Take Five

Focusing on running for time instead of distance helps new runners.

March 10, 2014
Jenny Stopwatch

Five minutes flies by when you’re doing something enjoyable; five minutes seems like an eternity when you’re doing something painful. But those five minutes could be the best investment of your life.

My advice to someone just getting started is to run for time, not distance. You won’t need any fancy GPS watches and you won’t need to measure your route, all you’ll need is a simple wristwatch or a stopwatch (which nearly every smartphone comes equipped with these days).

Try to run continuously for five minutes. Use any course you’d like, around your neighborhood or around a park. Just set your watch and go.

The biggest mistake I see in new runners is that they take off too quickly. Remember, this is not a sprint; this is an exercise to remain in continual forward motion until the target time-goal has been reached. Even a highly trained athlete would find it challenging to sprint full speed for five straight minutes. That is not the objective. The purpose is to train yourself to regulate your pace so you can run continuously.

Once you’re able to run or jog continuously for five minutes, try increasing the duration for an additional five minutes every other week, ultimately working toward being able sustain uninterrupted forward momentum for 30 minutes.

During the progression upward from five minutes, learn to push your pace as fast as you can so that you arrive completely spent, while still being able to reach this requisite time goal without having to stop and catch your breath along the way.

This approach teaches you discipline and helps build confidence as you strive to accomplish progressively longer goals. And it all starts with just a five minute investment.

Good luck!