The 5K! This is a typical distance race that runners often complete as a part of their run program, and it is a great way to begin your journey as a new runner! It consists of 5 kilometers or 3.1 miles.
To start as a beginner, you want to have a variety of activities per week especially including walking, running, and resting, of course! Resting can greatly reduce the chances of an injury, and lowers exhaustion and stress in the body and mind. I would recommend starting with about 2-3 running days a week to give yourself time to rest and recover. The other 2-3 days a week, complete a walk totaling 20-30 minutes. Rest days should be anywhere from 2-3 days a week, depending on what is best for you! A great way to begin running is through interval training, which means running for a couple of minutes and then taking a short walking break to recover. For example, run for 6 minutes interspersed with a 2-minute walk; then complete this sequence about 4-5 times to get some distance in.
A great way to figure out what kind of pacing you want is to run a one-mile time trial. This means you run one mile as fast as possible (preferably on a track), and use this to decide the pacing for all of your runs. For easy runs, which should be a majority of your runs, you should plan to be about 2-3 minutes slower than your 1-mile timed run. Depending on how you are feeling, never be afraid to go even slower on days that you need it.
As someone who runs many 5ks, (I run 6 times a week) this works for me; but it may not for everyone! Depending on your body, you might be more injury-prone and need more rest days, so always consider this. Discovering suitable workouts can sometimes be challenging, but one that consistently both challenges and exhilarates me is the 6x1000 meters routine. I love this workout because it is right in the middle - shorter than a 1600 (one mile), but longer than an 800 (half a mile), which is the perfect distance for me. As an advanced runner, you want to be able to hit about 25 - 35 miles a week, with 2-3 workouts a week, and then 2-3 easy/recovery runs a week.
Depending on where you are in your training, I also suggest a long run, more towards the end of the week of your training. This helps your body increase its VO2 Max, builds up your mental persistence, and even makes your running more efficient. Tempo runs are another great way to prepare for an upcoming race! They are a type of running workout characterized by sustained efforts at a comfortably hard pace. An aerobic base workout is 80-90 seconds slower than your mile time, and an Anaerobie base workout is 50-60 seconds plus your mile time. Both of these types of workouts are challenging, but are amazing to help your mental fortitude, and also increase your VO2 Max. These can be done 1-2 times a week as a workout.
Always remember that no matter where you are in your running journey, it is never too late to get out there and challenge yourself!
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