The Competitive Runner's Training book was first Copyrighted in 1984. It's a Runner's World book written by Bill Dellinger and Bill Freeman with a forward by Alberto Salazar. It's been out of print for probably decades but you can still find it in the used book market. It's the Oregon System as it was back then with elite level workouts for all distances races from the 800 to the marathon. It also has an excellent section for the new runner that I scanned using OCR and uploaded below.

Before you can race, you must be able to run; before you can run, you must be able to jog.
This 10-week program is for the person who is new to jogging or running but is in good health. The program leads you to the status of a regular jogger, in this case, a 20-minute-per-day jogger. When you can jog 20 minutes per day comfortably, you will be ready to try the low- mileage - but more intense - runner's training programs.
 After the 10-week program, we will introduce a training program for the 1500-meter or one-mile run and the 5000- to 10,000-meter track or road races.
Rather than run on a track for a certain distance, find a park or an area you would like to run in. You needn't concern yourself with distance in yards and miles. Just count your steps, one count for every time your right foot touches the ground, using your fingers to count by tens. You should begin by mixing jogging with walking, gradually increasing the time spent jogging.
As your condition improves, change the walks taken on your "easy" days to jogs. At the end of 10 weeks, you should be able to jog for 20 minutes a day. Monday, Wednesday and Friday will be your "easy" days, and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday will be your "hard" days. Sunday should be taken up by so some other activity; although it is a rest day, it is not an inactive day.

Note (from me): The 10 week program below starts at a very low level, probably lower than you'll want to start with. I suggest that you read over the options and start where it seems appropriate for you. Some of you may want to jump to the 20 mile week.
Another note, while the counting steps method works well, you can also simply use time. With a stopwatch, count how long it takes you to jog or run say, 50 steps. Then you can scale your time jogging or running by time.

Week 1
Monday: Jog for 10 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Tuesday: Walk for 20 minutes.
Wednesday: Jog for 20 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Thursday: Walk for 20 minutes.
Friday: Jog for 20 counts of your right foot, then walk for 10 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Saturday: Walk for 20 minutes.

Week 2
Monday: Jog for 20 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Tuesday: Walk for 5 minutes; jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog for 50 counts, then walk for 50 counts, repeating the sequence for 5 minutes); walk for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog 50, walk 50).
Wednesday: Jog for 30 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Thursday: Walk for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog for 50 counts, then walk for 50 counts, repeating the sequence for 5 minutes); walk for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog 50, walk 50).
Friday: Jog for 40 counts ofyour right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Saturday: Walk for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system ;jog for 50 counts, then walk for 50 counts, repeating the se-jog for 5 minutes; walk 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog 50, walk 50)

Week 3
Monday: Jog for 30 counts of your right foot then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Tuesday: Walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog for 50 counts, then walk for 40 counts, repeating the sequence for 5 minutes); walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog 50, walk 50).
Wednesday: Jog for 40 counts of your right foot, then walk for 40 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Thursday: Walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog for 50 counts, then walk for 40 counts, repeating the sequence for five minutes); walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog 50, walk 50).
Friday: Jog for 50 counts of your right foot, then walk for 30 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Saturday: Walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog for 50 counts, then walk for 40 counts, repeating the sequence for 5 minutes); walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog 50, walk 50).

Week 4
Monday: Jog for 40 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Tuesday: Walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog for 50 counts, then walk for 30 counts, repeating the sequence for 5 minutes); walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog 50, walk 30).
Wednesday: Jog for 50 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Thursday: Walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog for 50 counts, then walk for 30 counts, repeating the sequence for five minutes); walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog 50, walk 30).
Friday: Jog for 60 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Saturday: Walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog for 50 counts, then walk for 30 counts, repeating the sequence for 5 minutes); walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog for 5 minutes using the count system (jog 50, walk 30).

Week 5
Monday: Jog for 50 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Tuesday: Walk briskly for 5 minutes, jog at an easy pace for 5 minutes; walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog at an easy pace for 5 minutes.
Wednesday: Jog for 60 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Thursday: Walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog at an easy pace for 5 minutes; walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog at an easy pace for 5 minutes.
Friday: Jog for 70 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Saturday: Walk briskly for 5 minutes, jog at an easy pace for 5 minutes; walk briskly for 5 minutes, jog at an easy pace for 5 minutes.

Week 6
Monday: Jog for 70 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Tuesday: Walk briskly for 5 minutes, jog at a comfortable pace for 5 minutes; walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog at an easy pace for 5 minutes.
Wednesday: Jog for 80 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Thursday: Walk briskly for 5 minutes, jog at a comfort-able pace for 5 minutes; walk briskly for 5 minutes, then jog at a comfortable pace for 5 minutes.
Friday: Jog for 90 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Saturday: Walk briskly for 5 minutes, jog at a comfort-able pace for 5 minutes; walk briskly for 5 minutes, jog at a comfortable pace for 5 minutes.

Week 7
Monday: Jog for 90 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Tuesday: Walk for 5 minutes, jog for 5 minutes; walk for 5 minutes, jog for 5 minutes.
Wednesday: Jog for 100 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Thursday: Walk for 3 minutes, then jog for 7 minutes; walk for 3 minutes, then jog for 7 minutes.
Friday: Jog for 110 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Saturday: Walk for 5 minutes, jog for 10 minutes; walk for 5 minutes.

Week 8
Monday: Jog for 110 counts of your right foot, the walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Tuesday: Walk for 3 minutes, jog for 7 minutes; walk for 3 minutes, jog for 7 minutes.
Wednesday: Jog for 120 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Thursday: Walk for 5 minutes; jog for 10 minutes; walk for 5 minutes.
Friday: Jog for 130 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Saturday: Walk for 3 minutes; jog for 14 minutes; walk for 3 minutes.

Week 9
Monday: Jog for 130 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Tuesday: Walk for 5 minutes; jog for 10 minutes; walk for 5 minutes.
Wednesday: Jog for 140 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Thursday: Walk for 3 minutes; jog at an easy pace for 14 minutes; walk for 3 minutes.
Friday: Jog for 150 counts of your right foot, then walk for 20 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Saturday: Jog for 20 minutes at an easy pace.

Week 10
Monday: Jog at a comfortable, easy pace for 20 minutes.
Tuesday: Jog at a fairly hard pace for 150 counts of your right foot, then jog at a very easy Pace for 50 counts of your right foot. Repeat the process for 20 minutes.
Wednesday: Jog at an easy pace for 20 minutes.
Thursday: Run 10 intervals of 50 counts of your right foot at a medium pace, with a recovery interval of 50 counts of your right foot at a very easy jogging pace between each hard interval. Complete the 20 minutes with easy jogging.
Friday: Jog at a comfortable, easy pace for 20 minutes.
Saturday: Run from 12 to 15 intervals of 150 counts of your right foot, with a recovery interval of 50 counts of your right foot. Follow the interval session with 20 minutes of easy jogging.