I want to build my endurance and stamina in running?

I played football in HS 3 years ago...i lost all my speed and endurance since than cause i have worked out regulary. My current plan is to run every other day and do stregnth training in between days, with one day off. Is that a good plan? My long term goal is to be able to run 8 miles. how far should i run to start out? should i increase the length weekly? by how many miles? thx for your help.

I want to build my endurance and stamina in running?
The best way to do this is obviously by increasing the amount you run.



Here is what I suggest. This is based off of the idea that you can only run about a mile right now before you are exhausted.



1-2 Weeks: 1 Mile every other day, with repetition weight training on the other days. This will begin the building of your stamina in running, as well as work on making your muscles more agile and able to take constant movement. Strength training builds solely on strength and can limit the muscle flexibility. So be sure to do repetition training.



When you feel comfortable with 1 mile, try 1.5 miles and if that is fine go ahead and move to 2 miles. Their is no reason to do 1.5 miles if you can already do 2 miles every other day. However at this point, I would suggest this:



Every other day: 2 Miles

The other days: Repetition training, with a 1 mile warm up.



In a sense this pattern will continue, as you get use to 2 miles, increase to 3 and so forth. Be sure though to not focus too much on strength training and do repetition training as that will work on toning your body more for running.



Finally, running is not all leg work. Be sure to do extensive ab workouts at least every other day. I would suggest doing them aftter a good hour to hour and half repetition work out. Include push-up, or some sort of chest and arm training workout as well for this. Running involves your abs, chest and arms a lot.