Running
How to prepare for your first 5k race
Coaches of Adidas Runners explain the couch-to-5k programme they developed for someone starting from scratch to attempt their first-ever race.
Running is one of the most popular activities to keep fit. It is accessible and affordable. But it can also be intimidating.
“When you run, you put three times the amount of your weight on your body,” says certified marathon trainer Rashmi Gupta. But the Bengaluru-based Adidas Runners’ coach is confident that anyone, even those that rarely leave the comfort of the couch, can run their first 5k race by following a simple 45-day plan.
Here’s the Adidas Runners’ coaches in India explain the step-by-step guide to get you started on your running goals:
Adidas Runners has currently suspended outdoor community sessions in India until conditions improve. The community advises everyone to take care if participating in personal running or training sessions.
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Step 1: Start by just walking
As they say, learn to walk before you run. The first step is just putting on your shoes and just moving.
“Anyone can walk one kilometer,” says Adidas Runners’ coach Anil Mahoba, “So we generally try to start off with 2kms. But really we don’t look at the distance, we make it a 30-minute program at the start with the warm-up and cool-down. Then it goes to 45 minutes of walking.”
Gupta adds that you can walk for the first two weeks, but with a goal in mind. If you are starting with 30-minute sessions, try to go that little bit farther each day. Target two walks per week.
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Step 2: Follow the walk-jog pattern
The walk-jog pattern is good for early stages of run training
© Adidas Runners
By the third week, you can start tempering your walks with light jogging.
“Start jogging for a minute, then walk for a minute,” says Gupta. “Jog for another minute and then walk for another minute. That’s how you build it up.”
Mahoba adds: “The walk-jog pattern motivates people to move from covering 2km to 3km, then 4km and 5km. Once the breathing starts coming well, we encourage them to do a 5km loop with the walk-jog. You count the number of breaks you take in that 5km stretch, and the next time you either match it or reduce the breaks.”
After a while, you will be able to jog the entire 5k.
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Step 3: Get your breathing pattern correct
Going too fast too soon is one of the biggest problems for beginners. Once the lactic acid builds up and you start panting for air, running becomes more difficult than it needs to be.
“The main problem is with breathing,” says Mahoba, “If you’ve just started running you’ll find that breathing starts to get heavy after 200 metres and you’re not able to run much further. That might dissuade people to think that running is not for them.
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“So we always start with a walk-jog pattern. It’s mainly 1 minute walk, 1 minute jog – not run, but jog. You keep repeating that process till you’ve completed about a 2km distance. You should focus on the breathing pattern to form a rhythm and enjoy the jog.”
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Step 4: Check your posture
Good running posture includes looking forward instead of down
© Adidas Runners
Like in any exercise, form is critical in running.
According to Adidas Runners’ coach Tamilarasan Rajan, the textbook posture is: “mid-foot landing, body upright, breathe in breathe out from your belly, chin up, look forward, do not look down, shoulders relaxed and arms not crossing the bodyline so you don’t lose much energy while running. Core should be lightly tucked in, as if someone is going to punch you. Pull your belly button in. That is called running from the core.”
While it is important to follow those guidelines, every person has a different way of landing naturally: either on the heel, mid-foot or fore-foot. Most people are heel strikers, and as long as it is not leading to injuries, you can continue with that.
“If you don’t usually land on your heel but land on your heel when you run fast, only then do we correct it,” Tamilarasan adds.
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Step 5: Add strength training and stretching to the routine
Adidas Runners
© Adidas Runners
While running is a great cardiovascular exercise, supplementing it with strength training and stretching will improve your performance and reduce the chance of injury.
In the 45-day plan, designed by the Adidas Runners team, strength training is an important aspect and is done about two days per week.
“You have to focus on strengthening the muscles because some people have mainly been sitting for a while with not much activity,” says Mahoba.
“Now when you start running, a different group of muscles activate – the calves, the hamstrings. There is strain in the IT band (connective tissue that runs along the outside of your leg from the hip to the shinbone), the glutes, and they can be prone to injury.
“That’s why we add some basic strengthening exercises – squats, lunges. Also, before running, have a good warm-up with some good dynamic stretches and a nice cool-down with static stretches after run.”
A stair workout is also great to increase endurance and strengthen your lower body.
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Step 6: Run with a group
Running with a group will keep you interested over time
© Adidas Runners
While most of us think of running as an exercise in solitude, it may help to find a running partner or community.
“When people start running, it becomes very exhausting. Every person when they start running, they do it solo,” says Gupta.
“Maybe because they are not confident to put themselves out in public, they are not confident about their body or their capability. I was one of those people. When I first joined the Adidas Runners’ community (in 2017) I used to go to have fun and to chit chat. But I realized that while you are talking, you can keep going for miles without even realizing.
“When you do this kind of activity alone – when you have nobody to tell you what you are doing wrong – people give up. A lot of times what happens is people don’t speak up and they just stop turning up.”
It can work as a healthy support system especially when doubts and aches and pains start creeping up.
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Step 7: Just run
Around day 24 of the program, you can undertake the first LSD – long slow distance run. This is running at a low or moderate intensity for greater distances. You can start with a six kilometer run.
With eight days before the race, schedule a time trial over three kilometres. Here you will run at the target time or pace.
Taper the work rate in the final week before the run. You can fall back to jogging or easy runs and concentrate on conditioning with mobility drills, stretches and core work. Get the right nutrition and hydration.
You are ready for your first 5k!