WEB EXTRA
Training for Your First 5K Run
Q&A with Doc Wilson, Ph.D.
You have been thinking about participating in your first fundraising run, but you’ve been a couch potato your entire life. Doc Wilson shows you how to ease into a fitness routine so that your risk for major injuries is minimized.
Q: I have been sedentary for the greater part of my life. Now that my brain is starting to consider the possibility that my body will attempt its first 5K charity race, how do I train so that I do not experience a bad injury?
A: To not only achieve the best race results, but also the best injury avoidance results, follow this eight-step program.
Step 1: Allot to yourself plenty of time to train so that you are not tempted to push yourself too much—because that is when most injuries occur.
Step 2: Be certain to undergo a thorough checkup with your doctor to verify that you can train without any medical restrictions. This is particularly important for you because you have been sedentary for so long. In addition to the routine tests, your doctor is likely to check for congenital anomalies and adverse conditions that might be present in your heart and other organs and body parts.
Step 3: Follow a gradual rate of ramping up your exercise routine, and exercise on an every-other-day basis if you elect Option A or B, as outlined below in Step 8. Your conditioning will advance well with just three workouts each week, which means that you will have one two-day rest period each week. This will allow your joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments to recover between workouts so that you will not experience any overuse injuries. (Note: If you elect Option C in Step 8, the identical “every-other-day” workout principle will apply to each of your muscles—even though you will be working out six days a week.)
Step 4: If you can afford to join a gym, develop an exercise routine that incorporates both strength and cardio (i.e., endurance) conditioning. This combination will not only help you advance more quickly, but also greatly reduce your risk of injuries.
Step 5: Purchase a good pair of running shoes from a reputable shoe store.
Steps 1-5 constitute the “preliminaries.” Now we are ready to get down to brass tacks with the specifics required for a balanced and effective exercise program. By the way, routinely following all of the steps of this article will also improve the quality of your life (including weight loss, if that is an issue, and sleep) and the length of your life (including greatly reducing your risks for cancers, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, metabolic syndrome, deep vein thrombosis, peripheral artery disease, etc.).
Step 6: Your Cardio Program, Part1: For the first three to six weeks, jog as far as you can go comfortably, walk two to five minutes and jog a second time as far as you can go. If you feel up to it, do a third or fourth jogging segment before calling it a day. For each subsequent workout, try to increase the distance that you jog, and possibly the number of jogging segments. Also, and very importantly, try to find a dirt or grass trail or running surface that is not hard—i.e., not concrete or asphalt. For example, many schools have rubberized running tracks that the public may use when track and cross country teams are not training on them. In addition, many paved walking paths have sufficient room to run on dirt or grass areas to the sides of the paved areas. Another option is running on a treadmill—especially one that has an incline feature (set it to a three to five percent incline, which will take a lot of potential stress off your feet, knees, back, etc.). Finally, the Supreme Sports Club has a rubber indoor track that measures 0.1 miles long on the innermost loop.
When you can jog at least two miles without stopping, it is time to advance to Step 7.
Step 7: Your Cardio Program, Part2: Now it is time to start speeding up your pace. Follow the same run-walk routine that you used in Step 6, but gradually increase your speed for your jogging/running segments. By your sixth to tenth week of this Step 7 routine, transition into a run-jog routine: start picking up your running pace even further, but run for just a minute, jog for a minute or two, and so forth until you have completed four or five of the one-minute runs. If you continue to run races, and want to further improve your running times, you will know when you have “arrived” (as a runner, that is) because you will be able to do all-out one-minute sprints, with jogging between the sprints; and the one-minute sprints will likely leave you winded. This more demanding routine can be on your schedule for two of your three weekly cardio workouts, and your third workout can consist of, say, three longer “sprints” on the order of four to 10 minutes each. Note: This more demanding routine is only for those who love running, and who love the challenge of improving their running times!
Step 8: Incorporating your strength-building routine into your workout. For this aspect of your training, you have three options:
Option A: Start your workout with strength-building exercises for the muscles of your chest, arms and upper back; follow this with your cardio program; and end with strength-building exercises for the muscles of your legs and your core (i.e., abdominal, side and lower back muscles).
Option B: Start your workout with your cardio program and end with all of your strength-building exercises for the muscles of your chest, arms, upper back, legs and core.
Option A is the more highly-recommended program, but don’t fret if Option B is the only one that will fit your schedule.
In addition, there is Option C: On say, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, do your cardio program, followed by your strength-building exercises for your leg and core muscles. Then, on Tuesday, Thursday or Friday (pick just one for a given week) and Sunday, do your strength-building exercises for your chest, arm and upper back muscles.
Strength Exercises: Select a group of 10 to 15 exercises that build strength in your major muscle groups of your body parts delineated above. A personal trainer or a book can help you develop a good, balanced mix of exercises. For each of your exercises, you should work until you reach the point of “muscle failure”: that is, you should struggle on the last one or two repetitions and you absolutely are not able to eke out one more repetition! You should choose weights or resistance levels such that you match the following criteria, which define “a moderate workout” (which is all that you will need). For chest, arm and upper back muscle exercises, you should be able to do only eight to 10 repetitions to the point of muscle failure; when you are able to do 11 or 12 repetitions, it is time to increase the weight or resistance level. For leg muscle exercises, you should choose weight or resistance levels such that you can do only 12 to 15 repetitions to the point of muscle failure; when you can do 16 to 18 repetitions, it is time to increase the weight or resistance level. For core muscle exercises, choose a weight or resistance level such that you can do only eight to 20 repetitions to the point of muscle failure. Note: At the beginning, realize that it may take two to four workouts to hone in on the ideal weight or resistance levels for your body.
Finally, for optimum health, make certain that you get on a great nutrition program if you are not already on one. Within half to a full hour after a demanding workout, you should consume a balanced meal that contains a good amount of protein, fruits and vegetables to promote recovery of the muscles you have just exercised. (Note that CA Monthly has plenty of nutrition articles in its online archives.) Also, try not to exercise until your body has had at least two hours to partially digest your last significant meal—but small snacks may be OK; trial-and-error is needed to determine if pre-workout snacking is OK for your body.
For more information about personal training at CA, click here.
Always check with your physician before starting any exercise regimen or change in diet.
This column is intended to provide only general information that may be of interest to the public and is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for specific medical advice. Any questions regarding your personal health and medical issues should be directed to your physician.
About Doc Wilson
 Doc Wilson is a physiologist, biochemist, nutritionist and personal trainer who does personal training and nutritional counseling at Columbia Association. He earned a Ph.D. in physiology and biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also holds a Master of Arts in physiology from SUNY at Buffalo, and he conducted a post-doctoral fellowship in biochemistry and physical chemistry at Duke University. He is a past faculty member of the University of Maryland Schools of Medicine (Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology) and Dentistry (Department of Physiology).
Wilson’s areas of specialization include weight loss and weight control, preventing and reversing type 2 diabetes, preventing and reversing high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases, and exercise and nutrition for optimum overall health. His first book, "Total Health in a Nutshell," is slated for publication in the near future.
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