So I'm signing up for my first 5K and am really excited about it! I used to run in high school and was a thrower in college (believe it or not, collegiate throwers run A LOT!). The race date is May 10th, so I have a little over two months. I live in a cold, snow covered area, so running outside is a bit iffy at time due to icy conditions. To really be a pain, I can't afford a gym membership, so no treadmill either. I have great endurance and am really good at pushing myself once I get motivated. Any training and motivation suggestions?

Are you familiar with the Couch to 5K program? It's a nine week program designed to train for 5k, slowly building up intensity and endurance.

Someone made Couch to 5K podcasts, and they go with the program perfectly. He tells you exactly when to start jogging and when to go back to walking and other stuff too. I don't love the music he uses, but it's still pretty cool.

Lisa

Ok I know this may sound crazy because I mostly believe in doing the exercise that you are training for in order to do that exercise.

Have you heard of kettlebells?
http://www.gofit.net/site/gofit/section/83

You can buy them at Target. Anyway, one book I was reading was talking about athletes training with kettlebells (no running) versus those who ran as part of their training. When compared side by side at the end of a training period. those who trained using kettlebells actually did better than those who trained by running. They are a great indoor activity.

As for outdoors, I'd recommend getting yourself some yaktrax if you don't have them already. You can buy them at most sporting good stores.

I have to second the kettlebell. I have a 25 pounder that I work with every other day. I don't even do that much with it and I'm sore by the time I put it down. I can't say anything about the runner stamina you get with it -- will have to look into that but it sounds interesting.

So a little less then a month to go...
I'm healing from my neck injury which is a bonus as I thought I was going to have to walk my whole first 5k. I tried running Wednesday and discovered that if I pick a slow enough pace I can run for quite a while. I know running the whole thing is a bit out of reach with such a short amount of time to train left, but my goal is to run part of it and power walk the rest. I've signed up for another 5k in August and plan on kicking butt at that one (at least beating my time from the upcoming 5k). I'd like to do a 5k a month, but have only found the two I am currently signed up for (first one is in Williston, second is in Irasburg). Depending on how much I enjoy it, I may start looking a little further away. How far would you travel?

So I've signed up for a 5k every month until November of this year. I'm committed, meaning if I don't want to look stupid or throw away money, I need to get my butt in gear.

Kim - I am doing my first 5K in July. Saratoga Springs, NY. May not be too far from you, depending on where you are in VT.

I also ran track in high school, but that been soooo long ago. Some days I feel that if I could just run and run that I would feel better. With your support perhaps one day I can do that.


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WTG!!! I signed up for my second on set for this weekend and I know by sending that money in along with my name it sure puts the fire in me to try harder. You may surprise yourself at how far you can run. I participated in this weekends 3FC 5k and I ran for just over 1.2 miles, walked a little over a mile to 2.5 miles and then jogged until I reached 3.17 miles. I knew I would have to walk some of it because I haven't been able to jog in a while so I was trying to see which would be easier—walking first or jogging and then walking/jogging. I think I may walk the first k this weekend and jog the last 4. But I have 3 more days I'm going to jog this week to see if I can't get my endurance up more.