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Anyone Can Become 'A Runner'. Honestly. Here's How.

Running season is upon us.
It's time to lace up.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
It's time to lace up.

Runners are smug by nature. And as much as we might want to hate them, they kinda have a right to be. They are fit, healthy, most likely look good in Lycra, and can run away from the boogie man faster, should they need to.

The good news is that you and I can soon be smug runners, too.

"Everyone is a runner, it's just some people don't know it yet," Ben Lucas, former NRL player turned endurance runner and founder of Flow Athletic told The Huffington Post Australia.

The guy has completed 35 marathons and 5 ultras (an ultra is longer than a regular marathon and why these events even exist we don't know) in the past five years, so he sort of knows what he's talking about.

Lucas reckons it's as easy as starting with walking. So far so good.

"Start small, enjoy it and build up. Walk for 30 minutes every second day for a month. When that feels good, build up to a 30 second jog and walk-recovery until you feel ready, then jog 30 seconds again."

From there the intervals of walking and jogging should get closer together until, just like Forrest Gump, you're running.

"Increase the work intervals weekly as they become comfortable. Before you know it you are running 1km at a time -- that becomes two, then five and before you know it, you're running 10 kilometres," Lucas said.

Not convinced?

"In 2011 I trained 100 non-runners to complete a marathon, so it's very much achievable, if you want it. Too many people put pressure on themselves that they have to be amazing by the end of the first week. Start small, be constant, build gradually and before you know it you are doing great things," Lucas said.

Had my mate @wilburthespaniel crash the 📸 on a new project coming up last week

A photo posted by Benjamin Lucas (@ben_lucas1) on

To get started Lucas suggests partaking in the following interval work:

  • Start with pairing a one-minute jog with a two-minute walk. Do that for 30 minutes, three days a week, for a fortnight.
  • At the start of week three ramp it up to a one-minute jog with a one-minute walk for half an hour's duration for the next two weeks.
  • When week five comes around you'll be ready for a two-minute jog with a one-minute walk, and you'll do this for half an hour for two weeks.

"After that six-week initiation you'll be ready to turn it up. Ten weeks for a beginner to then run 10 kilometers is very realistic," Lucas said.

A word of warning though, don't try to be a hero and go too hard too early.

"Don't build up the weekly distance, or the distance of your longest run by any more than 10 percent a week. Yoga, stretching, sleep, hydration, and having the right shoes for your body are all really important components to running. Try varying your weekly runs for best results and to keep it interesting. Try LSD runs (long slow distance), hill repeats and tempo runs (shorter and faster) to maximise your time and results," Lucas said.

This story was originally published on 04/08/2016

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