Training for 5k--too soon to do my first one?
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Anonymous
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with C25K...I am starting week 6. I'd like to run my first 5k on July 4th but by my estimate, I'll only be in Week 8 of 9 (the first run of week 8 is 28 minutes with no walking.)
So...am I jumping the gun (pun acknowledged) to think I could do the 5k a week early? I will not have had additional practice with a 5k run and am a first-time runner. My pace is very slow right now (14 min) and ideally, I'd like to get faster before my first race. It is obvious to me that I need to work on my pace and endurance but was thinking adrenaline might carry me through. Thoughts? Am I being foolish? |
Anonymous
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Depends -- how are you feeling after a C25K workout? Do you feel like you could keep going after it's over? Or that you could keep running when the app tells you to walk? Anything hurt after you run?
My guess would be as long as you aren't gasping for air or in any kind of pain, you will be ok. And I'd say better to try and fail (or succeed but take 45 mins.) than wonder. But you also don't want the setback of an injury at this stage, so think about how you are feeling now after runs and whether you could turn it up a notch. |
Anonymous
| Whats the worst that can happen? You stop and walk. Just don't try to run it fast. You don;t have the endurance to do that and if you go out fast you will hit a wall. This is especially true on the 4th because it is likely to be hot and humid. |
Anonymous
| I did one around then. You won't be fast, but it should be fun and a good motivator. |
Anonymous
Exactly... If you need to stop and walk around mile 2 or 2.5, just stop around mile 2 or 2.5. Walk some. Then start running again to finish strong! Your race adrenaline might keep you going... you never know. It sounds like you are doing fairly well in the program, even though you're still going slow. Don't worry about speed or your time. It will give you motivation for your NEXT 5K to run the entire race and get a better time. Which race is it? Good luck! |
Anonymous
| If you treat the 5k as a long training run and don't take it too fast, there is absolutely no reason that you can't do it. |
Anonymous
| Go for it! If it is your first 5K you will set a personal best and then as you continue to train you can beat your time. You will find that in race mode with all the people around, you will go faster and farther than in practice mode. you can always walk if you need to. |
Anonymous
| OP here, Thanks everyone! This is encouraging. It's the Autism Speaks 5k in Potomac. They have 4 pace groups. |
Anonymous
| I'm doing that one as well. Didn't realize they had pace groups -- that must be new. Unless they have a very slow one I wold not advise you to use one. You need to learn your own pace and not be stuck with one for your first. |
Anonymous
| I just looked over the website and don't see anything about pace groups. Where is that information? Its unusual for a 5K. |
Anonymous
| I just did my first 5k. I didn't train much at all. Ran about 2/3, walked (in spurts in between) about 1/3. Go for it! |
Anonymous
Not a pace group. It's 4 start waves based on your expected pace. From what you said, I encourage you to be in the last wave - which is 10:00 / mile and slower paces. |
Anonymous
| They've been saying they will have wave starts for years but they never actually do. I wish they would. |
Anonymous
| That's what I meant, PP. Thank you for the correction. Yes, I was planning to be in the last pace group. I take it you will be running in the first start wave? |
Anonymous
| Agree with the PP who said the worst that can happen is that you have to stop and walk. Honestly, for your first 5K, the object is to finish in any way necessary. For your next 5K, your object can be to run the whole way. And then for the next one, you can try to get faster. It's good to have goals that leave room for improvement - getting a new PR (personal record) every time you run a race is really gratifying. Good luck! |