any words of wisdom before my first 5K?

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  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
    I kno this is an old topic but someone may read it who is doing their first race.
    1. Dont start too fast. I wear a GPS watch and set it to alert if I go too fast or slow.
    2. Dont eat/drink things before/during that you dont usually do in training. I.E. gels, energy bars, energy chews, etc.
    3. Wear shoes/clothing you normall do.

    4. HAVE FUN! Dont worry where you finish. Unless you walk the whole race you wont finish last!!!
  • kar328
    kar328 Posts: 4,159 Member
    Congratulations on your first 5K. I hope you're doing well!

    Wow, seems like ages since I posted this. Great advice to reread again.

    I slacked off from the running after the race in September. Last month I started back by turning my daily 3+ mile walks into running the first mile, then doing 0.1-0.3 mile intervals the rest of the way. To my surprise (and delight) I'm running that first mile in the 11 minute range. I think a lot of it is that I kept walking all winter, about 75 miles per month. So in April I ran 16.5 miles which is a lot for me. I'm continuing that - just got in and set a new personal record of 10:45 for that mile. I was pushing it a bit and had to seriously talk myself out of stopping twice but really wanted to go under 11 just once. :glasses: I like the idea of the intervals, kind of a HIIT workout - not that my high intensity is ever going to be that high - and I'm going to keep doing this for a while, hopefully finding it easier and then making the distances longer.

    To any newbies - give it a shot. I never thought that I, at 50, would be running at all, let alone a mile in 11 minutes.

    \
  • ViperAlexHusband
    ViperAlexHusband Posts: 6
    Just stumbled across this thread which was great timing. Am doing my first 5K this Thursday night, and have picked up some valuable advice, so thank you to everyone who added advice.
  • _Terrapin_
    _Terrapin_ Posts: 4,301 Member
    The momentum of the folks around you will provide the push you need to run faster; enjoy the run, focus on the 'why' not the speed. Listen to your body, and if you walk, who cares? People run 22 minute 5k's and they'll walk at times. So walking is fine; again enjoy it!
  • ViperAlexHusband
    ViperAlexHusband Posts: 6
    Just a quick update, finished 44th with a time of 0:24:04 (only 1 minute slower than my personal best on the treadmill)
  • Eric_DeCastro
    Eric_DeCastro Posts: 767 Member
    didn't realize how old this thread was. sorry.

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