As the New Year approaches, millions of Americans make the resolution to get in shape or lose weight, and UNC students are no exception.
The gym tends to fill with those ambitious enough to start an exercise routine, making it even more crowded and harder to find a machine than usual.
Exercising outdoors is proven to make you happier than an indoor workout and it has been unseasonably warm lately, so go out and enjoy it with a nice jog. To beat the mass of students on the elliptical, and to help you get a more rewarding workout, why not train for a 5k outdoors?
Having no previous experience is no excuse to neglect to sign up for a race. It’s helpful to have a goal in mind when you get started. There is a terrific couch to 5k program that will get you ready for the 3.1 miles in two short months, but if you push yourself you can get in shape more quickly.
I actually downloaded the program as a podcast on to my iPod to listen to and loosely followed it to train for my first 5k. The idea of the program is to alternate walking with jogging until you can increase your endurance. It is easy to fit in running with finals because you only need to do it around three times a week, and it’s a great stress reliever as well.
It can be helpful to have a partner to run with you, so see if any of your friends want to join you. If you want to run at night, definitely make sure you bring a buddy along. A cool website to find music to match your running pace is jog.fm if you enter your mile time it will come up with songs that match your tempo. It really helps the time fly by.
Here are some 5ks coming up in the community that benefit some great causes. Hope to see you out there!
December 3 – The White and Blue 5k, UNC
December 18 – Chasin’ the Challenge, Cary
January 7 – Run for Young, Raleigh
Are you going to run a 5k this year? Let Pit Talk know by commenting below!
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