Laura Motes is a former police officer, a future nurse, and a
personal health enthusiast. Part of her job involved staying in shape
during her 20 years as a law enforcement officer, and she still takes
the basic building blocks of personal health—exercise and diet—very
seriously. In this vein, she has taken to trail running and competitive
distance racing in her community near Watkinsville, Georgia. Motes
trained herself for her first 5K several years ago, and she has a few
pointers for those wanting to do the same:
- Give yourself plenty of time. Laura Motes is very physically fit, but when she was just starting to train for her first 5K race, she gave herself nine weeks to prepare. Most beginner’s programs recommend at least seven weeks of training and preparation before a competition. This is to give your body time to adjust to its new routines and help prevent injury.
- Balance running, resting, and walking. Laura Motes recommends to all beginners to work their way up to fast times over five kilometers by incorporating periods of running, of course, but also walking and resting to avoid injury while still training hard.
- Vary your schedule. For many of the same reasons why beginners should mix in periods of walking, running, and resting, those training for a 5K competition should also vary their running schedules. This means running longer distances at a slower pace three days per week, then four, while also training lightly some weeks as well.
