Couch To Rainbow 5K: Week Three – Getting Ready

In a new four-part series, self-confessed couch potato Marie starts a new exercise regime in an effort to ditch her lazy habits, get fit and complete the Rainbow Run 5k at the end of June.

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Week Three: Getting Ready Last week, I learned that hard way that you get out what you put in when it comes to nutrition and diet and have been blown away by the results over the last week. While I've been far from perfect (sometimes you just really, really need a burrito), I've been a lot more focused on loading my diet with the right foods to fuel my training and have been delighted with the difference that it has made. Over the last few weeks, one of the rituals during my personal training sessions has been starting my workout by running a kilometre as fast as I can and trying to beat my previous record. I've made steady progress and when I finished last week's session by cutting another 42 seconds off my time, I was pretty delighted with myself. This week, I was mentally prepared for another sprint but there was a very different challenge in store for me. My challenge? To run my first ever 5K with bursts of circuit training between each kilometre. I initially thought that my trainer Alan may have mixed up my training schedule with Mo Farah's but unfortunately, this was not the case. Instead, the idea was that the circuits would boost my aerobic fitness and if I could manage to run 5K while exhausting my muscles in between each kilometre then I'd fly through this Sunday's event. Some logic, eh? Normally I would put up some kind of resistance but since I didn't want to risk making my punishment, I mean training, any tougher, I quit my whining and gave it a go. Now, since I've obviously lived to tell the tale, I did not keel over from heart failure as expected and while it was not the most pleasant hour I've spent, I DID IT! I ran my first 5K and learned the valuable lesson that sometimes you can achieve a lot more than you think you can... you just need someone to force you into it:) So, I'm feeling pretty good ahead of this weekend and am ready to complete my first organised run! If you're taking part too, the advice from the expert is to take tomorrow off, go for a two kilometre run on Friday and rest on Saturday to make sure that you are fit and ready for Sunday's 3pm kick-off. Have a carb-heavy meal the night before and make sure you are well hydrated by drinking plenty of water over the next few days. Grab an energy drink for the day itself to replace the electrolytes that you'll lose through sweat during the run and pray to the weather gods that this weather cools down a bit... for all of our sakes! Make sure you're not stressed on the day by getting everything from your clothes to your transport sorted well in advance. Charge up your phone to make sure that you can time your run and have some motivational tunes at the ready - Runkeeper and Spotify are my two favourite new apps on my Samsung Galaxy S5 and I would definitely recommend! See you all at the finish line!

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Marie is training for the Rainbow Run using the new Samsung Galaxy 5s, courtesy of Vodafone. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is available in black, white or gold on Vodafone Red bill pay, with a Gear Fit worth €199 at half price on selected plans, as well as Spotify Premium and extra data. See http://www.vodafone.ie/offers/samsung or http://www.vodafone.ie/spotify for further details. For some fitness inspiration, check out Alan's Instagram here.