Suggestions for my 5k?

SummerNights32

Hey guys! I am new to the group, and was hoping ya'll could give me some advice on a few things. First of all, let me give you a quick running history. I am 33 years old and I love to get out and go for a slow jog. Let me be really honest, I mean really slow...like between a 10 and 11 minute mile on the track! Anyhow, I have been jogging for years now, and when I started I weighed 270 pounds. Now I am 190, so jogging has done wonders for me.

Ok, so I used to jog a lot...last summer I was jogging anywhere from 3-6 miles a day. I was also taking pills that gave me a lot of energy (yes, I know it's bad and I didn't do it for long..and no longer do lol). Needless to say, I stopped taking the pills after about 2 months, and my energy level crashed. I went to hardly being able to run 2 miles, and couldnt jog a 5k through anymore. Winter came and went, and I dont like to run if its below 65 degrees or so (I am from Texas, anything below 80 is cold to me). So..I went to start jogging again about a month ago, and I could only jog for a mile..sometimes not even that. I totally regressed!

So, I decided to start over and try the c25k program. I finished week one, and started week 2 yesterday. I am doing week 2 three days in a row because its pretty easy and I want to move on. That means on Thursday (the day of my 5k race), after 2 rest days from running, I will start week 3. I just looked up week 3 and its jogging for 1.5 minutes and then for 3 minutes. That is great, but I feel like the walking portion is too long for a 5k. Do you think it would be a better idea to drop the walks to 1.5 minutes in between? I want to make sure I can finish it all using the interval system but I dont want to take longer than I need either. I also thought about creating a combo of it all, for example...

1 min jog/1.5 walk
1.5 jog/2 walk
3 jog/2 walk

I was thinking about repeating that for the race. What do yall think?

rduhlir

My personal opinion, I would modify the C25K plan but do not adjust too much. The whole point of the walk breaks in the C25K isn't just for recovery, walking helps to add endurance as well (it is actually a very good cross train to do alongside C25K). Since you have regressed a bit, you need to make sure you are being careful not to over do it.

What I mean is, your feet and legs need time to re-recognize the stress you are putting on them. I personally think that restarters/returners to running have an even bigger possibility of injury because of inadequate rest/transition/conditioning they get forget that they are basically starting over as beginners again. Remember, it took time to build up to running 6 miles...it will take time to build back up to 3 miles as well.

That being said, I honestly think that you might be able to do what I recommended to one of my friends, and that is jog 1/2 a mile then walk, then jog 1/2 mile. She was only out for 2 weeks or so recovering from an illness, so her walking period I suggested was only a minute. However, for you I would suggest a 1/2 mile jog (or 5-6 minutes depending on your pace speed) and then walk 1/4 a mile, rince and repeat. And then add on to that after. But if you do this I would suggest a cross-train/walk day in between your running days so that you let your legs recover from your runs.

likitisplit

I love your version of "slow." A 10 minute mile is my fast pace.

I'm just chiming in to say that I agree with rduhlir (I'm the friend that is doing the 1/2 mile - one minute intervals. I was struggling with getting back into condition and that it is exactly what I needed).

You could possibly skip to week 3 in the C25k program or follow the intervals she suggested. I'd also recommend not running more than two days in a row and having a complete rest day at least once a week. Our bodies are in this for the long haul and we have to allow them the rest they need to make improvements.

Great job on getting back into running!