training for a 5k race. . .

[jonathan_matos5]

i have about 2 months to do it. can it be done?

i went for my first training jog and only made it 1 k
im really out of shape.

haven't really done anything athletic for the last 10 years so im just looking to complete the 5k.

do you people have any tips for a wannabe running bassist? one i already know is not to over do it. i have other things i have to do during the day.

[Simo98]

practice running 5k towing your amp stack.

then when you do the actual race it will be easy

[jonathan_matos5]

Originally Posted by Simo98

practice running 5k towing your amp stack.

then when you do the actual race it will be easy

all i have is a 70watt practice amp and no casters i suppose i could drag my cheapo DI box behind me

[Simo98]

better take the bass too then

[jonathan_matos5]

Originally Posted by Simo98

better take the bass too then

in the gig bag or in playing position?


hmm this may also be training for stage antics

[David1234]

Some ideas to ponder:

Diet has a huge impact on athletic performance. Most of us need more water and more fresh fruit and vegies, and less alcohol and caffeine. If you can shift your diet in a healthy direction now you might get some improvement.

Try and cover the distance at a quick walk with no stops, rather than a run, until you can recover from the exercise in less time than the exercise took! Then start alternating a minute's jog with a minute's walk for the whole 5k. If you're finding your self too tired to run, walk, but don't stop. You can rest at the end.

Finally, make sure your shoes are up to the task. Most good shoes for sitting on a lounge do NOT double as good shoes for running 5kms!

[Simo98]

Originally Posted by David1234

less alcohol and caffeine.

Nevar!


but in all seriousness i agree with everything you said, especially the shoes.

is the run in the city? or cross country? Shoes are important in both, but you can cause quite some damage to your legs running regularly on bitumen or concrete without proper support and cusioning.

[David1234]

Originally Posted by Simo98

Nevar!


<snip>.

It was hard, but in the end I decided to give up sports and focus on my alcohol and caffeine consumption!

[Simo98]

Originally Posted by David1234

It was hard, but in the end I decided to give up sports and focus on my alcohol and caffeine consumption!

Thats the spirit

[iamlowsound]

Google couch to 5k. Should have you running 5k in two months.

lowsound

[ADbassman]

Originally Posted by David1234

Finally, make sure your shoes are up to the task. Most good shoes for sitting on a lounge do NOT double as good shoes for running 5kms!

+1

Shoes can make the biggest difference in the world. It's important to get good support so you don't screw up your feet/knees.

[popinfresh]

I've been working on my fitness lately (no real reason, just no money and short of work so nothing else to do), I found walking and diet were the best way to get back into shape. I couldn't even walk 10-20 minutes without being out of breath a couple weeks ago. Changed my diet, took out the crap and started drinking water more than anything (once again, the no money thing). I'm now walking about 2 hours a day on average, sometimes more and starting to jog as well, which I'm finding I'm not as out of breath as I thought I'd be.

Shoes are really important once you start pushing harder though. I don't have any running shoes here yet (either my Vans or old basketball shoes) and after 30 mins of jogging/running my ankles and knees really start to feel it. If you have a bike laying around that's another good way to get into shape. When I used to ride bmx my legs could take anything and going for a run was a piece of cake.

[hbarcat]

How old are you and have you ever been athletically competitive in any sport? Do you have any health issues (other than out of shape) such as muscle or joint problems, cardiovascular conditions, asthma, diabetes, etc..?

I used to be competitive in track and cross country in high school and there are whole library sections of books devoted to competitive running. But first you need to figure out what level you want to be at - from casual to highly competitive - before you can decide what kind of physical program you need.

But in general, if your goal is to go from couch potato to just completing a 5k (in only 2 months), then you need to work on 4 things:

1) cardiovascular fitness for stamina
2) running for durability and mechanics
3) stretching for injury prevention
4) diet, sleep, stress and other lifestyle changes to maximize training benefits.

Basically, you should be training by alternating days with regard to cardiovascular exercise and running. Specifically, you want to avoid heavy running two consecutive days (to avoid injury) and vary your workouts each day during the week. For the first several weeks you should be doing only light running but heavy on the cardio (treadmill, rowing machine, swimming, jumprope, whatever.) at least 45-60 minutes a day using targeted heart rates. After about 3 weeks, step up the running to 3 moderate to heavy workouts a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) with alternate light running (Tues, Thurs, Sat). Continue with the cardio 6 days a week, heavy on the days of light running, moderately light on the days of heavy running. On the 3 days of heavy running workouts, vary the running distances by intervals - short intervals like 400 meters (Mon), medium intervals like 1200 meters (Wed), and long intervals like 2500 meters (Fri). Varied shorter intervals generally provide much better training results than just going out and running the whole distance every day. One day a week is a day of rest. stretching only - no training. Even if you want to train, don't. This one day off a week is going to allow your body to get the most out of the other six days of training.

Google the stuff on stretching and diet etc.. It isn't rocket science but you do have to know how to do it properly. Don't skimp here. You're going to be stretching for at least a quarter to a third of your workout time. If you are doing less than this, you are risking injury.

MAKE SURE you listen to your body. If you start to feel pains - STOP training before you injure yourself. A little stiffness is okay but if you have pain or you feel something just isn't right, skip the day's workout and don't train again until it does feel right.

[Ívar Þórólfsson]

Here is a good program:

Couch to 5K in 9 weeks:
http://www.c25k.com/

[iamlowsound]

Originally Posted by hbarcat

How old are you and have you ever been athletically competitive in any sport? Do you have any health issues (other than out of shape) such as muscle or joint problems, cardiovascular conditions, asthma, diabetes, etc..?

I used to be competitive in track and cross country in high school and there are whole library sections of books devoted to competitive running. But first you need to figure out what level you want to be at - from casual to highly competitive - before you can decide what kind of physical program you need.

But in general, if your goal is to go from couch potato to just completing a 5k (in only 2 months), then you need to work on 4 things:

1) cardiovascular fitness for stamina
2) running for durability and mechanics
3) stretching for injury prevention
4) diet, sleep, stress and other lifestyle changes to maximize training benefits.

Basically, you should be training by alternating days with regard to cardiovascular exercise and running. Specifically, you want to avoid heavy running two consecutive days (to avoid injury) and vary your workouts each day during the week. For the first several weeks you should be doing only light running but heavy on the cardio (treadmill, rowing machine, swimming, jumprope, whatever.) at least 45-60 minutes a day using targeted heart rates. After about 3 weeks, step up the running to 3 moderate to heavy workouts a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) with alternate light running (Tues, Thurs, Sat). Continue with the cardio 6 days a week, heavy on the days of light running, moderately light on the days of heavy running. On the 3 days of heavy running workouts, vary the running distances by intervals - short intervals like 400 meters (Mon), medium intervals like 1200 meters (Wed), and long intervals like 2500 meters (Fri). Varied shorter intervals generally provide much better training results than just going out and running the whole distance every day. One day a week is a day of rest. stretching only - no training. Even if you want to train, don't. This one day off a week is going to allow your body to get the most out of the other six days of training.

Google the stuff on stretching and diet etc.. It isn't rocket science but you do have to know how to do it properly. Don't skimp here. You're going to be stretching for at least a quarter to a third of your workout time. If you are doing less than this, you are risking injury.

MAKE SURE you listen to your body. If you start to feel pains - STOP training before you injure yourself. A little stiffness is okay but if you have pain or you feel something just isn't right, skip the day's workout and don't train again until it does feel right.

Great advice here. This is the training/running program that I mentioned earlier.
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

lowsound

[jonathan_matos5]

Originally Posted by hbarcat

How old are you and have you ever been athletically competitive in any sport? Do you have any health issues (other than out of shape) such as muscle or joint problems, cardiovascular conditions, asthma, diabetes, etc..?

I used to be competitive in track and cross country in high school and there are whole library sections of books devoted to competitive running. But first you need to figure out what level you want to be at - from casual to highly competitive - before you can decide what kind of physical program you need.

But in general, if your goal is to go from couch potato to just completing a 5k (in only 2 months), then you need to work on 4 things:

1) cardiovascular fitness for stamina
2) running for durability and mechanics
3) stretching for injury prevention
4) diet, sleep, stress and other lifestyle changes to maximize training benefits.

Basically, you should be training by alternating days with regard to cardiovascular exercise and running. Specifically, you want to avoid heavy running two consecutive days (to avoid injury) and vary your workouts each day during the week. For the first several weeks you should be doing only light running but heavy on the cardio (treadmill, rowing machine, swimming, jumprope, whatever.) at least 45-60 minutes a day using targeted heart rates. After about 3 weeks, step up the running to 3 moderate to heavy workouts a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) with alternate light running (Tues, Thurs, Sat). Continue with the cardio 6 days a week, heavy on the days of light running, moderately light on the days of heavy running. On the 3 days of heavy running workouts, vary the running distances by intervals - short intervals like 400 meters (Mon), medium intervals like 1200 meters (Wed), and long intervals like 2500 meters (Fri). Varied shorter intervals generally provide much better training results than just going out and running the whole distance every day. One day a week is a day of rest. stretching only - no training. Even if you want to train, don't. This one day off a week is going to allow your body to get the most out of the other six days of training.

Google the stuff on stretching and diet etc.. It isn't rocket science but you do have to know how to do it properly. Don't skimp here. You're going to be stretching for at least a quarter to a third of your workout time. If you are doing less than this, you are risking injury.

MAKE SURE you listen to your body. If you start to feel pains - STOP training before you injure yourself. A little stiffness is okay but if you have pain or you feel something just isn't right, skip the day's workout and don't train again until it does feel right.

for the questions in the first part of this post.

i am 25
i played almost all sports in high school but suffered knee and shoulder injuries attempting to make the football (American) team my sophomore year. i was diagnosed with asthma around 11 but playing brass instruments trained me to breath properly so i have that under control. lots of people in my family are diabetic which is part of why i am making this choice to get into shape.

i talked with my dad who runs a 15k race every year about shoes and ended up getting some Asics.
as for stretching and how to run im good but lacking any stamina because of the 10 years of sitting on my butt and toying around on various noise makers.

im currently evaluating my diet and making changes currently working on cutting caffeine and sugar but this will be the most difficult step for me.

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by Ívar Þórólfsson

Here is a good program:

Couch to 5K in 9 weeks:
http://www.c25k.com/

Cool program, but how in the heck are you supposed to remember this when you are out running....

•Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
•Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
•Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
•Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
•Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
•Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
•Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)



-Mike

[hbarcat]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Cool program, but how in the heck are you supposed to remember this when you are out running....

•Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
•Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
•Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
•Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
•Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
•Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
•Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)



-Mike

When I was interval training I always carried a couple of notecards with me, and a stopwatch.

[MatticusMania]

You can do it. I used to jog & walk almost 5k every other day last autmn/winter.

I started from the couch with a 1/4 mile walk followed by a 1 mile run. 2 weeks later I stepped it up to 1/4 mile walk, 1 mile run, 1/2 mile walk, 1 mile run, 1/4 mile walk.

After another few weeks I was going to step it up to a 3rd mile ran, but I started seeing my girlfriend and began running less & less. Now that Im moving in with her I might start running again soon.

[Chebass88]

A couple of hints, as I went through this last year myself.

1. The advice presented by hbarcat & iamlowsound are excellent and sound.

2. On race day, there are a few things that will be ABSOLUTELY critical. First, run the pace at which you are comfortable. DO NOT try to be as aggressive as possible from the starting line. Since you are a new runner, you will do an excellent first mile, but spend the next 2.1 miles trying to recover while being passed by a lot of folks. Instead, start conservative (where you are comfortable), and "pick people off". Pick someone to pass & after you are running, pass them (if you can).

3. Be honest about your performance. Chances are, you won't win the purse for the race (apologies if I'm wrong!). Be content knowing that you are doing something you previously could not, but that you are putting forth a hard effort at the same time. The folks who win these things have been training, and have been logging quite a few miles per week. (I'm not in that bracket yet!)

4. If you can find a running partner, do it. There's something about being able to converse with someone while running. I find it easier, and have always run my fastest when running with other folks.

5. Training - if you've done a 5K distance before the race, that will help convince yourself that you can do it. For example, I know that I can do 13 miles, because I've done 11 & wasn't dead at the end, and could have maintained that pace for another two miles. Same thing with bass - you'll never play something on stage you haven't played at home!

6. Have fun!! Remember why you are doing the race & smile & have fun. Enjoy the 'runner's high'!

Good luck!

ian