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5K Race Training: Train for Your First 5K Running Program for Beginners

By Christine Luff, About.com Guide

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board


See More About:
  • 5k training
  • running for beginners
  • get started with running
  • running programs

Running a 5K is an excellent goal for new runners. You'll get lots of motivation, as well as enjoyment, from participating in a race, and 5K (3.1 miles) is the perfect distance for first-timers. The first thing you need to do is find a race. Summer and fall are the most popular seasons for road races, but you can find ones all year in some areas.

Below is an eight-week training schedule to help get you to the finish line. It assumes that you can already run at least 1.5 miles. If you've never run before, follow this step-by-step plan for building a running base. If you can only run for 5 minutes at a time, you may want to try this 5K Training E-mail Course. If those programs don't seem challenging enough for your running level, try this advanced beginner 5K training schedule.

If you haven't had a recent physical, visit your doctor to get cleared for running.

Notes about the schedule:

Mondays and Fridays: Mondays and Fridays are rest days. Rest is critical to your recovery and injury prevention efforts, so don't ignore rest days. Your muscles actually build and repair themselves during your rest days. So if you run every day without taking days off, you won't see much improvement.

Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays: After you warm up, run at a comfortable pace for the designated mileage. Make sure you cool down and stretch after your run.

Each week, you'll increase your runs by a quarter mile, which is a lap on most outdoor tracks. If most of your runs are on the road and you're not sure how far you run, you can figure out the mileage by using sites such as MapMyRun.com. Or, you can always drive your route in your car and measure the mileage using your car odometer.

Wednesdays: Do a cross-training (CT) activity (biking, swimming, elliptical trainer) at easy to moderate effort for 30 to 40 minutes. If you're feeling very sluggish or sore, take a rest day.

Sundays: This is an active recovery day. Your run should be at an easy (EZ), comfortable pace, which helps loosen up your muscles. Or, you can do a run/walk combination.

Note:
You can switch days to accommodate your schedule. So if you're busy on another day and prefer to workout on a Monday or Friday, it's fine to swap a rest day for a run day. 5K Training Schedule for Beginners Week Monday TuesdayWednesday Thursday Friday SaturdaySunday 1 Rest 1.5 mi run CT or Rest 1.5 mi run Rest 1.5 mi run 20-30 min EZ 2 Rest 1.75 mi run CT or Rest 1.5 mi run Rest 1.75 mi run 20-30 min EZ 3 Rest 2 mi run CT or Rest 1.5 mi run Rest 2 mi run 20-30 min EZ 4 Rest 2.25 mi run CT or Rest 1.5 mi run Rest 2.25 mi run 25-35 min EZ 5 Rest 2.5 mi run CT or Rest 2 mi run Rest 2.5 mi run 25-35 min EZ 6 Rest 2.75 mi run CT 2 mi run Rest 2.75 mi run 35-40 min EZ 7 Rest 3 mi run CT 2 mi run Rest 3 mi run 40 min EZ 8 Rest 3 mi run CT or Rest 2 mi run Rest Rest 5K Race!

zSB(3,3)

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14y ago
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12y ago

Start by eating healthy, ( Absolutaly NO junkfood) Then go to the gym or if you have equipment at home and run/ walk on the treadmill and do squats and other exercises to get or body ( especially your legs ) in great shape. Drink lots of water and like I said, train, train, train!

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12y ago

Well, you ride.

40 K is 25 miles, so a reasonably fit person should be able to do it in 2-2.5 hours if it's a road ride. An experienced road rider would pull it off in about half that time. But two hours in the saddle can be a long and uncomfortable time, unless you're prepared for it.

If you ride, say weekly, already - try getting in something like 10 rides of one hour each beforehand. Let any soreness from the previous ride fade before you do the next one, might take 2-4 days.

If yo're not a regular rider, then you need to start softer. Maybe 15-20 minutes for your first ride, rest a day, then do another. Add a few minutes each ride until you can do one hour in the saddle.

If you can do one hour w/o discomfort you should be able to do the race too.

And make sure to find some pants/shorts that work for you. The special padded cycling tights are really good for avoiding chafing(should be worn closest to the body).

If you're not comfortable being seen in tight fitting shorts you can wear them under a loose fitting garment and still get nearly all the advantage from the cycling shorts.

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14y ago

you need to be focused on what your doing. eat healthy, and run a few times a week starting with shorter runs and working your way to bigger distances, remember a marathon is 26.2 miles long.

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13y ago

Half Marathon Training Programs

  • Hal Higdon (a 12-week program)
  • Runner's World (an 8-week program)

From Healthy Tipping Point :)

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11y ago

You can train for a marathon by jogging or running several miles a day. You would also exercise and eat the right foods as well as drink plenty of fluids to run.

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