After running and walking for a few weeks, your body and muscles begin to adapt to your new routine. In order to achieve continued fitness results and weight loss, you need to mix it up a little bit. One method is to incorporate 30sec-1min bursts of speed into one of your weekly runs/walks/workouts. I alternate every other Thursday with speed workouts and hill workouts. On my speed days, I do a slow 10min warm-up run and then begin a speed workout of 30sec sprints with 1min recovery (5-10 repeats depending on how I'm feeling). The last sprint I maintain for 1min. It really gets the heart pumping and give all of your muscles a jolt. Then end your run with a 5-10min cool down.
On hill days, I use the street in front of my house (because I have a nice hill!). I do a 10min warmup run first, then do 6-8 hill repeats. It's about a 1/10 of a mile from the bottom to the top. I sprint up the hill and slowly jog back down. Then I end the run with a 5-10 min cool down. Again, the hills incorporate different muscles in your body and the short speed bursts up the hill really get the heart pumping.
Using speed interval and hill workouts will give you a nice change to your usually running routine, increase your overall fitness, and eventually increase your overall running times. Try it next time you go out for a run!
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