I’m trying to run 5k per day this December for charity in memory of a friend. It’s all a bit last minute and I haven’t really run since August so it’s definately ill-advised binge excercise…

5 days in and I’m worried my knee is twinging. Anyone got any wise words (other than jack it in)? What can I do to maximise my chances of making it through the month without doing damage! I’m not really worried about braking any records. I’m thinking:
– Pre-run stretches and warm-up
– Pace, is slower necessarily always better? more impact with shorter stride?
– route and surface, trying to minimise gradient and avoid tarmac
– Post-run stretches and warm-down
– Icing knees on an evening?
– Sports massage

Thanks!
Mat

5km/3miles?

You probably do more than that walking around work, your house etc. Do you get a sore knee every other day too?

You are over-thinking it. Slow down. Treat it as a run/walk.

3.2miles, why would you struggle to get through that?

Walk it if need be.

Take it easy and roll rather than thump along.
Chi running worked for me

You probably do more than that walking around work, your house etc.

That is completely irrelevant: Running is a lot higher impact than walking.

I’d suggest slowing down and don’t treat them as races. 5km/day is a fair bit of running if you aren’t used to it, so don’t be afraid to walk/run on occasions.

Stay loose in the evenings with some light stretching afterwards, and make sure you end your runs 0.5-1km from home so you can have a cool down walk immediately afterwards.

– Pre-run stretches and warm-up

Ditch the stretching bit, not good stretching cold muscles.

And 5km is nothing, someone I know is on day 67 of doing roughly 10miles a day at 8 min/mile pace.

If you really think you have an issue, start by seeing the physio

Ditch the stretching bit, not good stretching cold muscles

Beforehand, yes. But some gentle stretching afterwards will keep things supple.

Just take it easy for that distance – you’ll be about warmed up when you’re 3/4 the way through.

Yeah, I mean of course I can do it walking, I walk 2 miles just getting to and from work. But the aim was to run! Will look into smoother running!

I’ve dialed it back for today, felt like I was just shuffling round!

How is 5km a day nothing?
That would kill me. I currently manage 5km about once a week and struggle to motivate myself to do that!
Taking the whole distance out of it, having the motivation and stamina to get out and run everyday is a massive undertaking on it’s own.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t know Mat (although I do know he spells his name wrong – there’s two T’s in Matt 😉 ), I don’t know his level of fitness, ability, personal situation and ease of getting out running everyday. But I do know he’s doing something that obviously sounds like a massive personal challenge and all for a good cause.
Mat – good luck, it’s going to be hard, it’s going to hurt, there’s going to be cold/rainy/windy days but if you do manage to do it then a massive hats off to you!

And 5km is nothing, someone I know is on day 67 of doing roughly 10miles a day at 8 min/mile pace.

WOW

so what, this thread isn’t about your mate, it’s about a guy trying to achieve something for charity, and he’s finding it hard.

Keep your strides short if not used to running. Overstriding is a big cause of injury to new runners.

Good effort!

The obvious ones are to go slower than you think, and go off-road.

I’d also look at what time of day you’re doing the runs – are you doing them at the same time each day? If so, you get about 24 hours rest.

If you try evening-morning-evening, you’re getting a shorter rest followed by a longer one. Persoanlly I’d rather have 12 hours rest and then 36 hours off to recover more fully.

Might be worth a try, anyway.

Fair play, good effort that, ignore the “It’s only 3 miles” lot, well, ignore them until they’ve tried it themselves.

Otherwise:
Slow down if needed, it’s not a race.
Mix the times of the runs up to get more rest if needed,
Run off road a bit, even if it’s just on the grass on the edge of a path it’ll help lessen the impact.
No stretches before but have a brisk walk for 5 mins before you start each run can help warm up. A similar duration of walk at the end can help to cool down to.
Stretch after, 30 second hold on all the major groups, specific stretches for any problem areas.
Mix up the terrain, if you only run on the flat you are having the same impact each step, a few hills can help spread the impact around and also uses other muscles.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! They’re the sort of tips I was after! I know it’s hardly the marathon des sables but at the same time I know how easy it is to do damage by just MTFU’ing, the competetive side of me wants to go out and bounce off max hr for 30 mins but I need to stop myself from doing that.

I’m generally doing them all at lunch time, it’s a good excuse to get out and see the sun once a day (Aberdeen). Today I slowed it right back (32 mins) – think I just need to stick at that sort of pace. Was hard seeing someone I know come sailing past me and not up speed up…

It’s all relative. For some people 5k/day is a stroll in the park and they would not break a sweat, for other’s it’s a challenge.

If you have been leading a very sedentary lifestyle before this challenge and running has not been a weekly feature then you may well find it tough going as your body is not used to the stress / strain that running puts on the joint, muscles, tendons ..

I don’t think there is any advice, aside from take it steady and see how it goes.

Typical – you’re doing something worthwhile for charity yet some seem to want to belittle your objectives.

I have nothing to add advice-wise but wish you good luck 🙂

I did something similar last january and used teaboy suggestion of evening followed by morning/lunch run so that there was a longer break till following run.

Try mixing the route so you are mentally distracted by scenery from the running effort.

Good site for advice – http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/advice_coach.html

Go slower.

Not sure if some core fitness work would help right now or just add to your woes. I am training to do the London Marathon and I have started by working on core fitness rather than running as I know it is the joints that I need to protect.

Do you have to do the 5k in one hit or can you break it down, maybe do 2.5k twice a day until you feel better?

Go slower.

this.

Aim for 40 mins [edit min]. You’ll feel like you’re plodding but it’ll be easier on tired and/or inexperienced legs.

Yep, slow down. If you’re getting out of breath, you’re running too fast.

Short steps, high cadence. Try and make your feet silent as they land. This will avoid overstriding and putting stress on your knees and heels.

Personally, I do stretch lightly before running. It works for me. Stretch more seriously afterwards when I’ve cooled down and showered. Stretching the second you stop can cause injury.

5k burns bugger all calories, so no need to adjust diet or recovery drinks etc.

Typical – you’re doing something worthwhile for charity yet some seem to want to belittle your objectives.

I’m not belittling it, I’m just saying it’s not that hard. I used to walk 3 miles each way to school every day, walked over 3 miles each way to work for about 7 years, I guess I don’t see it as a difficult thing to do but I suppose those that have always traveled everywhere in a vehicle might see the challenge.

Search for “Marcothon” on Facebook. There’s loads of folk looking to run 5k every day in December, you see plenty of stories / advice / encouragement there.

I’m not belittling it, I’m just saying it’s not that hard. I used to walk 3 miles each way to school every day, walked over 3 miles each way to work for about 7 years, I guess I don’t see it as a difficult thing to do but I suppose those that have always traveled everywhere in a vehicle might see the challenge.

Ahhhhh!! You WALKED. The OP is running: Two very different things.

Thinking of doing the same in January. Listening in to advice…

Rachel

10 min walk to warm up and 10 mins walk to cool down

think about timing run evening one day and early morning the next if you can then you get about 36 hours rest and recovery before going again, which should help any twinges to recover better

Are you running on pavements/roads? May be less stressful on grass. Any playing fields you can run around?

I reckon as above, if you have to do 5k a day (rather than 10k per day towards end of the month and fewer now), shuffle for a week and slowly build up to a stronger gait. 5k will currently seem a lot but if you can protect the knee for now you’ll be bounding along by the end of the month.

Warm up – skip to the end of the street and walk back. Repeat 4 or 5 times.

Run on grass if you can. So much better.

Get the right tunes on.

Don’t think about running while you are doing it.

Leave any run a good bit after eating, and keep your portions small.

I’m not belittling it, I’m just saying it’s not that hard. I used to walk 3 miles each way to school every day, walked over 3 miles each way to work for about 7 years,

And we find the problem. Most people can walk for that distance with little or no issues. Running however is a different game altogether. I can ride a bike for 100 miles and can walk for 8 or 9 hours with no difficulty. But, up until I made a conscious decision to “learn” to run, I couldn’t run for more than 800m. It’s not the same at all.

Warm up – skip to the end of the street and walk back. Repeat 4 or 5 times.

Skipping is super high impact – usually I’d do a plyometric warmup before racing (after a slow jog to begin my warm up), but in this case I think it might be counterproductive.

Sorry……. I meant a GENTLE skip.

Ahhhhh!! You WALKED. The OP is running: Two very different things.

Not really, I’ve done a fair bit of running too.

I did something similar last year, and had planned to do something* this year but I’ve been ill for a week or so. I found the first week relatively easy, the second week harder, and then the third week got easier still.

Your body adapts to whatever you routinely ask it to do. While adapting, it feels hard, but once adapted it’s easy.

My advice: keep going.

*a metric version of the 256 challenge

oh that’s quite clever, miketually

Good luck, its achievable by anyone with even reasonable fitness just start each day slow.

oh and ignore the stretching advice, no evidence to support that.