I signed up for my first 5k…

CHANGEinWAVES

Thanks guys! This is really helpful to hear from people that have done one, or many. Gotta say… I like what running has done for my ass so far! Lol!

Suzi78

CHANGEinWAVES wrote:

Mine is at the end of May, a good amount of time to prep. I've been working out 6 days a week, 1-1.5 hrs a pop (run, weights, stretch & other cardio) and one session a week is a 2hr one where I push myself just a little more. I've given up alcohol, other indulgences, coffee with cream n sugar & changed my eating habits completely… not to mention I get up in the am an work out (which those who know me, is a HUGE deal!). I'm trying to make big changes in my life (not just in this area).

When building stamina is it more important to do a continuous speed for a long period or to switch it up in intervals? I haven't been able to get outside and run yet, when it's a bit warmer I will (it's just a little too cold at 5am!).

Oh and a friend of mine says I need to get good running shoes… which means spending some $$$, is this necessary or not really?

A shoe that fits your foot and stride makes a big difference, especially when you take your workout out doors on harder surfaces. If you go to a shoe store like Front runners, or whatever you have in your area, they're usually pretty good at finding the right shoe for you. Personally I've always found Asics to be far superior to any other shoe I've tried...but that's just my preference. Don't buy the latest model, check out the last season's instead. They normally don't make big changes and are always way cheaper.

Yellow Ledbelly

Suzi78 wrote:

I've done several 5 and 10K's. For me, I've noticed that the best way to boost my endurance is to incorporate interval and hill training into my schedule. For example, I will do interval training on Monday, hill training on Tuesday, long slow tempo run on Wednesday, rest Thu, fast tempo run on Friday, hill + Intervals on Sat, rest Sun.
Some other suggestions I would give you is not to over exercise, cut back on the distance the week of your race, don't run the day before the race, start out slowly and build your speed. Think of it this way; your second half of the race should go faster than the first half.

Have fun! Good luck :thumbup:

very good advice here. I ran track and cross country in high school and competed in track club races all over the state for years and this is pretty much a good regimen to follow. Of course I did longer distances in training but if you stretched out your slow tempo runs a bit over the 5K distance that wold probably be good too.
I also use to do mile intervals at a decent pace, rest five minutes and do another. If you can pick up the pace a bit and do a few of them I think that would help you on race day.
Of course I don't know what your motivation for doing the 5K is so I should note that I approached it in a highly competitive manner...i don't i ever ran just for fun or to keep in shape.
But good luck and have fun.
Also like others said...be careful not to get caught up in the pack and running at a higher rate of speed that you normally would or are capable of running at

Green Circle

Download this app....Check out the song the put on the model phone in the middle!!!

http://personalrunningtrainer.com/?gclid=COf2zLK5o64CFUff4Aod9jkdPQ

MayDay10

I thought Broad Street was a 10-Miler?

End of May? My unfit friend ran a half marathon with less prep time. You will be able to crush this.

Here is a great program by a running master.
http://www.halhigdon.com/training/50933 ... ng-Program

marcos

MayDay10 wrote:

I thought Broad Street was a 10-Miler?

End of May? My unfit friend ran a half marathon with less prep time. You will be able to crush this.

Here is a great program by a running master.
http://www.halhigdon.com/training/50933 ... ng-Program

Cool link, always very interesting how much walking is often over looked as an exercise which I agree is a great exercise for those out of shape or as a means to simply stay in shape.

CHANGEinWAVES

My mistake, it's at Fairmount Park / Please Touch Museum

MayDay10 wrote:

I thought Broad Street was a 10-Miler?

End of May? My unfit friend ran a half marathon with less prep time. You will be able to crush this.

Here is a great program by a running master.
http://www.halhigdon.com/training/50933 ... ng-Program

CHANGEinWAVES

Too funny, I just downloaded this, this morning

Green Circle wrote:

Download this app....Check out the song the put on the model phone in the middle!!!

http://personalrunningtrainer.com/?gclid=COf2zLK5o64CFUff4Aod9jkdPQ

the wolf

Run up and down those steps you have there. They helped Rocky go the distance with Creed, so i would think they would help you get ready for a 5K.

LloydXmas

I bought the ease into 5k app. It has a GPS tracking tool that maps out the route you ran.

Suzi78

Yellow Ledbelly wrote:

Suzi78 wrote:

I've done several 5 and 10K's. For me, I've noticed that the best way to boost my endurance is to incorporate interval and hill training into my schedule. For example, I will do interval training on Monday, hill training on Tuesday, long slow tempo run on Wednesday, rest Thu, fast tempo run on Friday, hill + Intervals on Sat, rest Sun.
Some other suggestions I would give you is not to over exercise, cut back on the distance the week of your race, don't run the day before the race, start out slowly and build your speed. Think of it this way; your second half of the race should go faster than the first half.

Have fun! Good luck :thumbup:

very good advice here. I ran track and cross country in high school and competed in track club races all over the state for years and this is pretty much a good regimen to follow. Of course I did longer distances in training but if you stretched out your slow tempo runs a bit over the 5K distance that wold probably be good too.
I also use to do mile intervals at a decent pace, rest five minutes and do another. If you can pick up the pace a bit and do a few of them I think that would help you on race day.
Of course I don't know what your motivation for doing the 5K is so I should note that I approached it in a highly competitive manner...i don't i ever ran just for fun or to keep in shape.
But good luck and have fun.
Also like others said...be careful not to get caught up in the pack and running at a higher rate of speed that you normally would or are capable of running at

Yeah, interval training has been working great for me and I think I'm in much better shape because of it. For shorter runs like a 5K I would probably do shorter but higher intensity sprints, 400-800m. And if training for longer distances I'd do mile intervals but at a slightly slower pace.

Btw, does anyone have any experience with fivefingers? Been curious about trying them.

Carey

Suzi78 wrote:

I've done several 5 and 10K's. For me, I've noticed that the best way to boost my endurance is to incorporate interval and hill training into my schedule. For example, I will do interval training on Monday, hill training on Tuesday, long slow tempo run on Wednesday, rest Thu, fast tempo run on Friday, hill + Intervals on Sat, rest Sun.
Some other suggestions I would give you is not to over exercise, cut back on the distance the week of your race, don't run the day before the race, start out slowly and build your speed. Think of it this way; your second half of the race should go faster than the first half.

Have fun! Good luck :thumbup:

I agree this sounds like a great training regimen! I ran cross-country and track in HS and college and this is very similar to what we did. I might suggest, though, another long run on Saturdays instead of intervals -- or even a day of cross training (bike or swim?) to prevent injury. The good shoes are a must, and if you continue on after May, its advisable to have two pair that you can switch off using.

Have fun!!

riotgrl

Suzi78 wrote:

Yellow Ledbelly wrote:

Suzi78 wrote:

I've done several 5 and 10K's. For me, I've noticed that the best way to boost my endurance is to incorporate interval and hill training into my schedule. For example, I will do interval training on Monday, hill training on Tuesday, long slow tempo run on Wednesday, rest Thu, fast tempo run on Friday, hill + Intervals on Sat, rest Sun.
Some other suggestions I would give you is not to over exercise, cut back on the distance the week of your race, don't run the day before the race, start out slowly and build your speed. Think of it this way; your second half of the race should go faster than the first half.

Have fun! Good luck :thumbup:

very good advice here. I ran track and cross country in high school and competed in track club races all over the state for years and this is pretty much a good regimen to follow. Of course I did longer distances in training but if you stretched out your slow tempo runs a bit over the 5K distance that wold probably be good too.
I also use to do mile intervals at a decent pace, rest five minutes and do another. If you can pick up the pace a bit and do a few of them I think that would help you on race day.
Of course I don't know what your motivation for doing the 5K is so I should note that I approached it in a highly competitive manner...i don't i ever ran just for fun or to keep in shape.
But good luck and have fun.
Also like others said...be careful not to get caught up in the pack and running at a higher rate of speed that you normally would or are capable of running at

Yeah, interval training has been working great for me and I think I'm in much better shape because of it. For shorter runs like a 5K I would probably do shorter but higher intensity sprints, 400-800m. And if training for longer distances I'd do mile intervals but at a slightly slower pace.

Btw, does anyone have any experience with fivefingers? Been curious about trying them.

I have not used the fivefingers but a friend has and he loves them! I have been using Saucony Omni for the past 2 years and am transitioning to their Kinvara which is a lower drop shoe. I am loving those - especially for speed. If you try the fivefingers I would be interested in how you like them.

Just signed up for my 3rd 5K. I definitely echo the need for speed work and hill training. I find that I always run faster on race day and flub my pace. I use a GPS program on my phone but I use a Garmin watch and that definitely helps me maintain my pace. I'm lucky to live in Louisville where we have a whole round of races to build up to the KY Derby. Starts with a 5K and ends with a half and full marathon. I've become addicted to running and have lost alot of weight through running - first exercise that I have stuck with over the past 3 years!

PJ-Cubs

Suzi78 wrote:

Yellow Ledbelly wrote:

Suzi78 wrote:

I've done several 5 and 10K's. For me, I've noticed that the best way to boost my endurance is to incorporate interval and hill training into my schedule. For example, I will do interval training on Monday, hill training on Tuesday, long slow tempo run on Wednesday, rest Thu, fast tempo run on Friday, hill + Intervals on Sat, rest Sun.
Some other suggestions I would give you is not to over exercise, cut back on the distance the week of your race, don't run the day before the race, start out slowly and build your speed. Think of it this way; your second half of the race should go faster than the first half.

Have fun! Good luck :thumbup:

very good advice here. I ran track and cross country in high school and competed in track club races all over the state for years and this is pretty much a good regimen to follow. Of course I did longer distances in training but if you stretched out your slow tempo runs a bit over the 5K distance that wold probably be good too.
I also use to do mile intervals at a decent pace, rest five minutes and do another. If you can pick up the pace a bit and do a few of them I think that would help you on race day.
Of course I don't know what your motivation for doing the 5K is so I should note that I approached it in a highly competitive manner...i don't i ever ran just for fun or to keep in shape.
But good luck and have fun.
Also like others said...be careful not to get caught up in the pack and running at a higher rate of speed that you normally would or are capable of running at

Yeah, interval training has been working great for me and I think I'm in much better shape because of it. For shorter runs like a 5K I would probably do shorter but higher intensity sprints, 400-800m. And if training for longer distances I'd do mile intervals but at a slightly slower pace.

Btw, does anyone have any experience with fivefingers? Been curious about trying them.

If you try fivefingers, be sure to ease into using them. It takes some time for your body to adjust to the different angle that your feet will be striking the ground.

The new barefoot running shoes are great (Nike Free, fivefingers, etc) but they are a big change for your body and can lead to injury.

iOnlyownMymind

I ran 7 years of cross country (middle school through senior year of high school). Every race was a 5k except for some longer races that I did during summer training. The single most important thing is having a good pair of running shoes. Do not just go to the store and grab the first pair you see. Go to a proper shoe store with a running specialist who knows how to fit you a shoe. You need the right support in the shoe for the type of pronation your feet have to help prevent injury. See article below.

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7 ... -0,00.html

Suzi78

Thanks for the advice PJ-Cubs! Just bought a pair of fivefingers KSO Trek but haven't used them yet. I'm really excited about my first run Will start out once a week on a short trail run.

eeriepadave

bump

good luck Brandi

CHANGEinWAVES

Thanks! 5k is Sunday... And I'm all geared up for it! Been able to pick up speed and distance... Also letting a friend talk me into a 5k a month as well as a half marathon in january. I dig this running shit never felt better about myself!

mfc2006

CHANGEinWAVES wrote:

Thanks! 5k is Sunday... And I'm all geared up for it! Been able to pick up speed and distance... Also letting a friend talk me into a 5k a month as well as a half marathon in january. I dig this running shit never felt better about myself!

good for you! i was a novice when i started...the key is to keep at it & it sounds like you've done just that! enjoy the 5k!

CHANGEinWAVES

mfc2006 wrote:

CHANGEinWAVES wrote:

Thanks! 5k is Sunday... And I'm all geared up for it! Been able to pick up speed and distance... Also letting a friend talk me into a 5k a month as well as a half marathon in january. I dig this running shit never felt better about myself!

good for you! i was a novice when i started...the key is to keep at it & it sounds like you've done just that! enjoy the 5k!

We'll see how much I love it when I'm dry heaving after my first long run.... Or when I'm freaking out a month before the half marathon! But I got time before all that so I'm gonna enjoy the 5ks while I can