Health & Fitness
Malden 5K/10K & 4 - Week Beginner 5K Training Plan
A beginner 5K Training Plan for the Malden 5K coming up!
The Malden 5/10K is less than 5 weeks away and if you're local like me, you should sign up! It's a small race that benefits the Malden Rotary Club. Registration is only $20 or $10 if you're a student. The race is chip timed and usually has about 300 runners in total. To get there, you can drive or take the Orange Line or Commuter Rail to Malden Center Station. With registration you get a T-shirt (cotton), hat, gloves and random things and after the race, there's a pasta/salad lunch at the Dockside. Start time is around 11:30/12:00 on Saturday March 23rd, so you don't have to worry too much about losing beauty sleep on your day off!
Now if you're new to running, you're thinking I'm not ready for a 5K! That's crazy! There's not enough time! Maybe next year... But deep down, I know you're interested, after-all you're reading this. Whether you're friends with me or someone else, you might have noticed the large rise in facebook/twitter status updates on working-out and running. You slowly shake you head, think that's very nice and move on, but exercise is contagious and so are the endorphins that people get from them. When you're happy, you want everyone else to be happy!
A 5K is 3.1 miles.. Can you walk 1 mile? I'm sure if you live around Boston, you can probably even walk 3.1 miles, so transitioning that to running just takes patience and commitment
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Below is a sample 4 Week plan I created for my brother who never ran before. If you search far and wide on the world of Google there's plenty of others out there but this worked for me when I first started training last minute for my first 5K in 2009.
Definitions
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Run - Any combination of running/walking/jogging as long as you get the time or distance covered.
Rest/XT - Since you're new to running you can either take a rest day or cross train with anything (bike, elliptical, strength, yoga, stretching, body pump, walk).
Rest - I really recommend taking a complete day of rest once a day, not even yoga allowed. Your muscles do their most crucial work (rebuilding) during rest.
Beginner 4 Week 5K Training Plan (See Photos for printable version) WeeK Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 Run 10 Min Rest/XT Run 15 Min Run 1 Mile Rest/XT Run 20 Min REST 2 Run 2.1 Miles Rest/XT Run 25 Min Run 1 Mile Rest/XT Run 25 Min REST 3 Run 2.6 Miles Rest/XT Run 30 Min Run 1.5 Miles Rest/XT Run 25 Min REST 4 Run 3 Miles Rest/XT Run 25 Min REST Run 25 Min REST 5K
Free Beginning Running Tools
Fancy GPS running watches are nice to have but really are not needed, in fact if you're just starting, save yourself the $300 for now. Instead here's 2 great tools to use in your training to track and share your progress.
Runkeeper- GPS/Mileage/Speed running app for Iphone & Android. I found it works very accurately in Boston, or at least as accurate as my Garmin watch is since both give me the same times. It also lets you know your speed, and time per mile and the changes in elevation. Overall great, and user-friendly app.
DailyMile - A website where you track the miles/time you ran and all your other workouts. It's a great motivator and a place to connect with other runners out there.
Now go ahead, commit and sign up for that 5K just four weeks away!
Liana is an avid Malden runner and blogger. For more running adventures check out her blog at www.runtomunch.com
