I am going to do my first 5k race on Sunday. Should I only run a maximum of 5ks all this week and give myself a 2 day rest before my race??? If not, what would be better.
That sounds like a good plan to me. You will have plenty of energy for the race.
After you do the race, maybe you'd like to give us a report here.
Take Friday off and get as much sleep as you can. Saturday, 2 miles easy with some strides thrown in at the end (slowly accelerate to race pace and run 60-80 m with good form, then decelerate and walk for 30 s; repeat 3-4x). Sunday, do a mile warmup and repeat the strides. Aim to finish 10-15 min before the race starts.
Then run the race and have a good time.
All the advice above me was excellent. I would like to add that I had great results when I had a light breakfast before the race, but allow yourself enough time to digest so you aren't full (I had a cup of oatmeal and fruit about 2 hours before the start of the race).
Good luck.
Hrrmm...you are new to running or a novice I am assuming? I want to suggest to take a day off 2 days before and do a light run the day before to get any pre-race jitters out of the way.
Also it helps if you do at least one hard (not race pace hard) workout 3 days before the race, turning on your "fast" engine and shutting it down, warming up the body and mindset for the race.
Also want to add for pre-race warmup, dynamic stretching helps warm up the muscles after your warmup run. Just doing some leg swings and whatnot will do, you would probably find better examples on youtube for things like proper form. As far as prerace food, dont eat anything you're not used to eating. Eat something simple and easy to digest, what works for one person might not work for the next. If a piece of toast and peanut butter works for you then do it. Avoid milk if you have a slight intolerance.
