30 minutes. Running with walking four times, with three days of rest, will keep injuries of your new runner.
2. If you run with a beginner, don’t plan on it being a workout for you. Instead, do your run first, and then head out with her at her pace. You need to go slow. Let the newbie enjoy their run, so that, when they run alone, they can carry that feeling of success and achievement.
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