5K

[boothy1987]

Had someone sign me up for a 5k this Sunday and sprung it on me yesterday. Not one for going out and just running but do a fair amount of football so fairly fit

What sort of time should I be aiming for? Is 17 minutes seen as a decent time?

[boothy1987]

944fan said:

Unless you are a regular runner and very fit I doubt you would be able to get anywhere near 17 minutes. Anything under 30 is average, under 25 is good and sub 20 is impressive.

Fair enough, i'll report back next Monday morning

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict 17.59

[boothy1987]

Cybertronian said:

I regularly take part in the weekly Parkrun 5k event and at our most recent event, 50 people out of 315 finished before 20 minutes (mostly made up of club runners and other very fit individuals), or 16%. Most runners (63%) finish between 20 and 30 minutes, and most people after 30 minutes are women (maybe 30% of total attendance) just to give you an idea of where to pitch yourself.

Edited by Cybertronian on Monday 17th September 13:30

Interesting. I'd be a bit disappointed to be over 20 minutes I think

[boothy1987]

Well pre season has just finished and playing/training 3 times a week so base fitness is there. Always been able to run well as I swam competitively until I was 15

Definitely got to be aiming for sub 20 minutes

[boothy1987]

I will also be running in pumps/plimsols as I have no proper running trainers. I'm sure my calves will thank me for that on Monday morning

From reading all this, I'll be chuffed if I go under 20 mins

[boothy1987]

I've got the excuses ready if I post a naff time. Knackered from football on saturday and running in pumps

Might have a dummy run at it tonight after training

[boothy1987]

z4chris99 said:

you better be truthfull!

im still confident about my over 25 mins as your running in pumps which is going to hurt!

I think the results might be posted online so I can't lie unless I give a different name

[boothy1987]

el stovey said:

Where's this race? It's going to be epic.

Keeping that one to myself

Feeling the pressure now

[boothy1987]

Ran back down from training last night, 1.1 miles in a little under 6 minutes. So all I have to do is run at that pace for 3 times as long...simple

[boothy1987]

Momentofmadness said:

Cracking pace, well done - that's very impressive !

It is easy to peg it for a mile, the problem comes when there are another 2 to follow

[boothy1987]

Pressure is on now

Right well I accept that sub 18 mins may have been a bit optimistic going by what has been said so far

I'm sure a good fry up before I go should see me through it

[boothy1987]

Came second in 18:37. Winner finished about 5 seconds in front, out sprinted me at the end. 3rd was about 19 minutes. Then I don't think anyone else crossed under 20 minutes. It was mainly non runners who were just doing it for charity (hospice) and there were only around 75 doing it

Pretty pleased with that time but my calves are feeling it a bit now

[boothy1987]

It was called 'Elland round table' 5k in Greenhead Park, Huddersfield

Felt like I could maybe have sprinted a bit sooner but sub 18 would take a bit of regular training I reckon

[boothy1987]

dangerousB said:

I'll go out on a limb and say you'll not get within 2 minutes of that.

And that's not me being disrespectful . . . to run a sub 20 5k takes some impressive muscular endurance, let alone 2 or 3 minutes quicker (which is orders of magnitude tougher than you'd think to achieve).

I'm not sure what sort of footie you play, but even if it's 11 a side, I doubt very much whether you'd build the ME necessary for the sorts of times you're talking about playing just 3 times a week.

I don't think i've ever lost the muscular endurance I gained from being a competitive swimmer

[boothy1987]

I swam for Borough of Kirklees. Was top boy in Yorkshire at 12 but by 15 I'd lost interest really. I was never going to be good enough to make it to the top so didn't really see the point in spending all my spare time trundling up and down a pool

As for ditching the football for running, I don't really enjoy running all that much to be honest. I might start looking in to doing triathlons as I'm a decent swimmer and runner although I've never cycled

[boothy1987]

Smitters said:

Well done. Now, get a shed of a bike (or a carbon super bling bike, but don't in case you hate it) and go do a sprint triathlon. Go. Now. Or at least have a look at some local results. You'll do well, as you have the technically hardest discipline licked.

Oh, and git. Never gone sub 20. Is a target...

How many weeks of training do you think it would take to be competitive in one of these? I mean over 50-100 meters of swimming I could give anyone a good race but 750 meters is a bloody long way if you haven't been training much. Then to get on a bike for 20k followed by a 5k run seems like a considerable amount of cardiovascular effort. I'd be shagged for days after that

[boothy1987]

Yeah I'm really tempted to give it a go, as I know I'd be pretty good at it (without being big headed). It's years since I rode a bike but that would something you could pick pretty quick, granted it'd be by far my poorest leg.

Going to have a look in to and see what sort of training/teams there are around Huddersfield way