Training Guide

It is really important to look after your feet - try and wear supportive and well cushioned trainers - if you need some advice, pop in and see those good folks at 'Sportsworld'!

5-MINUTE STRETCHES
Doing stretches before you exercise isn’t very effective as stretching works best when you are really warm, so save them for after you finish. Don’t rush out of the house, start with five minutes limbering up shoulders, back, hips, knees and ankles or begin every exercise session with five minutes gentle walking.

We really recommend you do these 5 stretches after every training session. You need to do each of the 5 stretches on both sides. Hold each stretch for at least 20 seconds. The simple rule is if you cannot feel it you are not stretching, so take it just to the point of tension then hold.

QUADRICEPS
Stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lift your right heel towards your bottom, taking care not to lock your left knee. To increase the stretch, gently push your right hip forward.
Change legs & repeat.

RUN EASY
Choosing to run around the Womens Cancer Challenge is admirable and will require some commitment over the coming weeks to prepare your body for the race day. It will all be worth it though, as you will be not only raising valuable funds for the Lewis branch of Cancer Research UK, but every stride will help maintain and improve your health and fitness. Your target is to train for up until race day, starting in week 1, doing 70 mins and gradually building up. The Womens Cancer Challenge 5k is certainly not a sprint, so you want to learn how to pace yourself. A good way of doing this is to be able to talk whilst you are running. By filling in your progress chart you can see how well you are doing. You should think about taking 24 hours off between each training session.

WEEK ONE
Session 1 Walk 4 min Run 4 min - Do 3 x =24 mins
Session 2 Walk 3 min Run 10 min - Do 2 x = 26 mins
Session 3 Walk 2 min Run 8 min - Do 2 x =20 mins
WEEK TOTAL: 70 mins

WEEK TWO
Session 1 Walk 3 min Run 10 min - Do 2 x = 26 mins
Session 2 Run 25 min - Do 1 x = 25 mins
Session 3 Walk 2 min Run 14 min - Do 2 x = 28 mins
WEEK TOTAL: 79 mins

WEEK THREE
Session 1 Walk 2 min Run 10 min - Do 3 x = 36 mins
Session 2 Run 25 min - Do 1 x = 25 mins
Session 3 Run 20 min - Do 1 x = 20 mins
WEEK TOTAL: 81 mins

WEEK FOUR
Session 1 Walk 5 min Run 20 min - Do 2 x = 50 mins
Session 2 Walk 5 min Run 15 min - Do 2 x = 40 mins
Session 3 Run 20 min - Do 1 x = 20 mins
WEEK TOTAL: 110 mins

TRAINING TIPS
Building in some “training” time into your daily life can have positive effects on the weight, blood pressure, cardiac health all of which we know reduces the long term risk of cancer.

WHAT SHOULD I WEAR?

You have 3 areas to think about – feet, body & skin.

FEET wearing proper training shoes when you exercise is a great investment as they are designed for comfort and cushioning.

BODY comfort is key. Most important is to ensure you are wearing a comfortable, supportive bra.

SKIN in the UK we take national pride in moaning about the weather so it is important to remember that even short periods of time in the sun can cause damage.
Whenever you are out training wear factor 15+ sunscreen on all exposed areas.

ALSO:

DRINK The 10th May could be a warm day (we live in hope after last year!) so get used to drinking on the move in training by carrying a small bottle of water.

SPEED we are all different, so when you are training, or on the day you should only think about your own pace. A good way of judging your speed is a ‘talk test’. If you can chat to somebody as you walk or run you have the pace pretty much spot on.