30/30 Plan - A clever way for the running beginner to get started

The 30/30 Plan. An excellent way to get started is a favorite routine of famed runner/writer Hal Higdon. Higdon recommends the 30/30 plan, which in its elegant simplicity begs the new aspiring runner to exercise for 30 minutes a day for 30 days – ergo 30/30.

The plan does insist on 30 days. A beginning runner who exercises every day will be done in a month. A runner who exercises every other day, two months.

Higdon’s 30/30 plans requires the runner to locomote 15 minutes, turn around and come back.

The plan emphasizes that beginning runners (1) WALK the first 10 minutes, (2) Trot, jog, skip, whatever for 15 minutes, and (3) WALK the last 5 minutes.

The walking is very important. You are just beginning. Ease into the program.

The goal is to acclimate you to running. It is designed to introduce your legs to sustained periods of running, while at the same time conditioning your mind to accept and enjoy this new form of exercise (“new form” which has been around since humans were picking fleas off each other in caves).

I like the 30/30 plan a lot and highly recommend it. “But, Paul, you Phidippedes of running literature, that’s not what you did!” To which I respond, “ Hugh damn right!” That’s correct. I threw convention and wisdom to the wind as I embarked on my lifelong journey or running. And, I believe, I have been successful. On the other hand, my “beginnings” lasted about two to three years. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I presume that you did not buy this book to start running in 3 years. I like to think of Arnold Palmer’s golf swing, which is perhaps the ugliest form and most offensive violation against aesthetics in all athletics. But damn it ain’t he good. So, I say, it doesn’t matter how you do it, just get to it.

Do the 30/30 plan for about, you guessed it, 30 days. From there, extend it to 45/30, 60/30, 75/30. Mix it up with hard runs, easy runs, walking, cross training, etc. Do whatever it takes for you to enjoy running. And extend your runs as you feel comfortable. Just take it easy. Running is very Zen.