Choosing a Goal Race

Audio Transcript

Coach Claire: Hi everyone. Welcome to the Extra Kick podcast brought to you by Runners Connect.

We get a lot of questions by e-mails so thank you to everyone for sending those in. We’d really love to hear your voice.

If you have a question that you’d like one of expect coaches to answer in an upcoming episode, you can submit it at runnersconnect.net/daily. We want to help you train smarter and get a whole lot faster. Let us know what’s on your mind.

Today’s episode is a question from Priscilla.

Priscilla: I have never run in a race before. I run recreationally and for the mental health benefits, but I have no desire to race.

It’s my time for solitude and the idea of running in a crowd runs counter to one of my main motivations.

I joined Runners Connect to approve as a runner and now I’m wondering if having a race would help me set goals. How do you go about choosing your races?

Claire: First, you don’t have to race to improve as a runner. Running for fun and to clear your mind is something that you can do without ever setting a foot on a starting line.

It does help to have a concrete goal in mind, as you train, to give you something to work for and to measure your improvement.

For many people, that’s a goal race but it doesn’t have to be. Let’s first break down what the goal of having a goal is , so to speak.

Priscilla, you said that you were looking for improvement as a runner, but what does that really mean for you? Does it mean running faster or farther? Does it mean having running feel easier? Does it mean running more often?

Typically, it’s a combination of all the above but let’s breakdown each of those goals one at a time.

Let’s say you want to run faster. Now fast is a relative term and your fast paces will be very different depending on the distance. Let’s say your goal is improving that Top Gear of speed. For that, a great distance to train for is the mile.

Unfortunately, mile races (at least those that do not involve beer) are not as popular as they once were.

It might be difficult to find a real mile race. If you don’t find a real race, you can challenge yourself to a one-mile time trial or what famous coach Jeff Galloway calls “the magic mile”

After training for a few weeks or a few months depending on your fitness level, you can head to a local track and test out your skills after a proper warm up of course.

The great thing about a mile race is that because it’s so short, you can recover quickly. You could raise the mile as often as about once a week and be fully recovered.

The downside of the mile, running that hard even for a relatively short distance is very hard to do and it will hurt if you’re going all out.

Without fellow racers inspiring you to finish as fast as possible, it’s difficult to really run to your potential, but it’s worth a try.

The next step up from the mile is a 5K or a 3.1 mile. I personally find the 5K to be one of the most difficult distances because it is run at such a high intensity for such a long time.

It’s not a sprint and it’s still highly aerobic, but your foot is smashing down on that gas pedal of the entire race. It is high in speed, but you need the endurance to keep up the high-level effort all the way to the end.

The beauty of the 5K is like a mile, you can recover quickly; it doesn’t take your entire morning and you’re probably walking normally the next day.

If you can run three miles in training, you can race a 5K. Although to race it well, you’ll want to work on your aerobic system by adding in more mileage and get more speed work in about once or twice a week to get those legs moving fast.

In many areas there is a 5K race every single weekend so it’s easy to pick one and set it as your goal. If it goes great, there’s another one to target to try to improve and if it’s a disaster, you can dust yourself off and try again next weekend.

But if the high-octane atmosphere of a 5k doesn’t appeal to you or if you’re looking to improve your endurance, you could look at some longer races as your goal.

The next steps up from the 5K are the 10K or 6.2 miles and the half marathon which is 13.1 miles, or a 21K.

The 10K is not as popular as the 5K and that’s too bad because it’s a great distance to target. It’s still good hard racing but it’s not the Jack Rabbit panic pace of a 5k or is that just me?

It’s still long enough that most people will not be able to race a 10K straight off the couch, so you will have to put some thought into your preparation.

Now the half marathon is a pretty special race because your endurance fitness has to be well developed to even complete the distance and it’s quite an accomplishment for most people.

Then if you want to improve at the half which most people equate with running faster, you’ll want to have a solid build up with a good base of mileage for you mixed in with some higher intensity training.

The good thing about half training is that it’s a distance that’s long enough to be quite challenging, yet it doesn’t have to completely take over your life like full marathon training tends to do.

Nutrition plays a factor in half marathon performance depending on your pace, but it’s not nearly as essential as in marathon training.

You will need to allow several days to up to a week or so to recover properly from a half, but after completing the accomplishment, that can be very welcome.

Now we come to the marathon. This is a very ambitious goal that requires a major lifestyle change and commitment to simply complete the distance.

Never mind running it as fast as you can. 3-4 months of solid build up is recommended for athletes that already have a good base of training and even more for someone who is a beginner.

Should everyone really have the marathon as a goal? To be honest, No. If you love running because of the peace of mind that it brings you and you just want to improve your form and your fitness, marathon training is not the best way to get there.

Marathon training is a big commitment and you need to want it badly, to put yourself through the training day in and day out.

I think the marathon has been put on people’s bucket lists just so people can cross it off and somehow declare themselves a real runner which is simply not true.

Different people enjoy running different distances so it’s important to find the one that suits you best no matter what anyone else is doing.

As far as choosing a particular race, if you decide to do that Priscilla, I would advise choosing a smaller race that doesn’t have the crowds that you don’t like.

While big city races can be thrilling, smaller local races can be just as fun and certainly the logistics are a lot simpler.

Once you finish your first race you might just be finding yourself looking for your next one.

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That’s it for today’s episode. Don’t forget to send in your questions at runnersconnect.net/daily. Have a great run today.