Running first 5k (before finishing c25k program)-- advice?

deannaaaaaaaaa

Hi everyone!

I'm running my first 5k on Sunday, and am looking for some advice. Right now (Monday), I am only on week 5 of c25k. On Friday, I will complete W5D3, rest on Saturday, and then race Sunday. Does this seem like a reasonable training plan? Is attempting to run a 5k before finishing the full program unrealistic?

This is a race I have been super excited about. I just moved to a new apartment last week, and was pretty excited to realize there was a city-wide 5k that began a few blocks down from my doorstep. I'm motivated and energized, but i'm also wondering if I'm just going to disappoint myself. Any advice or tips from you guys are appreciated

PixieGoddess

I think you'll be fine, but I have 2 pieces of advice that I hope you really take to heart:
1. Don't worry about your speed/time. Go as slow as you need to so that you can finish and don't hurt yourself.
2. Don't beat yourself up if you have to walk part of it. I had to do that on my first 5k, and I had finished the entire program already! (Granted, I was also having knee problems but still) If you feel like you need a break, take it.

The goal is to finish uninjured and have fun! If you push yourself too hard, you'll just be out of commission afterwards, and none of us like that! Enjoy, and let us know how it goes!

deannaaaaaaaaa

thanks for the advice! and im sorry to hear about your knee, i have knee problems too, which have been worrying me (ACL/MCL surgery a few years back, plus a handful of other injuries from skiing and Quidditch). I've been super cautious though, this time, and will definitely take it slow on sunday

ftrobbie

Either treat Sunday like Friday and just carry on or treat it like an extended W6D2 and do jog10, walk3, jog 10, walk 3, jog 10 hopefully you will be finished but if not carry on to the finish or do another walk 3 jog 10. The excitement of the day will help you out with adrenaline, my only warning on that is that you may go off way to fast, so try to hold it in check. Enjoy it and smile towards the end, it is likely that someone will get a picture of you. And you want to be smiling in your first race. Good luck

Brans34

I was wondering the same thing. I will be in week 6 for the next 5K that's here, just a few blocks away. I haven't signed up yet because 1) I won't be finished with C25K, but I really want to anyways. And 2) it's going to be a color run this year. Will that make it more difficult? I can't imagine that would make it any easier on the breathing! Looks like it would be a lot of fun, though.

cat_lady77

I wanted to ask the same question! Mine will be happening in about 2.5 weeks & I will only be on week 5 or 6 as well. I was thinking about ditching the C25K & just start running as much as possible, resting, then continuing running, just to see how far/long I can go. I don't really care about time either I just want to make it to the finish line!

Brans34

And the C25K plan I'm using is different than everyone else's...I just started week 4, but even in week 3 it had me running 2 miles, which took just over 20 minutes. I have another 2 mile run tomorrow, then a 10X1 min runs, then another 2 mikes. After that, I have a 45 minute "brisk" walk, then I start the 2.5 mile runs. I will have either 2 or 3 of those before the race here. The race is just a couple days before I'm supposed to be running 3 miles anyways. I'm thinking that the race will fall right in line with my 3 mile C25K day anyways.

I'm really just more concerned about trying to breath while there's colored corn starch, or whatever it is, being thrown at me!

Aine8046

I cannot really advise, but here is my story. I ran 5k while being on week 4 or 5 and I just followed the training plan. I remember I was running for 8 min, walking for 3 or so, than running again for 8, walking, and running till the very end. Did the whole thing in about 32-33 min. But I am thick-skinned, and do not care if somebody passes me, sees me walking while other are running, etc... I just did my Week5Day3 and enjoyed it!

I graduated from c25k three weeks ago and started working on the 10k training plan, but will run 5k in two weeks again. I now do 5k in less than 30 min regularly - will see what the official results will be!

ano463s

I love the idea of doing your next regular C25K "day" on the run itself. You will run faster than normal due to the excitement, but adding in the walks will help and you'll be able to finish strong.

Here's my race-day fun: Make three goals.
1st goal should be highly achievable and is your feel good goal. This is great if something unexpected happens. You never know when you're going to trip and hurt yourself or get stuck in a weird situation where you can't really run due to factors completely outside your control.
2nd goal should be a reasonable, but slight stretch goal. This is the real one you're shooting for. Something that is a challenge, but still attainable with a good effort. If you choose a time goal, be sure you plug the numbers into a calculator of some sort to make sure this is attainable.
3rd goal should be a pie-in-the-sky goal. If you're planning on doing the walk-run, maybe your pie-in-the-sky is to try to keep at least jogging the entire way through. This is a goal you don't anticipate meeting, but if you do meet it, you'll be overjoyed.

Example of goals I've made:
1) Finish the race jogging.
2) Complete the whole thing in 45 minutes.
3) Complete it in 30 minutes.

deannaaaaaaaaa

Hi everyone, OP here! I wanted to say thanks for all the great advice. Yesterday was my 5k, and I went in with 5 goals.
1. Finish
2. Finish standing.
3. Finish with a smile on my face
4. run or jog the whole thing
5. finish @ 35:00

I was really happy with how the race turned out for me-- i finished at 33:27! For anyone who was wondering if they should try out a 5k before finishing c25k, I'd say give it a try! Yesterday really boosted my running confidence and now Im 100% sure i want to continue the program! Thanks for everyone's input!

Brans34

deannaaaaaaaaa wrote: »

Hi everyone, OP here! I wanted to say thanks for all the great advice. Yesterday was my 5k, and I went in with 5 goals.
1. Finish
2. Finish standing.
3. Finish with a smile on my face
4. run or jog the whole thing
5. finish @ 35:00

I was really happy with how the race turned out for me-- i finished at 33:27! For anyone who was wondering if they should try out a 5k before finishing c25k, I'd say give it a try! Yesterday really boosted my running confidence and now Im 100% sure i want to continue the program! Thanks for everyone's input!

That's awesome! Congratulations!

ftrobbie

deannaaaaaaaaa wrote: »

Hi everyone, OP here! I wanted to say thanks for all the great advice. Yesterday was my 5k, and I went in with 5 goals.
1. Finish
2. Finish standing.
3. Finish with a smile on my face
4. run or jog the whole thing
5. finish @ 35:00

I was really happy with how the race turned out for me-- i finished at 33:27! For anyone who was wondering if they should try out a 5k before finishing c25k, I'd say give it a try! Yesterday really boosted my running confidence and now Im 100% sure i want to continue the program! Thanks for everyone's input!

Well done, I look forward to seeing you graduate and beat that magic 30 min 5k

taeliesyn

Brans34 wrote: »

I was wondering the same thing. I will be in week 6 for the next 5K that's here, just a few blocks away. I haven't signed up yet because 1) I won't be finished with C25K, but I really want to anyways. And 2) it's going to be a color run this year. Will that make it more difficult? I can't imagine that would make it any easier on the breathing! Looks like it would be a lot of fun, though.

Either do the next scheduled run as the colour run, or simply have fun and don't expect or push yourself to run the entire course, if you do Great! if not, don't stress. Colour runs are notorious for being hard to actually run, due the crowd sizes and the walkers and the corn starch, etc.

karla24687 wrote: »

I wanted to ask the same question! Mine will be happening in about 2.5 weeks & I will only be on week 5 or 6 as well. I was thinking about ditching the C25K & just start running as much as possible, resting, then continuing running, just to see how far/long I can go. I don't really care about time either I just want to make it to the finish line!

If you were a runner in HS or similar and are returning to running, you might get away with your plan. If you've never been much of a runner, stick with the program otherwise you're likely to injure yourself. It's possible to push yourself to run farther and faster than your body can actually handle quite easily.

deannaaaaaaaaa

karla24687 wrote: »

I wanted to ask the same question! Mine will be happening in about 2.5 weeks & I will only be on week 5 or 6 as well. I was thinking about ditching the C25K & just start running as much as possible, resting, then continuing running, just to see how far/long I can go. I don't really care about time either I just want to make it to the finish line!

So, like you, i only had 2 weeks between signing up and running the 5k. I pushed myself and edited the program a little bit. For example, the workout two days before my 5k was supposed to be W5D3... 20 minutes of running. I decided to push myself a little bit and keep running without looking at the time- Ended up doing about 30/31 minutes of straight running instead of just 20. Every day I just went a little beyond the program each time, which really boosted my confidence for racing. I figured, if anything, my adrenaline could help be push an extra few minutes or so on race day... which it did!

cat_lady77

@deannaaaaaaaaa that's awesome! I had about a month but I kind of dragged my feet to get started. I don't know if I'll successfully make it to week 5 (I'm struggling with Week 4 right now) but I'll do my best! I'm sure I won't be fast haha.