I'm Doing a 5K

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I decided and signed up to go for a 5K next month. I go to the gym at least once a week, but only for about a half hour. Did anybody else ever do one? What was your experience? How should I train for it? It's for a cause I strongly believe in, so I'm definitely going.

if you are regularly running a mile in your workouts, you can probably get through a 5k (3.3 miles). I know this because while I was training for a 10k, I was advised to run at one third the intended distance to prepare. there will be those who walk at the end. if it's for a good cause, just finishing is all that counts. if you have to walk some, no big deal.

I'd suggest just trying to build your running TIME every few days until you get to around 30 minutes. Assuming your an average speed as a starter runner then you'll just be add a few more minutes to get the distance. AND - make sure to take a little break before the Big Day. Any pain that does NOT get worse while running is often nothing too serious. Any pain that DOES get worse during running should be taken seriously.

5K is a big step and I encourage you to take it on and achieve. The difficulty from couch to 5k is infinitely greater than from 5K to Half-Marathon so I'd also encourage you to continue. At three miles you have already normalized all the things you need to continue one.

Couple suggestions:
1) Make sure you have good running shoes - This is no joke. If you have more than one pair that's even better so you can switch regularly (this helps with muscle soreness and spreads wear around your legs etc)
2) Although I don't always have music on but I always have headphones on. As an aspie, sometimes it's good to just get the music on for runs that are tougher. You can run 3 miles with no effort one day and drag through a 1 miler another day. You just never know.
3) If you have a mobile device get free app like Runkeeper. Instead of planning route you can just wait for the lady to say "3 miles" or whatever your distance is. It does not sound like a big deal but it's AWESOME to just run wherever looks interesting during training and not a set path to get specific distances or times.

Good Luck and you can do that - don't give up!

(I have ran several 5Ks and Half Marathons)

Your training strategy depends on your goals really. If you're just looking to finish do training runs and gradually increase your distance until you can run 3k-5k without stopping. Though it's also okay to use a combination of running/walking if running the whole thing is too difficult. Since this is your first 5k (assuming) don't worry about your time, just focus on finishing.

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A 5k is not 3.3 miles. Its 3.1 and it depends on what you want to do. Do you want to seetle and just be able to finish or do you wanna try and place as close to first as possible? I'm a very competitive person! So I always go all out and put in 150% into stuff like this!

When I used to regularly run 5k's, I would do distance runs everyother day. I would try to push as fast as I could for 1 mile. I would run the same mile for the same time for one week. So i could get used to it. The days that i am not distance running i would run sprints. Usually 400 foot at 15 seconds. Then jog back with a 30 second rest. Then the next week I would run the same mile for a better time. Run as fast as I could run that mile and that would set the pace for the week. The third week I would set the distance to 3.5 miles and push for a better faster time every day until week 4. I couldnt get a better time than the day before... I would settle for the previous time. Never worse!! Always ran sprints everyother day too. It helps with your wind, your recovery time and a quarter mile out from the finish line. I always sprinted the last 1200 feet or so. I've come as close as 4th place. Never first. I guess there are people who train harder lol

I'd usually end up running every 5k in 17 minutes or better. That's me in the red shirt.

Run everyday!

Be sure to stretch. And get good running shoes. Stay hydrated with lots of water.

You might want to start lifting weights as well.

Good luck on the 5K WarmAir.

good luck on your run.

thanks, guys!

I've done around 19 5k races so far, the best bet to do is not to go out too fast, and if you can try running last mile the best you can.
I got a 5k race coming up in may.

I've do pretty good at 5k, I can finish in the top ten percent, and has won age group, and also top 3 in age group.

I recommend the Couch 2 5K app. There's a Zombies, Run! version that I haven't tried yet but it looks like it might be fun.

My first (and only so far) 5K was a few years ago. I half-assed training and was totally unprepared and managed to get passed by a guy pushing a baby carriage and a woman walking a chihuahua but whatever. I finished and that's what counts. And I certainly beat all those people who didn't make it off their couches that day.

Good luck to you and have fun!