5K Questions!

JessicaWhosit
JessicaWhosit Posts: 38
in Fitness and Exercise
I know I post here a lot and I'm sorry if it's bad! Lots of questions from a newbie at this stuff.

I'm quite overweight right now...over 250 lbs. That being said, I've been working on getting fit. I can comfortably walk 3 miles and have started working on C25K (with difficulty). I'll be repeating week one because at this point it's still quite difficult for me.

I'm wondering if you think it's possible to be able to do a 5K by October, given my status right now. I've been working to stay under my calorie goals and have succeeded for the most part (independent of my husband's junk food addiction...)

I've been walking every day and am going to remain diligent with C25K. Sometimes it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I just want to hear from others if it seems possible.

The 5K I want to do is Color me Rad. It looks like a great time and I really think it would be a good motivator for exercise (aside from overall wellness in general).

Replies

  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    Definitely - especially a color run where the focus is more on fun than on running. Sign yourself up!!
  • Llamapants86
    Llamapants86 Posts: 1,221 Member
    You should be fine. I know that having an upcoming 5k really helped me on days that I just didn't really feel like doing it.
  • ElliottTN
    ElliottTN Posts: 1,614 Member
    You will be just fine. Sign up for it now and use that as motivation along your way because you know the race date is not changing. I've never done a color run but have seen several. I believe there are actually more walkers than runners in those things so don't stress, just get to work.
  • sarah12277
    sarah12277 Posts: 212 Member
    I've done a few of the fun color runs (The Color Run, Color Vibe, Run or Dye). They're a lot of fun. They're not timed. There's a lot of runners, walkers and variations in between. You certainly can do it! Definitely a great motivator. Go ahead and sign up!
  • Adefowler
    Adefowler Posts: 61 Member
    Absolutely! You can do this by October. I agree with Elliot in that if you sign up now, you'll be motivated to keep going. Also, remember that you're only competing against yourself so don't worry about pace or speed. You're goal should be to finish the race. Then each subsequent race is to beat your last race time -- or to move up to a 10K.
  • ohiotubagal
    ohiotubagal Posts: 190 Member
    I say go for it! Don't get discouraged with C25K. My first 3-4 weeks were really tough. I had a couple of false starts on it before actually sticking with it too. Around week 5 it started to click. If you need to repeat a week, do it!

    The best advice I have read is to slow down if it's too hard. Speed does NOT matter until you get the endurance. I have naturally gotten faster without even really trying, as my endurance builds.

    Best of luck to you!
  • LessHeavyVeggie
    LessHeavyVeggie Posts: 208 Member
    Hi, I'm also doing c25k at the moment, currently on week 3 and I wanted to share the best piece of advice I got (on this forum!). I had tried to do the program twice before and found it so difficult I gave up as I thought running wasn't for me! The best piece of advice I got was NOT to run - jog, slowly, very slowly! I believe the official advice is something like 'if you feel like you could go slower, you're going too fast!'. It can feel like you're going ridiculously slow for the first few jogging sections but you'll leave yourself enough energy to complete it. Even though I'm only on the 3rd week I've found my pace has improved already, although it's not something I'm focused on right now. Also feel free to repeat weeks as necessary! The program is more about stamina than distance, and I'm sure at the end when I can jog for 30 minutes straight it won't actually be 5k, but I'm going to forget about the actual distance until then! (I intend to work out a 5k route and work on distance/pace after that.)

    And yes, now-October seems like a very reasonable amount of time to me.
  • ashesfromfire
    ashesfromfire Posts: 867 Member
    YES YOU CAN! I think it's totally awesome that you're aspiring to a 5k. And in a perfectly realistic time frame, keep at it, every day (or at least most day, being realistic) and you will be amazed at how fast you will improve. I went from not being able to jog 10 feet without running out of breath to being able to run a 5k after working at it for a summer, I'm positive you can do it too. Much luck and love to you. Go get 'em, tiger!
  • niftylibrarian
    niftylibrarian Posts: 10 Member
    Yes, yes, and yes! Sign up, girl! You will be so ready by October!
  • RUNNING_AMOK_1958
    RUNNING_AMOK_1958 Posts: 268 Member
    Go for it!
  • helloreenie
    helloreenie Posts: 25 Member
    my first 5k was a color run. it's not timed. there are walkers. there are runners. but there's also a lot of hold up at the color stations because people are having fun and getting all colorful. that's a good place to get your breaks in. you can absolutely do this. i started around 250. be sure to train for it, but also remember to have fun.
  • HerkMeOff
    HerkMeOff Posts: 1,002 Member
    Yep.

    & you'll love it.
  • JengaJess
    JengaJess Posts: 109 Member
    Do it! I just did the Color Run and it was a blast! I trained for it and it became a fitness goal for me to be able to run it under 30 minutes.
    But there were people of all different shapes, sizes, physical abilities and speeds there. Most people were walking it. Some jogging. Some running. Some doing a mix of all 3.
    If you can comfortably walk 3 miles, you can do 5k!
    Sign up for it! It'll give you something to work toward!
    Good luck, girl!
  • czardastx
    czardastx Posts: 127 Member
    Yes, you can do the 5K in October. Follow the C25K plan. Don't get discouraged if you stumble in the plan; instead become more determined. Push yourself mentally and your body will follow. Don't think "Can I do this?", but instead think "I can do this!". You've made a goal, go for it. Don't stop at the finish line but continue on past that finish line. Go, go, go, don't stop, don't slow down, don't be discouraged. It's 5 months. It may seem like a long time from now but it will get here quickly. You WILL be ready and you will crush it and you will be proud of yourself (and if you share with us we will be proud of you also). The most important thing is to know that it will get easier each week you get into the program. Another thing to do is to go and spectate at a 5K or two. Look at the various fitness levels of the people who do them and you will see the really fit runners, the kind of fit runners, and the novice on the way to being fitter runners. That will give you encouragement and the confidence that you can do it.
  • Gwennie9476
    Gwennie9476 Posts: 45 Member
    Of course you can! My last 5K, I weighed 306 pounds. Did it in just under an hour. Go Girl!
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,242 Member
    Yeah you can, and I can too! I'm doing Week 1, Day 2 of Zombies, Run! 5k today, with an aim to do the Color Run in early November. I'm about 240lbs at the moment, and when I run, I look more like the shuffling zombies I'm supposed to be running from than the runner, but dammit, I'm doing this and so are you!!
  • astralweeks82
    astralweeks82 Posts: 230 Member
    Absolutely! I did my first 5K last year with roughly the same amount of time to prep as you have, and I had never run a day in my life and was still 100lbs overweight when I started it. It sucked bad at first, and it was HARD, but it did get easier with time, and I've run another 5K since and am signed up for my first 10K. Now I run 5ks just as my day time runs, so it does get much easier with patients and perseverance. Good luck!

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