My First 5K: The Color Run

I am excited to share the news that I have signed up for my first 5K run! I love fitness and exercise, but I have never entered any kind of run, race, relay, etc., excerpt for the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure, but I usually end up walking that. So my girlfriend and I decided to start expanding our comfort zones, and our first 5K will be in October of this year. The one we are currently signed up for is called The Color Run, and basically – you run, and get pain thrown on you. That’s right – paint. You get a plain white T with registration, and by the end of the race, you’re just covered in paint. Oh boy. But I’m excited to do this, and hopefully we can work our way up to more 5Ks, maybe 10K or even…a half or full marathon one day. The lovely Sara from CLP just told me the other day that she has done many runs in the past, and is going to attempt a full marathon soon. That is so awesome!

Sometimes I feel a bit silly getting so excited over a 5K, especially when I talk to people who have done plenty of them. But it’s my first one, my first real time at running ( I don’t run – ever) so I decided to take it a step further and blog about my experience. Since part of CLP is dedicated to Health & Fitness, I figured this would fit right in. I’ll share my training schedule that was done up for me, how I’m trying to get healthier as a whole for the run (mainly watching my diet more carefully) and just my thoughts on being scared I’m not going to be able to run the three miles. If anyone has run before and has any tips, or will be running soon, feel free to join the conversation! I would love to hear from you J

So for Week 1, which was June 11-17, it started off with baby steps. This is good for me, because I am not joking when I said I didn’t run. My workouts are yoga, Pilates, Zumba, kickboxing, walking on an incline on the treadmill, elliptical or stationery bike. Do you see running in there? I don’t play any sports, period, and never go for “fun runs.” (If there is such a thing.) The last time I remember running at all was senior year of high school for a warm-up in gym class, and I was always the last out of the locker room. How is it that I love fitness but hate running? Don’t know, but that’s me.

So my schedule looked like this:

Monday: Walk 3 minutes, run 5 minutes, walk 2 minutes

Tuesday: Walk 5 minutes

Wednesday: Walk 4 minutes, run 8 minutes, walk 4 minutes

Thursday: Walk 10 minutes

Friday: Off

Saturday: Walk 5 minutes, run 10 minutes, walk 5 minutes

Sunday: Off

Now, that does seem like a fairly easy workout schedule, but keep in my mind I already create monthly workout’s for myself, so really, my schedule looked like this:

Monday: Walk 3 minutes, run 5 minutes, walk 2 minutes, 60 minute elliptical

Tuesday: Walk 5 minutes, Kettleball workout – 20 minutes, Billy Blanks 50 minute Tae Bo DVD

Wednesday: Walk 4 minutes, run 8 minutes, walk 4 minutes, 60 minute treadmill walk, incline

Thursday: Walk 10 minutes, Kettleball workout – 20 minutes, Yoga DVD – 30 minutes

Friday: Off – Kettleball workout – 20 minutes

Saturday: Walk 5 minutes, run 10 minutes, walk 5 minutes

Sunday: Off Pilates DVD, abs – 20 minutes

For my diet, I don’t eat the best, but I have made some changes. I switched my sugary breakfast cereal to Special K Fruit and Yogurt cereal, and changed my snacks to Ranch Wheat Thins. I am cutting back on fast food, and am down to one soda per week. I like using this 5K – and an upcoming friend’s wedding – as motivation to really get healthy. So let the training begin!