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Are you ready to challenge yourself with your very first 5k? Any time you’re undertaking a new fitness regimen, a little planning, preparation, and arming yourself with the right tech and gear can go a long way toward your success. Optimal Fitness offers the following tips to ensure your journey is a smooth one.
Establish a Baseline
Athletes need place markers in order to gauge their progress, but as a beginner, this alone can feel foreign. With that in mind, you need to establish some baselines. Start slow, and get a feel for the distance and speed most comfortable for you. Map a route that won’t take you too far from home to start, hit the treadmill, or head to nearby running trails to stretch your legs. Start slow and easy, noting some basic parameters like your speed, distance, and time.
Keeping a running log can help you stay abreast of your regimen, although Verywell Fit points out if you head outside for your runs, it can be tough to monitor progress. For your nature-loving sessions, you might want to add an app to your smartphone designed especially for trail running. There are apps that not only monitor your stats, but they can also help you plan routes, check conditions, and even give you voice alerts when it’s time to make a turn to stay on course.
A Health-Conscious Plan
No fitness program is complete without a healthy diet. To achieve 5k success, you need to make sure you’re getting enough vitamins and minerals every day. Aside from eating nutritious foods, invest in a high-quality multivitamin to fulfill your nutrition requirements for the day. Your energy levels will improve if you get enough B vitamins, for instance, while vitamin C and other antioxidants will ensure that your body’s cells are protected from free radicals.
Tools of the Trade
As you move toward race day, tracking your overall progress can be daunting. Scribbling notes on paper is one way to keep track. However, in this era, you have options with more bells and whistles. Some runners make good use of the log method we mentioned, or you can invest in a fitness tracker or smartwatch. If you decide to go with the latter, there are ample options, so think about what features matter most to you. Alternatively, a more affordable option is to invest in a comfortable armband so you can use your phone to track your progress instead.
The Long and Short
When it comes to your actual workout sessions, there are different ways to approach your running program. Many new runners simply start with some stretches, a jog, and a cool down period. Stretching serves the purpose of limbering your muscles. The cool down allows time for the chemistry in your hard-working muscles to slowly disperse, helping to avoid soreness and cramps. This is a good program that can help you avoid injury, so long as you are consistent, take things slowly and gradually increase your duration and intensity.
Another way to build your program is to intermingle the kinds of running sessions you do. Runstreet suggests four types of workouts: intervals, tempo runs, and track/speed workouts like Fartleks or strides. While each type of session serves a different purpose, they build on each other toward improving your overall performance. By changing up speed, you work your muscles differently, and in time your stride and oxygen use improve. For your speed work, plan to hit a well-maintained track. If you’re brand new to running, the even terrain can help you avoid injury, especially during fast, short runs.
Cross Train
It’s important to keep in mind that cross training is crucial when you start your 5k routine. Cross training helps you move your muscles in different ways, boosts your endurance, reduces the risk of injury and can be implemented on active recovery days. So maybe two days a week you practice yoga, and two other days you attend a strength training or barre class at Optimal Fitness. Over time, you’ll see and feel the difference cross training makes. New personal best, anyone?
Aiming for your first 5k is a wonderful thing. Establish your baseline, focus on nutrition, gather the necessary tools, decide how to monitor your progress, and choose the sort of program that is right for you. You’ll be ready to hit the ground running!
by Jennifer Scott