<human>: Give me the gist of the text in a nutshell

Hey /r/running
I'm a blank slate for you. A 19 year old male college student, physically fit in terms of strength, fairly lean, but absolutely crap cardio. Assume I haven't played sports regularly or ran since high school, and even then, I was bad. Right now, assume that I have a 8:30 mile without straining that hard.

Now assume that I want to improve my cardiovascular health, to be able to do simple stuff like go on hikes and play sports without getting winded. What program would you recommend for this? Running gradually longer distances at a comfortable pace? Aiming to get a better time on smaller distance (1-2 miles)? Even HIIT?

Note: I don't want the obvious answers like 'Just go do what you want to do- you'll get better at them by doing. Do what's fun.' Assume I'm dedicated to what you'd give me.
<bot>: What running program would you give a college Everyman to give the most efficient benefits for heart, lungs, and short term endurance?