Could anyone give me some advice on running and stats?

[letsjog]

I'm 26 and haven't done much in terms of fitness for a good few years apart from a weekly 45min Zumba class which isn't really doing much for me.

I've recently taken up running to replace the class and have gotten into it a little.
I don't know what I'm doing or what I'm aiming for in terms of pace/times/distance.
I would like to build my stamina and overall fitness levels and also loose weight.

In an ideal world I would like to loose at least a stone and would really like tips on how to achieve that through running (if possible).

Stats below - not sure what matters so will list everything I've got.

Height 168cm
Weight 73kg

Currently run the same route x 3 a week. (Done 6 runs so far).
It's a quiet route all asphalt pretty even throughout with one sharpish incline and one decline.
I always start with a 5min brisk walk up a hill to the starting point.

Distance from start to finish according to my watch 3.39km
Time 24 mins 36 secs.

So in short with all above in mind how could I get better?
Any tips and tricks on how to progress from here would be much appreciated.

Ok! If you're only doing three runs a week, you need to make them all count. I'd advise you do one speed session, one hills session and one long run. Anything additional you do can just be an easy, chatty, recovery run.

For your speed session, keep the route you have, but vary the pace (intervals, or fartlek, if you will). You can overthink this with c specific speeds or you can keep it v simple - ie run hard (8/10 effort) for one minute, jog recovery for two, for the whole session. Your existing 3k loop is a nice length for this, but it won't be long until you're wanting to add extra on. Ideally you'd want to do this for 30 mins.

For your hill session, run hard up the hill (prob the one you currently use for your warm up) then jog v slowly back down until your heart rate is back to normal. Do that for half an hour.

Then you need a long run where time on feet is the aim, not speed. Keep it at a steady pace (say 5 or 6 out of 10 effort) and add a km on each week. When that starts feeling too easy, add a mile on each week. Soon you'll be up to an hour on your feet and, in time and when lockdown is done, you can add more onto that too.

You should see your speed and stamina build up pretty quickly on that. And you'll lose weight too if you don't eat back the calories you burn.

My current regime (in lockdown!) is one hour-long run a week (as that's the longest that feels safe - i was doing 3hrs on my long runs before this), two "sessions" of half hour speed or hills, two tempo 5ks and a recovery run or two.

Hope that is useful.