What to do next? Thinking ahead... (Read 656 times)

You have a month until your 5K race. That's a good chunk of time to build your fitness and/or endurance. If you are looking for a clinic in October, I would probably go with the 10K. You'll have the experience of a 5K race behind you and the LTR will be behind you since you are doing 10:1 intervals now. Can you wait to see how the race goes before you pick the clinic? You might surprise yourself and do far better than you expect which would suggest you can do the 10K clinic. You've already been doing 5k runs. Good luck.

First off - I think your doing really well - Congrats on starting and sticking with it....it definately gets easier wiith time. I think it makes more sense for you to stick to 5K's and a 5K program for now and as you feel comfortable perhaps work your way up to a 5 mile runs (race) somewhere. You are new to running and you are carrying extra lbs......you need to be careful not to get hurt, get tired of running (from doing too much) or simply quit because it all seem to difficuly - not saying you cant do it - saying that most beginners underestimate how long it takes to see good improvement and get impatent and try to do too much - and try to run too far - and that often results in injury, boredom, fatigue and on and on and on...... If you stick to shorter distance (for a while) and get some hands on training from the 5K clinic, it may take a little longer, but you will have a much higher possibility of success, more knowledge and a stronger base. Running is a long term process - so think of it in term of increasing your ability over the years and not weeks...... I suspect the "learn to run' clinic will be pretty good and you might get to run with other people like you that are just starting out --- this will be some great motivation and if you happen to be a little ahead of some of them, all the better for your motivation and running self esteem -- besides it will be fun.... I am a more experienced runner and finally joined a running club and now have a coach.......Cant believe how much Im learning from him and from running once per week with a group (instead of always going it alone).... I think you should give the 5K clinic a shot....

If your schedule says run for 10 mins., 5 times and you can only manage 3. Start off running slower this will jusy have to give you more energy. Yes it is possble to run even at a 17 min/mile pace. My two girls thought they'd run with me one day. I said I was going for 25k, they thought they could do it. Well they couldn't and they short turned. When I was 3 blocks from home I saw the 2 girls upahead. I was very surprised one was walking and her sister was running alongside. I never thought a person could run so slow but there was no doubt she was running, she wouldn't giveup. Just slow down. Now when you are running slow, continue with the running motion use your arms just like you do when running fast. Do not take the approach, I'll just walk at this speed. I have seen a few runners in their 80's on the bike paths they are running very slow..but they are running. 5km is far, when you reach that goal you can either try and get faster or try and run longer. Running longer will make you faster, but running faster won't help with running longer. I think running in a group is much better, so the running clinics are the way to go. You just have to get in with the right group and hopefully the clinics have a group suitable to you. Hangout and watch some of the groups. Start from day one don't try and catch on midstream.

It isn't that I didn't have the energy - I had to stop because my calves were starting to hurt. No matter how slow I go, there's still all of me coming down on my legs. All the stuff I've read so far on here tells me to listen to what my body tells me and not try to finish what's there just 'cause "it's there." Even during my cool down they were aching. I'll finish the rest of the week and then try it again.