Lunch hour runs

It’s perfectly possible to be a bona fide runner by doing lunch hour runs alone – and provided you can put aside one weekend morning for a long run, you could even train for a marathon or half marathon without your training taking up any of your mornings and evenings.

With this in mind, this essential guide to running during your lunch hour gives you tips and training options that won’t interfere with you eating your lunch!

Lunchtime running made easy
Before we look at how you might put a training programme together that puts ticks in all the right boxes for improving your running, let’s consider the practicalities. To make lunch hour running work, preparation and good organisation are key – so here are some tips on what to do in order to make things easier for yourself:

• Tell your colleagues and boss what you are going to do, so that they know this is your sacred running time (and that no, you’re not going to go to the pub instead!).

• If you don’t have showers at work, or you don’t work from or close to home, consider joining a gym close by where you can use the showers. The gym’s treadmills might come in handy, too.

• Leave a kit bag at work, which should contain your running shoes, plenty of running socks, enough vests/tops to last the week, and a drinks bottle. This way you will only need bring it in on Monday and take it home on Friday.

• Get into a routine of taking your lunch to work, or buying it in the morning on your way in, so that you save precious lunch hour minutes.

• Spend a few minutes reorganising your kit bag at the end of the day, so that you don’t get faced with a damp towel and sweaty kit the next time you’re heading out for a run. Rinse out that drinks bottle, too.

• If you have long hair, wear it up when you run, or use a headband to keep your locks sweat-free. Then you’ll save shower time because you won’t need to wash it.

Your lunch hour training menu
Let’s assume that you are going to run during at least three week day lunch hours –ideally on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, since this will give you a day to recover between each one. If you want to run on all five days, then you can just do steady, conversation-paced runs on the other two days – or alternatively, you could have those days off and include a long run at the weekend. Each of your sessions should have a different focus, as this will be far more beneficial to you than if you just do the same old thing every time you head out.

Here are four different suggested running sessions for your lunch hour runs. None of them will take more than 45-50 minutes including a warm-up – so you should still have time for a sandwich!

Interval session – 45 minutes
Focus: To increase aerobic capacity, increase leg turnover and improve running economy (i.e. the amount of energy it takes to run at any given pace).

Start with a slow jog, building up gradually over ten minutes to your usual training speed. Now speed up to the fastest pace you think you can sustain for five minutes (you shouldn’t be able to hold a conversation during this time – and remember, it’s five minutes, not 30 seconds!). Follow this with a three-minute slow jog. Then repeat this three more times, using the final slow jog recovery (it doesn’t matter if this is longer than three minutes) to make your way back to work.

Tip: Ideally you should do the five-minute efforts around the same route, so that you can keep tabs on whether your pace is being maintained or if you are slowing down slightly as the reps go on.

Time-pressed alternative – 35 minutes
Work on speed with a short intervals session: start with the warm-up as above and then alternate one minute fast with one minute slow for 20 minutes. Then cool down for five minutes.

Threshold run 35 minutes
Focus: To raise lactate threshold and improve speed.

Start with a slow jog, building up your speed over ten minutes to your usual training pace. Now gradually speed up to a pace that is just beyond comfortable (so that you can say the odd ‘yes’ and ‘no’ but can’t natter away if you’re running with a partner), and sustain this for 20 minutes. If this is too daunting, then go for ten minutes, take a two-minute rest, and then do another ten minutes. When the threshold run is finished, jog slowly for five minutes to cool down and to get rid of the lactic acid from the muscles.

Time-pressed alternative – 30 minutes
Try a ‘Kenyan hills’ session. This differs from a usual hill session because you don’t get a recovery between efforts – which will improve your lactate tolerance and clearance, as well as leg strength. Start with a ten-minute warm-up jog towards a long, steady hill. Then run up the hill swiftly, and after you reach the top, turn and run down swiftly while allowing your strides to open out. Run up the hill again without a break, continuing for seven and a half minutes. Take a two-minute rest and then repeat the seven and a half minutes. Then jog slowly back to work.

Varied-pace (Fartlek) run – 40 minutes
Focus: To become accustomed to running at different speeds, and work on different aspects of fitness such as power, strength and speed.

Start with a five- to ten-minute warm-up and then use the environment around you to dictate some bouts of varied pace. For example, if you encounter a row of park benches, you could increase your pace each time you pass one until you’re running flat out. Then slow down till you recover. If you find a steady climb, you could run up it swiftly and then jog back down to recover, and repeat this a few times. Alternatively, if there aren’t many features in your surroundings to work with, count your strides instead. For example, 50 strides at top speed, followed by 100 to recover.

Time-pressed alternative – any shorter amount of time
Your ‘Fartlek’ run can last any amount of time at all – so, if you’re time-crunched, simply fit more efforts in and take fewer recoveries, so that you’ll be able to fit the session into the time available.

And finally…
All the above sessions are challenging, and will help you to get the most ‘bang for your buck’ in your lunchtime run. However, if you don’t feel up to doing a strenuous run – or if you want to run more than three times during your working week – then include a steady run as follows:

Steady run – 35-50 minutes
Focus: To improve stamina and fat use – and to reinvigorate you for the afternoon.

This run is all about you. It’s one you should ideally do at your favoured pace in a pleasant environment such as a park or riverbank (though listening to your iPod while running on a treadmill could work, too). Concentrate on running with great technique – i.e. make sure you are relaxed, running tall, and using your arms to help power you along. This way you will get more out of your run – and enjoy it more too!

Make the most of your time!
As you can see, not having any time for running during your evenings or weekends doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the health and fitness benefits. Simply by planning ahead and following our suggested running plans, you will be able to run during your lunch hour and feel more energised during the afternoon. And if you do it enough, you could even train for a race!