Discussion
john2443 said:
Volunteering for juniors is good fun and gets some volunteering in without having to miss a Saturday run!
At 20 different events you get on the most events list https://www.parkrun.org.uk/results/mostevents/, there's also a facebook group that you can join, not sure it's worth it!
https://running-challenges.co.uk/ Chrome and Firefox extension is quite good if you're keeping track of your stats. Some people get over excited about getting another virtual badge!
I forgot that page still existed - I assumed it had been culled along with a number of the other pages like the points table etc. It's fascinating to see the number of people with relatively low-run-counts, but high-tourism-counts. There're enough events inside the M25 to keep any would-be tourists entertained for over a year!At 20 different events you get on the most events list https://www.parkrun.org.uk/results/mostevents/, there's also a facebook group that you can join, not sure it's worth it!
https://running-challenges.co.uk/ Chrome and Firefox extension is quite good if you're keeping track of your stats. Some people get over excited about getting another virtual badge!
Speaking of inside the M25 and tourists, I did the run at Lullingstone and boy was it tough. The sun came out to warm things up and increase the humidity from the grass underfoot. You know you're on to a good one when the run director refers to the course as "an absolute b*stard" when there are kids in the briefing!
4th (with a dog) and 5th place were within reach, but I'd had enough and just wanted it to end!
john2443 said:
Volunteering for juniors is good fun and gets some volunteering in without having to miss a Saturday run!
At 20 different events you get on the most events list https://www.parkrun.org.uk/results/mostevents/, there's also a facebook group that you can join, not sure it's worth it!
https://running-challenges.co.uk/ Chrome and Firefox extension is quite good if you're keeping track of your stats. Some people get over excited about getting another virtual badge!
I got a new badge this week. At 20 different events you get on the most events list https://www.parkrun.org.uk/results/mostevents/, there's also a facebook group that you can join, not sure it's worth it!
https://running-challenges.co.uk/ Chrome and Firefox extension is quite good if you're keeping track of your stats. Some people get over excited about getting another virtual badge!
Returned to parkrun after an injury break (I cracked a rib over the Easter weekend by falling off my bike) - tried the new-ish Kingdom parkrun (west of Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells near Penshurst). Three laps, very picturesque and hilly if that's your thing!
Most notable for the chap who was running his 496th parkrun at his 276th different venue. Well played!
Most notable for the chap who was running his 496th parkrun at his 276th different venue. Well played!
Edited by 5pen on Monday 10th June 15:21
irish boy said:
Got new shoes 4 weeks ago and just got my 4th pb in a row. Guess I didn’t realise what a difference good footwear makes, I’ve never had trainers over £20 till now.
It can also make a huge difference on your chances of picking up an injury... From bitter experience I'd strongly advise decent running shoes, making sure they're are suited to your particular biomechanics, and preferably coaching in how to run. Until I had all three I had massive problems, whereas now I'm two years into successfully training for 5ks.Edited by RobM77 on Monday 10th June 15:15
I tried out the Ellenbrook Fields parkrun in Hatfield on Saturday.
Despite the cold, rain and fierce wind i managed my 2nd fastest time of the year - so well pleased with that.
It was a lovely run too, with a good mix of grass, trail and concrete surfaces to keep you focused on where you were running.
Nice course, well marshalled (one chap on one of the corners was handing out Harribo's to the runners as the passed), and a good turn-out despite the weather.
And hats-off to the volunteers who worked through the weekend to resolve the timing "issues" as reported on their facebook page. Not sure what happened (suspect a mismatch between the timing clicks and chips issued) but they eventually got the results posted on Sunday morning.
Despite the cold, rain and fierce wind i managed my 2nd fastest time of the year - so well pleased with that.
It was a lovely run too, with a good mix of grass, trail and concrete surfaces to keep you focused on where you were running.
Nice course, well marshalled (one chap on one of the corners was handing out Harribo's to the runners as the passed), and a good turn-out despite the weather.
And hats-off to the volunteers who worked through the weekend to resolve the timing "issues" as reported on their facebook page. Not sure what happened (suspect a mismatch between the timing clicks and chips issued) but they eventually got the results posted on Sunday morning.
downthepub said:
I'm now a ball-hair off breaking the 25min barrier. Since my first run in early 2017, I've knocked 9mins off my time. Would really like to get a PB starting with 24 in the next few weeks.
I'm about half way through the couch to 5km app. My first park run (in a long time at least) was around the 35 minute mark. I've got a long term goal of sub 25, I'd really appreciate any tips, whats worked for you?jamest1988 said:
I'm about half way through the couch to 5km app. My first park run (in a long time at least) was around the 35 minute mark. I've got a long term goal of sub 25, I'd really appreciate any tips, whats worked for you?
I'd quite like to know how to get faster too.I've been running for a few years now (treadmill and outdoors) - and I continually hover around 30 minutes for 5K. I think my best at Parkrun was just below 29 minutes (28 minutes 50 something). I can go slightly quicker on the treadmill (low 27 minutes).
I did read that interval training plays an important part (i.e. if you start off doing short bursts at a higher speed than usual, your body gets used to running consistently at higher speeds). But it doesn't work for me. My body seems comfortable running at a particular pace, and any attempt to provoke it in to running faster doesn't end well. With me, I suspect age and weight plays a role.
You also need to do some longer slower runs, I found the biggest difference in my parkrun times came when I started doing a bit of a training for a 10k series. Over the winter I've only been running my 3.5km commute a few times a week, and I found I was struggling maintaining my pace in the second half of a parkrun. As soon as I started doing the 7km scenic route home once a week my parkrun times improved again.
jamest1988 said:
downthepub said:
I'm now a ball-hair off breaking the 25min barrier. Since my first run in early 2017, I've knocked 9mins off my time. Would really like to get a PB starting with 24 in the next few weeks.
I'm about half way through the couch to 5km app. My first park run (in a long time at least) was around the 35 minute mark. I've got a long term goal of sub 25, I'd really appreciate any tips, whats worked for you?https://t3triteam.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/furm...
I don’t like following rigid plans, but I’ve more or less done what they’ve suggested (each week a long slow run, a short fast run, and an intervals run) and it's worked. I went for Firman as I’d had problems with over-training in the past and it focuses on just 3 runs a week. My wife, a busy doctor with little time for running, recommended it to me. On days that I don’t run I walk and sometimes cycle, plus once a week I’ve been doing a gym routine I printed off from the Runner’s World website.
I’ve recently changed my plan having seen a running expert that I’ve seen before, but I’m reluctant to go into my new routine as it’s highly specific to me. In summary though if you're interested, I'd had a few niggles, and my form checked out ok (this is what he originally fixed to allow me to run again after past injury), so I'm now doing slightly more gym work (this will reduce contact time to speed me up), more and slower longer runs and fewer faster runs (just one a week), which will adapt my legs without stressing them too much, so roughly speaking an 80:20 plan (a well known training technique). He may put me back onto Firman next, we'll see. I see him again in a few weeks.
Edited by RobM77 on Tuesday 11th June 12:05
RizzoTheRat said:
You also need to do some longer slower runs, I found the biggest difference in my parkrun times came when I started doing a bit of a training for a 10k series. Over the winter I've only been running my 3.5km commute a few times a week, and I found I was struggling maintaining my pace in the second half of a parkrun. As soon as I started doing the 7km scenic route home once a week my parkrun times improved again.
Very much this.Your ability to improve your aerobic capacity has much more scope than from interval training. That's why runners tend to improve in the longer distances as they age - it's all the accumulated aerobic improvements they've accrued over many years. Whilst a 5k can often feel like a sprint, its is very much an aerobic event for the most part.
In my first year of seriously committing to running in pursuit of a sub-2 hour half marathon, I did no speedwork (parkrun was the fastest run of the week) and only scheduled longer workouts of 2x 10k runs in the week and a 10+ mile run on Sunday. I took my parkrun time from low 26 minutes to mid 20 minutes, and my half marathon from 2:07 to 1:45.
Longer, slow aerobic runs are very much the foundations you need to build, and any faster stuff is what goes on top.
Thanks to the previous posters for the info on improving times...
My (limited) experience of this seems to bear this out.
I did my fastest parkrun time (30:32) the week after i'd completed a beginners 10k programme (one off the BUPA website).
Since then, i've only done 5k-6k runs and my parkrun times have consistently hovered around the 31 mark.
I'm kicking off another 10k programme this week (as i actually have a 10k i've signed up for in October) so will be getting back into the habit of longer runs once a week. Hoping that this will see me finally breaking the 30-minute mark for parkrun.
My (limited) experience of this seems to bear this out.
I did my fastest parkrun time (30:32) the week after i'd completed a beginners 10k programme (one off the BUPA website).
Since then, i've only done 5k-6k runs and my parkrun times have consistently hovered around the 31 mark.
I'm kicking off another 10k programme this week (as i actually have a 10k i've signed up for in October) so will be getting back into the habit of longer runs once a week. Hoping that this will see me finally breaking the 30-minute mark for parkrun.
Crasher242 said:
Hoping that this will see me finally breaking the 30-minute mark for parkrun.
The other thing that helped me to a load of early parkrun PBs was running with someone. In my case a mates 7 year old daughter as I was just too embarrassed to give up and walk when she was hardly out of breath 
Thanks for all the tips.
I have a PB of something like 29.50 but that was a few years ago. Getting back into parkrun using the C25k app after a friend persuaded me to do one with no training and no running in a few years, ended up with my slowest time ever, 39.14.
hopefully completing the app plan and dropping some timber should get me close to the 30 min mark, then the real work begins to get as close to the 25min mark as I can
I have a PB of something like 29.50 but that was a few years ago. Getting back into parkrun using the C25k app after a friend persuaded me to do one with no training and no running in a few years, ended up with my slowest time ever, 39.14.
hopefully completing the app plan and dropping some timber should get me close to the 30 min mark, then the real work begins to get as close to the 25min mark as I can
Cybertronian said:
In my first year of seriously committing to running in pursuit of a sub-2 hour half marathon, I did no speedwork (parkrun was the fastest run of the week) and only scheduled longer workouts of 2x 10k runs in the week and a 10+ mile run on Sunday. I took my parkrun time from low 26 minutes to mid 20 minutes, and my half marathon from 2:07 to 1:45.
Out of interest, what pace were the 2x mid week runs and longer Sunday one? Did it change over time or did you aim for the same each week?I don't know much about the theory of running training, having just followed the Firman plan I posted and my coach's advice. I deliberately avoid reading up on titbits in magazines etc. However, I can confirm the above advice about building a solid mileage base with long slow runs - I've heard a lot about that. Equally though, most programmes I've seen and all that I've followed also involve speed work such as intervals, short tempo runs or fartlek. My wife says that it was only when she started interval training that her times really started to tumble.
My own two extremes I guess have been the past two years on Firman, which had an hour or so's long run once a week at Firman LT pace (roughly a minute per km slower than race pace), a shorter faster run (a bit slower than race pace) and an intervals session with intervals quicker than race pace; and the other extreme is my current plan (one month in now) which is similar to the well known 80:20 approach, where I spend 80% of my time running very gently indeed (1min30 to 2min per km slower than race pace), and 20% of my time working hard at intervals faster than race pace. I've yet to try a race on the new programme - all I can say so far is it's confused my watch's race predictor
My own two extremes I guess have been the past two years on Firman, which had an hour or so's long run once a week at Firman LT pace (roughly a minute per km slower than race pace), a shorter faster run (a bit slower than race pace) and an intervals session with intervals quicker than race pace; and the other extreme is my current plan (one month in now) which is similar to the well known 80:20 approach, where I spend 80% of my time running very gently indeed (1min30 to 2min per km slower than race pace), and 20% of my time working hard at intervals faster than race pace. I've yet to try a race on the new programme - all I can say so far is it's confused my watch's race predictor
Edited by RobM77 on Tuesday 11th June 14:20
Up until two weeks, my ParkRun PB was 29:57, set a few years ago at a different course before I moved house. Since moving, I've hoovered around the 31 min mark without ever breaking 30:00 again.
Two weeks ago, 26:00 exactly. I was pretty amazed when the text came through.
And Saturday just gone was quicker still - 25:19. I actually thought I was going to be slower and in my head was telling myself it's ok to go back to the times I was running before and was shocked that I was quicker.
I'd love to give everyone some advice on how this has happened.... but I honestly don't know.
This Saturday is my last one before several weeks off due to holidays and other commitments, and I'd love to break 25 shaving - five mins off in three weeks - but I'm more hopeful than expectant.
Two weeks ago, 26:00 exactly. I was pretty amazed when the text came through.
And Saturday just gone was quicker still - 25:19. I actually thought I was going to be slower and in my head was telling myself it's ok to go back to the times I was running before and was shocked that I was quicker.
I'd love to give everyone some advice on how this has happened.... but I honestly don't know.
This Saturday is my last one before several weeks off due to holidays and other commitments, and I'd love to break 25 shaving - five mins off in three weeks - but I'm more hopeful than expectant.
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