Advice for beginner

[Thinkthin2020]

I would like to begin couch 2 5k

Does anyone have any advice on stretching, should it he done before, after or both or does the 5 min walk suffice?

Thanks

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Welcome to the forum and well done on your decision.

This guide to the plan is essential reading healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

and includes links to stretches appropriate for pre and post run........they are not the same thing.

Stretching immediately after every run, while muscles are still warm and supple, pulls out contractions, avoiding carrying tensions into the next run and also improves recovery by improving blood flow.

Enjoy your journey.

[Thinkthin2020 in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thank you and I will take a look here first

[Roxdog Graduate]

Well done for starting. Stretch afterwards, but it's a good idea to do some warm up exercises before heading out. There are links to pre-run dynamic stretches in Iannoda's post, but there are also pre-run yoga videos on line, which I use.

[Thinkthin2020 in reply to Roxdog]

Thank you for the advice, I will also take a look at the pre run yoga videos

[Jell6 Graduate]

I only do the warm up and cool down walks 😬

[Thinkthin2020 in reply to Jell6]

Thank you 😁

[Hidden]

I added dynamic warm up stretches around week 4/5 when the runs started to get longer as I felt the warm-up walk wasn't enough. I use these from RunnersWorld before I head out:

runnersworld.com/training/g...

and these from the NHS when I get back:

nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/h...

I also do yoga and pilates on my rest days.

[Thinkthin2020]

Thank you for the link