Need to get in shape for a race

[In Motion]

Aaaaaaaaaaallrighty then! I will soon be competing in a race (2 km) and I want to get in shape for it, its not yet decided when its going to be but it will be within the next 4 weeks. So I need to get in better shape for it and I have no idea where to start. Any help you guys can give me is much appreciated! If you have any questions just ask.

Feel free to tell me about diet-ideas, workouts and no-nos:nono:

 

[KontrollerX]

Look up High Intensity Interval Training on google.

It will make you a beast because it will make your heart and the rest of you so healthy.

 

[In Motion]

Good advice, I looked it up and I think Im going to go with this option:

"For the first option, warm up at a comfortable intensity for 5 minutes. Then, give your maximum effort for 15 to 30 seconds, followed by a 2-minute recovery. You can walk during the recovery or you can just take it down to a very light jog, depending on your current level of fitness. More than likely, though, you will be going so hard that you will need to walk during the recovery. Perform between 6 and 10 of these intervals, and finish with a cooldown."

Now, I will still be needing diet tips, it said i will be needing a slightly hypercaloric diet. Please explain.

 

[KontrollerX]

For that information you may want to PM Throttle or Quagmire911.

Those guys are the diet masters.

 

[BMX]

Sounds like you're sprinting. Intervals are your best friend. Squats, cleans, unweighted jumping squats/lunges (tabata intervals) can be seen on rosstraining.com, plyometrics could be useful as well. The warmups during track back in the day included A skips, B skips, cherry-pickers, and the overexaggerated strides.

 

[Throttle]

as always, your best preparation for ______ is to ______ as much as possible.

in this case, since it's coming up quick, i'd say your baseline move is get yourself up to 2km or shorter runs 5-6x per week as soon as you can manage. if you can already manage 2km with reasonable proficiency, then work on pacing yourself through various stages, getting a feel for how to pace yourself & when to pour it on at the end. everything else (lifting, sprinting, etc.) is window dressing by comparison. if you know where you'll be running, try there, but also try something harder & shorter (like running hills, if you're racing on a flat surface) for at least some of your practice sessions.

eat when hungry (and as soon after running as your stomach can tolerate), keep hydrated (with water, not those ****-me corn syrup drinks), get at least 8 hours of sleep per night. don't over-complicate.

how much warning will you have before the race itself?

 

[In Motion]

as always, your best preparation for ______ is to ______ as much as possible.

in this case, since it's coming up quick, i'd say your baseline move is get yourself up to 2km or shorter runs 5-6x per week as soon as you can manage. if you can already manage 2km with reasonable proficiency, then work on pacing yourself through various stages, getting a feel for how to pace yourself & when to pour it on at the end. everything else (lifting, sprinting, etc.) is window dressing by comparison. if you know where you'll be running, try there, but also try something harder & shorter (like running hills, if you're racing on a flat surface) for at least some of your practice sessions.

eat when hungry (and as soon after running as your stomach can tolerate), keep hydrated (with water, not those ****-me corn syrup drinks), get at least 8 hours of sleep per night. don't over-complicate.

how much warning will you have before the race itself?

Thanks man, also got some tips from my bro; He said to eat slow carbs, lots of protein and vegetables etc. Lots of tuna, chicken and so forth. I will try some hillsprints for sure. Last year I came in 4th place, my goal is well obviously to win. I know where it will be so Ill try to practice there as much as I can. Will know for sure by Wednesday/next Wednesday.

 

[MikeYikes122]

"For the first option, warm up at a comfortable intensity for 5 minutes. Then, give your maximum effort for 15 to 30 seconds, followed by a 2-minute recovery. You can walk during the recovery or you can just take it down to a very light jog, depending on your current level of fitness. More than likely, though, you will be going so hard that you will need to walk during the recovery. Perform between 6 and 10 of these intervals, and finish with a cooldown."

What your doing is called "sprint a cone, jog a cone". A lot of high school track teams in the northern part of the country do it to get in shape fast for the spring season.

What I would do is, go to a local high school's or park's track and lay down a cone or some sort of marker at each 100-meter interval of the track. So, if the track was a quarter mile long, you'd put down four marks as check points at each 100-meter spot on the track.

Warm up for 10 or 15 minutes on the track and get your heart rate going. Then, head to the start line and jog to the first cone. Once you get to the first cone, sprint as hard as you can until you get to the second cone, then jog again. Once you get to the third cone, sprint to the finish line.

Do two or three laps of these twice a week, along with a couple of long jogs on off-days, and you will be in insanely good shape very quickly. Though, I'd caution against doing this kind of high-interval work too much, as it can be hard on your knees/legs. If you're going to do it a lot, maybe try to set something up where you're running on a softer surface, like grass.

 

[In Motion]

Fvck! Sorry for not updating! The race was last wednesday and I WON!

I didnt have time to do my program correctly because of school/exams/dates, but it doesnt really matter because I fvcking won! This is going to do great things for my social rep, as it already has! Unfortunatly I didnt beat the record, but oh well, maybe next time!