On your off days from running you can use a cross training activity like biking or swimming or incorporate weight training to improve your upper body strength. When you are measuring your ability to work through the program you’ll be either measuring your workouts by time run or distance run. If you are running on a track you’ll be able to measure the distances pretty accurately but if you aren’t just use a car to estimate the distance run each session.
Before starting each session begin with a 5-10 minute warm up walk or jog. Leave the stretching for after your workout when your muscles are warmed up and ready to stretch. Stretching will help to improve your performance in your next run. Use stretching to help in your cool down routine.