Couch to 5K

The gun goes off and adrenaline courses through your body.  You hear the sound of feet hitting the pavement in unison, and the sun is warm on your face as the race begins.   You feel alive and strong as you run the 3.1 mile course and an indescribable sense of self-accomplishment as you cross the finish line.  Congratulations, you just mentally ran your first 5K.  Does this sound like a dream that’s out of your reach? Absolutely not!

With just 8-10 weeks of preparation and training, anyone can take themselves from the couch to a 5K and feel the self-accomplishment and pride that comes with accepting a challenge and overcoming it.  It all begins with mentally committing.  Repeat after me: I CAN run a 5K!  With a few simple steps you can and will be on your way to the finish line!

First and foremost, get moving on a regular basis.  Before you learned to run, you had to learn to walk, and this is no different.  Make it a habit of walking 4-5 days for a total of 150 hours per week to improve your aerobic fitness.  Once you have made exercising a habit, you are ready to move on. The next step is to choose a race! Make sure you give yourself an adequate amount of time to prepare.  Eight weeks is a good time frame to gear up for your first 5K. Over these eight weeks, you will build your cardiovascular endurance and gradually increase your mileage each week.

Your training program will include running, walking, cross-training and resting, all of which are vital components to your success.  In reference to running, cross-training is when you train by doing another kind of workout such as cycling, swimming, resistance training or taking a fitness class.  By adding these activities, you can break up your routine by building strength in other muscles and preventing joint injuries and boredom! Another important component of your program is interval training, which will incorporate walking for a period of time followed by running for a period of time.  These intervals will help with the transition from walking to running and build endurance until you no longer need the walking portion.  Walking is also an excellent exercise that is important to your training.  Your walk days give your muscles time to loosen up and provide a great low impact aerobic workout.  Finally, and most importantly, your rest days are crucial to your training.  Rest days allow your body to recover so that you can be your best for your next workout and prevent overuse injuries.

Below is a nine-week beginner 5K training program.  The progression suggests starting with walking, moving to running half a mile and continuing to add about a quarter to a half a mile to most runs each week.  Feel free to make minor modifications to fit your individual needs.

*Run/Walk = Run for 30 seconds then walk for 1 minute.  Repeat until desired time is completed.  If the 1:2 ratio is too difficult at first, try 1:3 (Run for 30 seconds, walk a minute and a half) or 1:5 (Run 30 seconds, walk two and a half minutes).  Once you are comfortable with it, you can tweak it to your specific needs by running until you start to feel fatigued and then walk until you’ve recovered; repeat for the desired time.