If you’re not an experienced runner, then I totally suggest doing any plan where you do a fair amount of walking, probably 50% to start. The idea is to slowly get your body acclimated to running. If you’re sore the next day, you probably did too much – but, eventually you will be sore from running, it’s just better to put that day off to later rather than earlier, because the idea is to keep running, and being the sore is probably the number one demotivator.
Concentrate on time rather than distance, and you probably want to run like 3 times a week, max. If your plan makes you run for 30 mins that week, expect to walk for 30 mins. The amount and intensity of your run will vary depending on your physical fitness level. So, if you’ve never run before, you shouldn’t be too intense. Speed and endurance will come eventually, the idea is just to get out there.
I’ve seen a lot of people do the couch to 5k plan and it works, and I did something rather like that when I first started - and it kind of worked, however, I had to slow way the blank down, much slower than I imagined. I could do intervals until the cows came home (N. Sane, I was lucky enough to live near a jogging track, so I could use a stopwatch - I didn’t need to worry about running into cars and I could pretty much see other runners, cyclists, and skaters coming at me.), but I couldn’t run a full half mile until I just slowed to a very steady, near crawling speed and then, all of a sudden, I could do two miles with no problem. It got longer from there.
Repeat a week if you don’t feel like you’re ready to go on, go slowly, listen to your body. I cannot totally agree with the heart rate monitor suggestion, because the HRM completely failed for me. It was a horrible idea, produced awful results, and took a very long time for me to recover from HRM running. I hear it works for some people - but I’m the “not everyone” case.
I greatly dislike running (hate is reserved for cycling). But there is a sense of accomplishment with that type of exercise that it’s hard to get elsewhere. So if you hate it, hate it and be proud that you’re tough enough to do it anyway. For me the “I’m going to do X” and the accomplishment incentive is strong enough to overpower my dislike of running. If you don’t have something that is going to push you to do it, you won’t stick with it.
I’ll take a different tack than the other posters here. I’ll be running my first marathon on Sunday 6 years after starting running, so I think I’m qualified to speak up.
I did NOT start out intending to become a runner. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I’d be regularly running 6 miles a day. However, after I started, it took less than 2 years to get to the point where I was running more than 5 miles a day (mostly 25 minutes running, 5 minutes walk, 25 minutes running).
Here’s what happened: I walked. I walked quite comfortably and at my own pace. I walked everyday, 40 minutes straight. My walks began speeding up, but if I got tired, I’d go back to ambling. Get the picture?
Now, a few months of this, and I began kinda jogging for a few seconds here and there, just for fun. The jogs gradually got longer in interval and more frequent, and all in all, it took about an year to get to the point where I was running without walking breaks.
A training program like the others above suggest are good for people motivated to become runners, but to be honest, you do not sound motivated. You exclude a “I don’t wanna do this” attitude. I think you’re far better off doing the above. If you stay being a walker, who cares? Don’t pressure yourself, that’s the best way to set yourself up for failure.
The key is consistency, though. Always make room to do it at least 5 times a week, at least 30 minutes a day, even if it means walking at the pace of 1 city block per hour. Don’t say, “I don’t have the energy to finish at my usual pace.” Go slower, but go the full 30 minutes. It counts. Really.