12 Essential Tips To Train For Your First 5K
Entered your first 5K? These essential tips will get you to finish line of your first 5K race. From choosing a training plan to suit your current level of fitness to keeping the momentum going, and what to expect on your 5K journey.
Running a 5K is achievable even if you haven’t exercised in years and think you hate running. Just give it a try. These tips will make the training as pain-free as possible. Commit to at least the first 9 sessions; after that, you might find running enjoyable.
First 5K Tips
Get a head start with these first 5K tips and avoid common Couch To 5K mistakes.
1. Find A 5K Training Plan
Find a Couch to 5K plan to follow. We have a range of 5K training plans based on different fitness levels. Some people can complete a 5K in as few as 4 weeks of training, while others will take 12 weeks. It doesn’t matter how long you take to get to your 5K start line; it’s just important that you get there fit and ready to enjoy the experience. You can choose to run outside or follow a Couch to 5K treadmill plan.
Most people follow the standard 9-week training plan, but if you’re starting from a very low fitness base, use the 12-Week Couch To 5K Plan.
Related post: How Many Miles Is 5K? Training Plan & Race Tips
2. Make A Commitment
Tell yourself that no matter how hard it gets you will complete the first 9 sessions. No cop-outs. No ifs or buts. You owe it to yourself. All those times you’ve thought about how much you’d like to be fit – well this time you’re going to do it. Couch to 5K is a great way to get fit.
After 9 sessions, you’ll be committed. Invested in the program too much to idly pull out. Plus, it’s normally a tipping point where your body just seems to click and go – oh, so this is what running is all about.
3. Buy Some Proper Running Shoes
Think you can run in those expensive fashion trainers you bought on a whim? Think again. You need supportive, comfortable, cushioned running shoes. Did I say comfortable? I’m saying it again.
Go and try some shoes on in an actual independent running store if you can find one. Or if you buy running shoes online, get 2 or 3 pairs, wear them around the house, pick the ones that feel great and send the others back. If shoes feel too tight, rub, or make you walk strangely in your living room, they will only get worse when you try running in them.
4. Find A Running Buddy
You can train for your first 5K on your own, but it’s so much easier with someone who’s equally committed. You will both have bad days, but probably not at the same time. Running with someone else will help to get you out the door when you’ve had a hard day at work, your teenager has just screamed at you, or someone ran over your cat.
It could be a friend or a family member, find someone at a similar level of fitness.
5. It’s Not A Competition
Don’t go searching for those “I completed Couch to 5K in 4 weeks” headlines. Who cares. It’s all about you completing the training sessions at your own pace. It’s your fitness journey.
Shut out the rest of the world and their performance. You’re the star in this running plan. Not Janet in accounts, your brother-in-law, or that annoying neighbor who definitely waits for you to leave the house just so he can run past you shouting “Lovely day for a run”.
6. The First Few Runs Will Feel Awful
When you start training for your first 5, expect to be out of breath running, and for everything to ache. It will get better. Just get through the first week, then the second week… take one week at a time.
7. Slow Down
Most people set off too fast. In their head, they’re running cross country at school. In reality, it’s 10-plus years (20, 30, 40!!) since they pulled on some running shoes. Bodies change. If you’re starting this fitness journey to lose weight and regain the fitness of your youth, be patient.
Slow down and stop looking at the pace on your watch. The Couch to 5k plan is about reintroducing your body to running. Speed will come later. Right now you’re building the engine of your runner’s body.
8. Repeat A Week
Did you find a week in the training plan too hard? It just means you’re progressing too fast. The best Couch to 5K tip is to repeat a week when the going gets tough.
Just a reminder, this is your fitness journey. How long it takes to get to 5K has got nothing to do with anyone else. Take as long as you need. If that means repeating several weeks of the program – that’s okay.
9. Don’t Expect To Lose Weight
At least not to begin with. If you’ve started running for weight loss, this can be a bit of a blow. But Couch to 5K isn’t a weight loss program. It’s about fitness and the zillion health benefits of running.
Weight loss mainly happens when you follow a healthy diet. So keep your junk food eating in check and try to eat better, filling up on lean protein, wholegrains, vegetables, some fruit, and small amounts of healthy fats. Running will help with weight loss. Just don’t expect miracles in the first few weeks. Running is an aid to losing weight, but your diet has the biggest impact.
10. It’s Okay To Walk
Of course, the aim of training for a 5K is to become a runner. To be able to run continuously. But I don’t know everything about you. You may have health issues and physical reasons that make running continuously for more than 10 to 15 minutes unachievable.
This is why many new runners are discouraged when they hit week 5 of the standard 9-week Couch to 5K plan and are asked to run nonstop for 20 minutes. Sometimes repeating week 4 will help, and sometimes all the effort in the world isn’t going to get you past week 5, and running for 20 minutes continuously.
Don’t despair. It’s okay to walk!
The run-walk method was made popular by Jeff Galloway in the 1970s, and it applies just as much today. Sometimes Jeffing is the way to go! Simply adapt the continuous-run sessions to include brisk walking intervals. For example, a 20-minute run could be 9 minutes running, 1-minute brisk walk – repeat.
Keep the walking intervals as short as possible and gradually increase the length of your running intervals. The aim is to keep progressing, getting fitter and stronger. If the last few weeks of the Couch to 5K plan don’t work for you, adapt the sessions.
On race day, walk if or when you need to. People use the run-walk method to cover all sorts of distances from 5K to half marathons and more… all ultra runners will walk at some stage in their races, even elite athletes.
11. Set A Goal
The Couch to 5K Program is about reaching a goal. It doesn’t matter how long you take to get there. It matters that at the end of your training, you complete the 5K distance. If possible, enter a race. It could be a park run or a friendly fun run. Completing a 5K run surrounded by others will inspire you to continue your journey as a runner.
Some people won’t enter a race because they’re afraid of being last. I’ve been there and felt the same way. I can tell you from experience that the runners at the back get the biggest cheers!
12. Enjoy The Journey
I know this goes against my tip about the first few runs feeling awful, but try to enjoy your runs. The more you relax into your running pace, switch off from worries of work and family, and see your running as #metime, the more enjoyable it becomes. Running isn’t just about getting fit and losing weight; it’s so much more. A chance to reconnect with your body, shut out the noise, and realize what’s important in life.
Running changes you. Come out the other side of the Couch to 5K plan as a fully-fledged runner, and it could change your life.
The Complete Couch To 5K Guide
A good starting point for Couch to 5K is this comprehensive guide. Find out everything you need to know about completing couch to 5k from how to warm up before a training session to your running technique.
This site is full of useful information for new runners from buying a decent pair of running shoes for heavy runners to how to breathe while running. Learn about rest days, strength training, the mystical long run, and how to minimize the risk of injury.
The Next Step
Completed your first 5K? Congratulations! You can call yourself a runner.
It’s now time to plan your next step. Try to run faster or further. Train for another race, try and complete 10K, or even train for a half marathon.
