ran/walked 5k, what next?

[aly]

Today, I ran/walked my first 5k! I do a 5 min run/1 min walk and am not fast at all. However, I finished with other runners and was happy with that. I've never been a runner, but started a few weeks ago since I'm not able to ride as much as I would like. I'm really enjoying myself and plan to continue. I'm just trying to figure out what my next step should be.

I want to run 10k's and eventually,hopefully, a half. I'm expecting to run/walk any half I do. I'm mixed on the run/walk, but it seems to work for me right now. Do you think I would be best working towards a 10k with the same or a longer run/walk pace, or trying to do a 5k and phase out the walking (then work up from there)? I would love to get faster, but I think that will be something to work on later. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Urlea]

Aly, congrats on the 5k!! That is great.

Several people in my running group do the run/walk method for all of their races and that seems to work well for them and they seem to enjoy running when they do it that way.

As for me, it's easier if I just keep running & don't stop to walk.

Not sure that helps any, but whatever you decide to do make sure you are still able to enjoy it, otherwise it just doesn't matter.

[colby]

I agree with Urlea. You can absolutely run/walk a half marathon! It's really up to you what you'd rather do. You might build up to a 10k with your run/walk and then decide if you could do that twice as long - that will tell you if you want to just go for the half marathon (maybe late fall/winter?) or wait until you can run more.

[aly]

Thanks! That's probably what I'll do. I'll aim for a 10k and then a half doing the run/walk for this winter. I've read a lot of mixed opinions about the run/walk, but it does make sense that it would help to avoid injuries- and that's kind of key for me. Also, I think if I get to the point where I can run/walk the half at a decent pace, I'll probably be able to actually run a full 5k. I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I like running. I'm not very good at it, but this doesn't bother me the way it does when cycling. And, I'm finding that it does help me out when I actually do get on my bike.

[KSH]

Well Aly, what are your goals? Are you enticed by distance events... or are you more interested in saying, "I can run x miles at x pace". ????

I took my friend (relatively healthy girl) from sofa to marathon in 7 months. I had her do a walk/run combo... and at the marathon we did a 10 minute walk/3 minute run. We finished in 5:45. Which is a nice pace considering how much we walked it.

You can up your distances quicker if you do a walk/run and avoid injury. She had a couple of issues along the way, but nothing that didn't resolve itself quickly- and really those happened because she was just running/walking when she felt like- thus running too much. So I got her to stick to a timed interval and it worked out well.

I know for me... I have changed my calendar some for the end of the year... because I have been able to run a pretty decent speed, without walking... and I want to focus on RUNNING a half marathon- to see if I can crush my other half mary times. I have yet to run a full half mary. Maybe I'll do it injury free this year?

So, you can go either way... it's all about your personal goals.

[canonsue]

Years ago, I went from scratch to a marathon in 6 months with the run/walk method. My time was about 5 1/2 hours. As a newbie, I was very happy with that. Of course, I stopped running after the marathon. Now, I plan to start up again either doing the barefoot or with minimal shoes like the Vibrams five fingers shoes.

-Sue