Weightlifting before 5K race?

Hey Dally:

Just from my experience.. this is what I would do:

on Thursday and Friday - do absolutely nothing... take it easy, watch TV,
and get mentally psyched.
choose your music, and prepare your gear from Saturdays race.

On Friday night, eat a pasta dinner (not a huge portion so that you feel it
the next morning, but a so so
portion.. Pasta is good for your run the next day (not sure why, but it
works for me - maybe someone can
explain it).

If this is your first race, just have fun, 5K isn't really that far (its a
lot shorter when your actually at the
race, than when your taining alone. you'll enjoy the excitement and energy
at the race, and you'll notice your at 4K before you can blink... Just
enjoy the moments, and let us know how you did!

"Dally" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm running a 5K race on Saturday morning. What should I do on Friday?

Just for background: I'm not a good runner. I can run maybe four miles
flat without stopping to walk, and I've got around an 11 minute mile
pace. I'm also not a good weightlifter: I can bench maybe 2/3 of my
weight, maybe squat 3/4 of my weight. My goals are general fitness, fat
loss and have fun moving my body. I enjoy running AND weightlifting.

Lately I've been training for a 5K race on a "couch potato to 5K" sort
of program. I've been running four days a week and weightlifting two
days a week and resting one day a week. I weightlifted Tuesday. I
rested Wednesday - accidently - I didn't feel well so took the day off
instead of doing hills. I feel better today so I'm about to go do a 5K
run in a hilly location (unless you guys jump on me before I get offline
to correct my plan.)

What should I do on Friday, the day before the race? Normally I'd go
weightlift. (My weightlifting sessions always include a 10 minute
cardio warm-up, which might mean running a mile or using an elliptical
trainer or whatever - the legs get moved.)

Dally

Dally said:

I'm running a 5K race on Saturday morning. What should I do on Friday?

It depends on the goals you have for the race and where it fits into
your overall regimen.

If it's just a diversion - part of the "fun" of running and not a
serious, PR effort, then do the weights, though I would recommend
doing a lighter workout on the legs.

You can treat it as an organized training run with a couple of hundred
other runners. <g>

I'm doing that this weekend at the inaugural Marine Corp Half-Marathon
in Jacksonville, FL. This is the last week of really hard training in
prep for an Ironman Oct 23. Hurricane Jeanne forced a rest day on
Sunday but I've been hammering workouts since. I will take Friday off
to give my legs a break, but by no means will I be rested.

In the overall scheme of my training, it's designed to be a tough race
at the end of a tough week, so I'm not all that concerned with my
time. In fact, the main reason I signed up for the race is to pace my
wife at her intended marathon pace for December. It's a benchmark
effort for her to see where she's at. If I can hold her pace (2:07)
I'll be pleased, given how tired I am right now.

If, on the other hand, the 5K is a "serious" race for you, then you
need to taper and be rested and ready to go.

Many runners look at races that way - you have one or two "goal" races
a year that are all out efforts and have full training cycles and
tapers built into the schedule. You sacrifice other elements of your
overall fitness program to focus on them.

Then you have less important races that you use to build to the goal
races.

Finally you have fun ones you do because you like the course, the
challenge, the local beer, or whatever.

Of course, you can just run all them as fun and not worry about it.

Quoted message said:

Just for background: I'm not a good runner.

Don't apologize. I'm not a very good Ironman. <g>

Quoted message said:

I can run maybe four miles
flat without stopping to walk, and I've got around an 11 minute mile
pace. I'm also not a good weightlifter: I can bench maybe 2/3 of my
weight, maybe squat 3/4 of my weight. My goals are general fitness, fat
loss and have fun moving my body. I enjoy running AND weightlifting.

Sounds great. Overall fitness, keeping it fun.

Quoted message said:

Lately I've been training for a 5K race on a "couch potato to 5K" sort
of program. I've been running four days a week and weightlifting two
days a week and resting one day a week. I weightlifted Tuesday. I
rested Wednesday - accidently - I didn't feel well so took the day off
instead of doing hills. I feel better today so I'm about to go do a 5K
run in a hilly location (unless you guys jump on me before I get offline
to correct my plan.)

Hmmm, even if it's a "fun" 5K, a hill workout this close may leave you
a little tired. It's a toss up, but I'd opt for an easy run instead of
hills.

Have fun on Saturday.

Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"

Quoted message said:

Just for background: I'm not a good runner. I can run maybe four miles
flat without stopping to walk, and I've got around an 11 minute mile
pace. I'm also not a good weightlifter: I can bench maybe 2/3 of my
weight, maybe squat 3/4 of my weight. My goals are general fitness, fat
loss and have fun moving my body. I enjoy running AND weightlifting.

It takes 48 hours to recover from uppper body weight lifting, and 72 hours for
lower body. My weight routine (3-4 exercises, each 4 sets of 10-12 reps @
60-70% 1RM) is probably diffrent than yours, but my weight session actually
tears me down more than a sprint session on the track.

I would not do any lower body weights at all on friday, and cut the weight of
the others by 20-25%, if you do any at all. You will probably need a rest of a
day or two after your 5K before your weights return to normal.

Lyndon
"Speed Kills...It kills those that don't have it!" --US Olympic Track Coach
Brooks Johnson

Dally said:

I'm running a 5K race on Saturday morning. What should I do on Friday?

Absolutely nothing. Rest, take it easy.

I run 70 miles a week on average, and I won't even go for an easy jog
the day before an important race. Do what you need to do today, and don't
push yourself too hard.

Quoted message said:

Lately I've been training for a 5K race on a "couch potato to 5K" sort
of program. I've been running four days a week and weightlifting two
days a week and resting one day a week. I weightlifted Tuesday. I
rested Wednesday - accidently - I didn't feel well so took the day off
instead of doing hills. I feel better today so I'm about to go do a 5K
run in a hilly location (unless you guys jump on me before I get offline
to correct my plan.)

No, that's fine. Don't max yourself out though, save some for the race.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Quoted message said:

From: Dally [email hidden]
Newsgroups: rec.running

Quoted message said:

Just for background: I'm not a good runner.

Quoted message said:

I'm also not a good weightlifter:

First, you beat yourself up way too much...

Quoted message said:

My goals are general fitness, fat
loss and have fun moving my body. I enjoy running AND weightlifting.

That being the case, you've already received the basic info---lift lightly
upper body, no lower body, do your light cardio pre-lift routine and then get
ready to have fun on Saturday.

Good luck!

Mike C

On Friday, have your head examined.

Miss Anne Thrope said:

On Friday, have your head examined.

I'll wait till Sunday, thanks.

Dally

Quoted message said:

First, you beat yourself up way too much...

I think I'd like an avi of that...

Quoted message said:

On Friday, have your head examined.

Indeed he is. While the rest of us and america are swiggin' brewski's, smoking
dope, and snorting coke, and trying to get laid, this poor [censored]'s going to
be running. LOLOL What a S-U-C-K-E-R.

StarDust said:

Hey Dally:

Just from my experience.. this is what I would do:

on Thursday and Friday - do absolutely nothing... take it easy, watch TV,
and get mentally psyched.
choose your music, and prepare your gear from Saturdays race.

Music? I've got an MP3 player with a running playlist, but I figured to
leave it home on race day. Should I expect the other racers to be wired?

Quoted message said:

On Friday night, eat a pasta dinner (not a huge portion so that you feel it
the next morning, but a so so
portion.. Pasta is good for your run the next day (not sure why, but it
works for me - maybe someone can
explain it).

This will be hard for me... I've been on a Zone/South Beach sort of diet
for two years. Pasta sort of makes me shudder. But I'll try! (I'm not
in the Igor camp-of-fools, I'm just more likely to have a grilled
slab-o-meat and a small portion of brown rice and a large portion of
veggies than simple carbs.)

Quoted message said:

If this is your first race, just have fun, 5K isn't really that far (its a
lot shorter when your actually at the
race, than when your taining alone. you'll enjoy the excitement and energy
at the race, and you'll notice your at 4K before you can blink... Just
enjoy the moments, and let us know how you did!

Thanks, StarDust, I'll give you a race report.

I was a high school runner and ran a bit in my early adulthood, but got
fat and then fatter as the children came. I've just come off a twelve
year "bulking cycle" and ran my first race in January. Then I spent May
through July not running because of sore knees. So this is still pretty
new to me.

Dally

Mike Tennent said:

Dally said:

I'm running a 5K race on Saturday morning. What should I do on Friday?

It depends on the goals you have for the race and where it fits into
your overall regimen.

If it's just a diversion - part of the "fun" of running and not a
serious, PR effort, then do the weights, though I would recommend
doing a lighter workout on the legs.

This is pretty on target. I think I'll warm-up and then do an upper
body workout.

Should I use my warm-up to work on another training goal, namely,
picking up my pace? I could set a treadmill pace for a mile at faster
than my race pace (and leave myself wiped out). Alternatively, I could
warm up on the rowing machine or elliptical and save my tenuous knees
for race day. I *meant* to do speed work at some point, but never got
around to it. (I've been working on hills and distance.)

Quoted message said:

You can treat it as an organized training run with a couple of hundred
other runners. <g>

That's how I treated my first race. I was no where near trained for it,
but I figured I'd have gone running that day anyway so I just showed up
and ran it.

Quoted message said:

I'm doing that this weekend at the inaugural Marine Corp Half-Marathon
in Jacksonville, FL. This is the last week of really hard training in
prep for an Ironman Oct 23. Hurricane Jeanne forced a rest day on
Sunday but I've been hammering workouts since. I will take Friday off
to give my legs a break, but by no means will I be rested.

In the overall scheme of my training, it's designed to be a tough race
at the end of a tough week, so I'm not all that concerned with my
time. In fact, the main reason I signed up for the race is to pace my
wife at her intended marathon pace for December. It's a benchmark
effort for her to see where she's at. If I can hold her pace (2:07)
I'll be pleased, given how tired I am right now.

This sounds like a great reason to enter a race. I like the idea of you
joining your wife at HER pace. (I won't run with my husband because he
doesn't possess the concept that 6' tall men have a faster pace than a
5'6" woman.)

Quoted message said:

If, on the other hand, the 5K is a "serious" race for you, then you
need to taper and be rested and ready to go.

Many runners look at races that way - you have one or two "goal" races
a year that are all out efforts and have full training cycles and
tapers built into the schedule. You sacrifice other elements of your
overall fitness program to focus on them.

Then you have less important races that you use to build to the goal
races.

Finally you have fun ones you do because you like the course, the
challenge, the local beer, or whatever.

I suspect most of my races will fall in this category. :-)

Quoted message said:

Of course, you can just run all them as fun and not worry about it.

Quoted message said:

Just for background: I'm not a good runner.

Don't apologize. I'm not a very good Ironman. <g>

Several people took that as me being hard on myself or apologizing,
really I was just trying to give you enough of the situation so you
could answer. I'm not UPSET about being a slow runner, I'm working on
getting faster and stronger and making noticeable progress and that's
good enough for me.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I feel better today so I'm about to go do a 5K
run in a hilly location (unless you guys jump on me before I get offline
to correct my plan.)

Hmmm, even if it's a "fun" 5K, a hill workout this close may leave you
a little tired. It's a toss up, but I'd opt for an easy run instead of
hills.

I took your (and other's) advice and did 3.5 miles easy, i.e., I walked
up the big hills. It feels like it was the right thing to do.

Quoted message said:

Have fun on Saturday.

Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"

Thanks!

Dally

"Dally" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Music? I've got an MP3 player with a running playlist, but I figured to
leave it home on race day. Should I expect the other racers to be wired?

Most road races prohibit them, not that that keeps some people from running
with them anyway (ditto strollers & even sometimes dogs). Besides, don't you
want to be fully aware of the complete experience rather than wrapped up in
your own little world on race day?
Have fun, too!
bj
p.s. don't worry if you find yourself a bit nervy & sleepless the night
before. Just get up & go anyway.

bj said:

"Dally" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Music? I've got an MP3 player with a running playlist, but I figured to
leave it home on race day. Should I expect the other racers to be wired?

Most road races prohibit them, not that that keeps some people from running
with them anyway (ditto strollers & even sometimes dogs).

Funny you should mention dogs. Lately I've been running WITHOUT my MP3
player but WITH my dog. I vaguely wondered about bringing her to the
run since it's supposed to be a "mother-daughter" event. (I consider my
dog to be my "hobbit daughter": half the size of the other kids with
furry feet.) My actual daughter bailed on me because she's got a meet
later that day. I decided against bringing her, though. :-)

Quoted message said:

Besides, don't you
want to be fully aware of the complete experience rather than wrapped up in
your own little world on race day?

Yes. That's why I decided not to bring it. This is a low-key event
geared to fun-runners and I know lots of people running it. I brought
it on my last race, in January, and was glad about it, though. That was
a sparse field of serious runners (it was 15 degrees F and 4 miles
rather than 3.1.) I was quickly left in the dust, errr, snow. The only
people I saw were race volunteers for pretty much the whole race until
some old fogey beat me on the sprint at the end. (He was in his 70s and
this was his first race back after ankle surgery.) The MP3 player was
my [only] friend.

Quoted message said:

Have fun, too!
bj
p.s. don't worry if you find yourself a bit nervy & sleepless the night
before. Just get up & go anyway.

Good advice. I figure half of my success is due mainly to just showing
up. :-)

Dally

Ignoramus29063 said:

In article said:

Music? I've got an MP3 player with a running playlist, but I figured to
leave it home on race day. Should I expect the other racers to be wired?

Try running "wired" prior to the race, you might find yourself to be
uncomfortable with all those wires and earplugs that keep falling out
etc...

I typically run with the MP3 player. I've got weird earplugs that hook
around my ears and I thread it through my shirt.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On Friday night, eat a pasta dinner (not a huge portion so that you
feel it the next morning, but a so so portion.. Pasta is good for
your run the next day (not sure why, but it works for me - maybe
someone can explain it).

This will be hard for me... I've been on a Zone/South Beach sort of diet
for two years. Pasta sort of makes me shudder. But I'll try! (I'm not
in the Igor camp-of-fools, I'm just more likely to have a grilled
slab-o-meat and a small portion of brown rice and a large portion of
veggies than simple carbs.)

Try not overdoing veggies on the night prior, or else you might have,
shall I say, "gastrointestinal issues".

I'm wary about changing my diet too much. I typically eat a large plate
of veggies.

Quoted message said:

Everything else will have
little relevance, it is only 414 calories or so.

That's why I'm not too worried about it. I could probably be really
ridiculous and eat low-carb all day and just be fine. Bonking comes
with serious exertion, 5K isn't going to deplete my glycogen reserves. :-)

Dally

Leafing through rec.running, I read Dally's message of 30 Sep 2004:

Quoted message said:

Music? I've got an MP3 player with a running playlist, but I figured
to leave it home on race day. Should I expect the other racers to be
wired?

Check the race web site (if there is one) to see if they prohibit
headphones. Even though some races frown on headphones, I always see a
few runners wearing them.

Quoted message said:

This will be hard for me... I've been on a Zone/South Beach sort of
diet for two years. Pasta sort of makes me shudder. But I'll try!
(I'm not in the Igor camp-of-fools, I'm just more likely to have a
grilled slab-o-meat and a small portion of brown rice and a large
portion of veggies than simple carbs.)

Just eat what you are used to eating. This is a fairly short race, so
nutrition is not an issue. The main point is that you don't eat anything
unusual that could cause a GI issue.

Quoted message said:

I was a high school runner and ran a bit in my early adulthood, but
got fat and then fatter as the children came. I've just come off a
twelve year "bulking cycle" and ran my first race in January. Then I
spent May through July not running because of sore knees. So this is
still pretty new to me.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes. ;-)

Phil M.

--
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make
them all yourself." ­Martin Vanbee

Quoted message said:

From: Dally [email hidden]
Newsgroups: rec.running
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 16:58:46

Quoted message said:

Should I use my warm-up to work on another training goal, namely,
picking up my pace? I could set a treadmill pace for a mile at faster
than my race pace (and leave myself wiped out).

You answered your own question...no speed work will help you at this point,
other than to perhaps help you injure yourself.

Now some slightly-faster-than-planned-race-pace "pickups" might be a good idea,
but not at a pace substantially faster than you have been running up until now.

In either case, keep it light, keep it short and see how well you can do in the
5k without the built in excuse of "well, I trashed myself in my workout
yesterday..."

;-)

Mike C

"Dally" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm running a 5K race on Saturday morning. What should I do on Friday?

Just for background: I'm not a good runner. I can run maybe four miles
flat without stopping to walk, and I've got around an 11 minute mile pace.
I'm also not a good weightlifter: I can bench maybe 2/3 of my weight,
maybe squat 3/4 of my weight. My goals are general fitness, fat loss and
have fun moving my body. I enjoy running AND weightlifting.

Lately I've been training for a 5K race on a "couch potato to 5K" sort of
program. I've been running four days a week and weightlifting two days a
week and resting one day a week. I weightlifted Tuesday. I rested
Wednesday - accidently - I didn't feel well so took the day off instead of
doing hills. I feel better today so I'm about to go do a 5K run in a
hilly location (unless you guys jump on me before I get offline to correct
my plan.)

What should I do on Friday, the day before the race? Normally I'd go
weightlift. (My weightlifting sessions always include a 10 minute cardio
warm-up, which might mean running a mile or using an elliptical trainer or
whatever - the legs get moved.)

Dally

I never run the day before an event (race). I'd also lay off the lower body
work and just do an upper body weight workout and maybe a brisk walk.

Jenn

Why rest 2 days prior to the event? Makes little sense. Maybe a rest day
on Thursday; a short run on Friday with some strides. Race on Saturday.

A big carb dinner for a 5K is not as important as it is for longer races,
but it is not a bad idea as long as one does not overdo it. The rationale
is the pasta is high carb; those carbs are taken up by the muscles and
stored as muscle glycogen. That is then used as energy. Glycogen is the
preferred fuel for relatively fast energy needs.

"StarDust" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hey Dally:

Just from my experience.. this is what I would do:

on Thursday and Friday - do absolutely nothing... take it easy, watch TV,
and get mentally psyched.
choose your music, and prepare your gear from Saturdays race.

On Friday night, eat a pasta dinner (not a huge portion so that you feel

it

Quoted message said:

the next morning, but a so so
portion.. Pasta is good for your run the next day (not sure why, but it
works for me - maybe someone can
explain it).

If this is your first race, just have fun, 5K isn't really that far (its a
lot shorter when your actually at the
race, than when your taining alone. you'll enjoy the excitement and energy
at the race, and you'll notice your at 4K before you can blink... Just
enjoy the moments, and let us know how you did!

"Dally" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm running a 5K race on Saturday morning. What should I do on Friday?

Just for background: I'm not a good runner. I can run maybe four miles
flat without stopping to walk, and I've got around an 11 minute mile
pace. I'm also not a good weightlifter: I can bench maybe 2/3 of my
weight, maybe squat 3/4 of my weight. My goals are general fitness, fat
loss and have fun moving my body. I enjoy running AND weightlifting.

Lately I've been training for a 5K race on a "couch potato to 5K" sort
of program. I've been running four days a week and weightlifting two
days a week and resting one day a week. I weightlifted Tuesday. I
rested Wednesday - accidently - I didn't feel well so took the day off
instead of doing hills. I feel better today so I'm about to go do a 5K
run in a hilly location (unless you guys jump on me before I get offline
to correct my plan.)

What should I do on Friday, the day before the race? Normally I'd go
weightlift. (My weightlifting sessions always include a 10 minute
cardio warm-up, which might mean running a mile or using an elliptical
trainer or whatever - the legs get moved.)

Dally

Lyndon, I have not seen this disparity between the upper body muscles and
lower body muscles in terms of recovery. Can you point me in the direction
for more information?
"Lyndon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Just for background: I'm not a good runner. I can run maybe four miles
flat without stopping to walk, and I've got around an 11 minute mile
pace. I'm also not a good weightlifter: I can bench maybe 2/3 of my
weight, maybe squat 3/4 of my weight. My goals are general fitness, fat
loss and have fun moving my body. I enjoy running AND weightlifting.

It takes 48 hours to recover from uppper body weight lifting, and 72 hours

for

Quoted message said:

lower body. My weight routine (3-4 exercises, each 4 sets of 10-12 reps @
60-70% 1RM) is probably diffrent than yours, but my weight session

actually

Quoted message said:

tears me down more than a sprint session on the track.

I would not do any lower body weights at all on friday, and cut the weight

of

Quoted message said:

the others by 20-25%, if you do any at all. You will probably need a rest

of a

Quoted message said:

day or two after your 5K before your weights return to normal.

Lyndon
"Speed Kills...It kills those that don't have it!" --US Olympic Track

Coach

Quoted message said:

Brooks Johnson