parkrun

[Cybertronian]

Wasn't so much the rain but the wind that was the issue this morning. Incredibly exposed 2 lap course equating to approx 1.5 miles straight into a headwind. Still came in a respectable 5th place with 4th place fewer than 10 seconds away.

[FreeLitres]

KTF said:

FreeLitres said:

Anyone else got soggy toes this morning?

I hope you invested in a plastic barcode card!

[northandy]

FreeLitres said:

Anyone else got soggy toes this morning?

Yep, drenched this morning it was torrential, some deep water running accross the start straight meant the start was just water flying everywhere.

2 seconds off my pb though, and came in 15th

Most of all was bloody good fun!

[john2443]

northandy said:

Yep, drenched this morning it was torrential, some deep water running accross the start straight meant the start was just water flying everywhere.

2 seconds off my pb though, and came in 15th

Most of all was bloody good fun!

There was a comment on the Event Directors facebook page that a juniors event had been a mudfest and the kids said it was the best parkrun ever - some of the parents weren't quite as enthusiastic as they had to clean the kids up afterwards!

[Cybertronian]

Had a belter of a Parkrun this morning at my home event. Conditions a teensy bit gusty, but dry and cool for otherwise near-perfect conditions. Friends beforehand asked what I thought I'd be able to hit, and I said I thought I'd be somewhere around 19 minutes. Ran exactly 19:00 for my second fastest time on the course and I'm mere seconds away from bettering my almost year old PB from the faster Cardiff course

EDIT - Official results just came out and I was rounded down to 18:59!

Edited by Cybertronian on Saturday 14th November 22:22

[FreeLitres]

Our Parkrun was cancelled do to ice on the trail. I only found out when I was arriving at the car park. Pah!

[northandy]

FreeLitres said:

Our Parkrun was cancelled do to ice on the trail. I only found out when I was arriving at the car park. Pah!

Snap same for me on Saturday, so I ran elsewhere on a 5k trail route I've raced before.

[northandy]

Cold run today but back on track with my times down to 21:23 today and 7th finisher (all the fast guys must have stayed in bed) 17 seconds faster than my previous best, maybe under 21 is achievable before Christmas

[john2443]

Busy weekend with PSH, Tom Williams and other HQ people - dinner Saturday night, Hove Prom Saturday, Q&A session with JQ and local event teams Sat eve, this morning Preston Park juniors followed by walking a new course and pub lunch at the place that will be the post run coffee shop/pub when we get the event started in Feb.

As far as running is concerned, I finally managed the elusive sub 23 with 22:57 at Hove Prom - very flat tarmac route and (particularly compared to last week) only a light wind.

Very pleased with that, I've done 23:teens a few times, but something starting with 22 is a big thing (by my standards at age 58) and I've gone up 2 places in the PH 5k wiki with 68.70%.

[FreeLitres]

Any relatively new runners here floundering around the 30 minute 5k mark?

So many of you guys seem to be blasting around in ~20 minutes which is pretty damn fast. I just wondered how many people are at my level and what your target times are.

[KTF]

FreeLitres said:

Any relatively new runners here floundering around the 30 minute 5k mark?

What other runs are you doing during the week to improve the time (assuming you want to)?

[FreeLitres]

KTF said:

What other runs are you doing during the week to improve the time (assuming you want to)?

I currently go out 3 or 4 times a week running between 5k and 10k with some hill sprints on 2 of those sessions. I'm suffering from patella tendonitis which is getting me down.

[KTF]

I would add some intervals into the mix so you get used to really pushing it as long as it doesn't aggravate the injury. The distance runs build the endurance but not the speed.

[JQ]

I've recently started doing a Junior Parkrun with my 7yr old lad and he's loving them. Done 3 so far and all have been in horrific conditions. Doesn't seem to put him off and I've been enjoying getting muddy.

[FreeLitres]

KTF said:

I would add some intervals into the mix so you get used to really pushing it as long as it doesn't aggravate the injury. The distance runs build the endurance but not the speed.

Thanks for the tip. Could you give me a feel for what the intervals should be like to get my times down? Run for 1 minute and jog for 3, or run for 5 minutes and stand still to recover for example?

[KTF]

It's distance rather than time based. For example:

A mile or so warm up then:

6 - 8 x 800m (1/2 a mile) with 2min recovery

or

10 - 12 x 400m (1/4 mile) with 1min recovery

or

8 - 10 x 200m with 30s recovery

then a mile cool down afterwards.

If you set your GPS to autolap at the appropriate distance then you can get an accurate reading each time.

Or you could run between 6-8 lampposts, walk another 2, turn round, walk back 2, run 8 and repeat. It doesn't really matter as long as the distance is consistent and when you run, you run at full tilt

Edited by KTF on Sunday 29th November 19:22

[stevesuk]

FreeLitres said:

Any relatively new runners here floundering around the 30 minute 5k mark?

Yep I've nearly cracked 29 minutes (a couple of seconds away from a 28 something). My target when I started running in January was to manage a 30 minute 5K, and I managed that by about May. But I'm now finding it hard to go much faster. So I'd also be interested in how you progress from here.

I've got a treadmill in the garage, and when I use that, I can run 5K a bit quicker (27 minutes 20 seconds is my best).

I do find at our busy Parkrun (usually approaching 700 runners) that its very easy to get sucked in to following someone rather than passing them. But if I try and run faster, I worry that I'll run out of energy before the finish.

[FreeLitres]

stevesuk said:

FreeLitres said:

Any relatively new runners here floundering around the 30 minute 5k mark?

Yep I've nearly cracked 29 minutes (a couple of seconds away from a 28 something). My target when I started running in January was to manage a 30 minute 5K, and I managed that by about May. But I'm now finding it hard to go much faster. So I'd also be interested in how you progress from here.

I've got a treadmill in the garage, and when I use that, I can run 5K a bit quicker (27 minutes 20 seconds is my best).

I do find at our busy Parkrun (usually approaching 700 runners) that its very easy to get sucked in to following someone rather than passing them. But if I try and run faster, I worry that I'll run out of energy before the finish.

Good stuff. I did managed to gradually reduce my (slightly hilly) parkrun times down to just under 27 minutes in the summer but I was pushing way too hard (100% max HR for a large proportion which I don't think is a good idea) but then my knee went again and I had 3 months off. I came back a couple of weeks ago to 34 minutes again

My "nautural" pace is definately 30 minutes where I feel I am kind of pressing on without really hurting.

My big target is sub 25 minutes, but that feels a long way from my current position.

Edited by FreeLitres on Sunday 29th November 20:17

[john2443]

IMHO the big thing about trying to get sub anything is to practice running at that speed - if you train by doing 6:05 min Ks you just learn to run 6:05 Ks, what you need to learn is what it's like running 5:55, so repeat shorter distances (eg 1k) with a recovery at 5:55 pace so that you know what 5:55 feels like, then gradually put them together til you can do 5 of them without a recovery.

Think of it like learning times tables, you can practice your 6x all day every day but it will never help you with your 7x, you have to start on 7x and not get all the way to 12 and gradually build it up.

[RizzoTheRat]

I found running longer distances helped a lot. I was regularly finishing around the 30 minute mark at parkrun but when I entered a 10km series and started doing some longer runs I got my Parkrun PB down under 27 mins. I think my natural pace is about 25-27 minutes but I can't sustain it so I tend to set of too fast and die half way round, doing longer runs meant I died later. Getting a watch with a virtual pacer function helped a lot too as I use it to pace myself better in the first few km's.