After my 5k on Saturday...then what?

[dandycandyjellybean]

Am 44 and fat. Did a 5k at 40, and had a horrible race, never ran again. Have trained wiser this time and feel fairly confident that I will have a good race, although I'm slow (about 50 mins).

I do enjoy running, but don't have the time to commit to the much longer runs for 10k training. (Plus my mate says her personal trainer says that running takes a terrible toll on your body and doesn't burn fat)! Want to exercise for no longer than about 45 mins 3/4 times a week.

Would like to combine running with other exercise (love swimming and will be signing up for the Zoggs thing, although finding a quiet time for lane swimming is hard in our local pool). Find the gym boring, thinking about circuits but don't want to go on my own and be the only fat bird in the class, although my stamina is good now, so maybe I'd be ok. Sorry, rambling a bit, just don't want to stop after my race on Saturday, I want to have some kind of definite plan in mind; kind of 'keep up the good work' type thing.

Anyway, any advice would be welcome.

.

We'll done on the 5k.

If you don't want to do longer distance, maybe focus on getting your 5 k time down. Doing some interval training and see how you go. Just do a warm up jog then do short bursts of faster running with a recovery. Repeat a number of times and then jog to cool down. If you google interval training you'll get a million varying ideas with the same end goal.

Your time will come down rapidly if you keep running regularly and do some speed work.

I love running, hate gyms and classes, running is the only exercise I've ever stuck with.

My joints are fine tbh, I'm rarely injured despite running 30 + miles a week. I do think weight is mostly diet rather than any exercise but running has improved my legs beyond belief.

"Plus my mate says her personal trainer says that running takes a terrible toll on your body and doesn't burn fat" Well that isn't true, so if that's the only thing holding you back then ignore it.

Is there a parkrun near you? Those are great fun, there's no pressure but they are great for getting your 5k time down a bit. Some places have pacers to follow if you've got a target time.

There are loads of 5k improver plans online if you like to follow a training programme, and some of them include cross training like swimming, core strength work etc.

Congratulations on your achievement!

If you enjoy running, then keep going! As everyone's already said - you don't have to go further - you can get faster. Park runs are great because they are timed, so a v clear way to track progress.

Example 5k improver plan here.

If you do fancy trying something else, strength training has made a huge difference to my health and shape. Starting Strength and NROL are both good. Some gyms run intro to strength training course for women, or a good personal trainer could build your confidence.

Hi sexbomb .

I'm in a similar place to you actually - I've just completed C25K, so I've been thinking about what my new goals should be. I don't think I want to focus immediately on 10K even, instead I want to build up to 5K (at the moment I only run just over 4K in 30 minutes), then I want to get faster (I'm actually getting a bit faster all of the time; I'm going to try interval training to get even faster), then I want to try some ParkRuns. I also want to introduce some non-running exercise that will hopefully complement my running.

Good luck in your ParkRun .