“This 5K is your marathon.”
That may seem like a funny phrase but it is what I told my mom in the weeks leading into her first 5K where she ran 29:10.
For someone with a stretch goal of a marathon, there is likely going to be a significant increase in training time to accumulate time on feet. The same principle goes for someone who comes from a background of no exercise with a stretch goal of a 5K.
The increase in load needs to be done carefully and appropriately.
The following plan is designed for someone who has spent no time intentionally exercising. This will get you off the couch, on your feet, and into running if that is your goal.
There are a lot of benefits, physical and mental, when we operate a nudge above the recommended activity guidelines. That is some serious value.
The program
Three phases make up the overall plan
Building habits
Run:Walk
Sustained run
You are going to want to budget yourself 4-5 months of training time to appropriately build a cardiovascular and muscular engine fit to handle a 5K best effort. That may seem like a long time for such a short event, but when exercise is absent from your lifetime curriculum vitae, this time course is essential to development. Don’t rush it.
Phase I: Building habits
Phase I begins by finding a way to get out the door every morning or evening. Commit to getting out for a 30-60 min walk every day for 30 days. This is not a leisure walk, but rather walking with intent. Power walking as it were.
While this is a conservative approach, the shock of running right away on day 1 can be either discouraging or damaging. If you can complete this first phase unscathed, you are ready to commit to more.
The physiology behind this phase is not the focus. You are merely setting up a trial run framework to see if you can stick to a stated goal for more than a few weeks.
Phase II: Run:Walk
The rubber meets the road in Phase II. It is time to start running. Most of the activity duration is going to be spent walking initially, but toward the end of the phase there are some substantial run portions. Some guidelines for the running portions:
Nothing faster than a conversation pace. Might be a trot.
Think “light on feet”
Open and close every session with walking. Never ripping it out of the gates.
Budget yourself 8 weeks for the following:
Phase III: Sustained (and higher speed)
The finale of the program is not a long phase, but rather it ties up some loose ends. Covering the full distance of a race of this caliber before the big day is both safe and a confidence boost. I would not necessarily say the same about a full marathon.
This is also a good opportunity to open up the stride a few times to understand what pushing feels like. With completion as the goal, the meat of the work was done in Phase II to safely get you to this point.
Week 4 of this phase is Race Week!
Parting thoughts
While this plan has detail and is progressive, it is reasonable to assume your mileage may vary. There may be days where you cannot get out the door or days where the body tells you it should be a walking day instead of a running day. Lean into these feelings and listen to your body.
Switching some days around is how some of the best athletes keep the ball rolling. The same idea can work for you.
There is nothing about this program that is flashy. When you commit to showing up each day for a long period of time, nothing special is required. This is why Phase I is crucial to your success. Do not skip that phase.
You’ll understand what I mean when you are crossing the finish line of your first 5K.