parkrun

[Cybertronian]

KTF said:

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?

Back then, the mid-week runs were around 8 mins per mile, and the Sunday longer run was 8:30 per mile from memory. I tried to not force the pace, though if I was feeling particularly good one day then I'd allow it to drift faster on occasion.

Even today some 7 years later, my mid-week and Sunday long runs are not dramatically faster at some 7:45 to 8:00 mins per mile in spite of my racing paces having improved. Here's my parkrun best per year to provide some context to support my aerobic improvement reasoning:

2011: 25:30
2012: 20:53
2013: 19:18
2014: 18:51
2015: 18:49
2016: 18:14
2017: 18:56
2018: 18:22
2019: 19:05

My wife and I had a baby back in October of last year and my training volume has probably dropped by 1/3 and I threw what little speedwork and intensity out of the window. With 5x runs a week, all at an easy to steady pace bar parkrun, I'm still able to comfortably run a 19:30 5k most weeks. That's all down to aerobic conditioning over the years. For transparency, I'm now 35 years old and am probably 0.5 stone away from peak racing weight.

Edited by Cybertronian on Tuesday 11th June 15:42

[RobM77]

What strategy to you all tend to use for running a 5k? My wife recommends 'negative splits', where each km is a little faster than the previous one. I initially found pacing quite hard, and like most race newbies went too fast at the beginning. In fact I still do this, through inexperience in pacing and also because everyone around me seems to go fast at the beginning and I seem to get dragged along without noticing. I must admit that I do quite like running the first km faster than normal and then realising I don't have to push so hard for the remaining four. However, would I ultimately be quicker in theory if I could follow the 'negative split' advice and restrain myself initially, then gradually get faster?

[Cybertronian]

RobM77 said:

What strategy to you all tend to use for running a 5k? My wife recommends 'negative splits', where each km is a little faster than the previous one. I initially found pacing quite hard, and like most race newbies went too fast at the beginning. In fact I still do this, through inexperience in pacing and also because everyone around me seems to go fast at the beginning and I seem to get dragged along without noticing. I must admit that I do quite like running the first km faster than normal and then realising I don't have to push so hard for the remaining four. However, would I ultimately be quicker in theory if I could follow the 'negative split' advice and restrain myself initially, then gradually get faster?

Personally for 5k, my fastest results have come from an opening km that's marginally faster than my overall average pace for the entire run. It only needs to be a couple of seconds, otherwise you're going too hard, too soon. It's a painful way to run and you really do need to listen to yourself when you're telling yourself to hang on in that difficult 3rd km. One other benefit of this approach is that it can potentially bring you into contact with faster and more experienced runners that can more consistently hit the pace and drag you along.

I've been able to run decent times with negative splits, but I find 5km too short to effectively use this method as you're already quite tired by the time you reach the final km, and asking yourself to run even faster is a difficult ask.

One final thing to consider is the profile of the course. If it steadily climbs to the end, then you're potentially better off going marginally faster when it's flat to offset the damage from climbing.

Edited by Cybertronian on Tuesday 11th June 16:40

[irish boy]

Theres no strategy that works for me for parkrun other than start far too fast, hold on to that speed for grim death, then on the final straight lift it to a sprint and die on the line.

[RizzoTheRat]

RobM77 said:

What strategy to you all tend to use for running a 5k? My wife recommends 'negative splits', where each km is a little faster than the previous one. I initially found pacing quite hard, and like most race newbies went too fast at the beginning. In fact I still do this, through inexperience in pacing and also because everyone around me seems to go fast at the beginning and I seem to get dragged along without noticing. I must admit that I do quite like running the first km faster than normal and then realising I don't have to push so hard for the remaining four. However, would I ultimately be quicker in theory if I could follow the 'negative split' advice and restrain myself initially, then gradually get faster?

Can your watch do a "virtual pacer" or equivalent? I always start too quick so the virtual pacer shows me how far ahead or behind my target pace I am so I can in theory adjust my speed accordingly. Most of my parkrun PB's have been when I've run at a pretty consistent pace.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Tuesday 11th June 19:01

[KTF]

Cybertronian said:

Back then, the mid-week runs were around 8 mins per mile, and the Sunday longer run was 8:30 per mile from memory. I tried to not force the pace, though if I was feeling particularly good one day then I'd allow it to drift faster on occasion.

Even today some 7 years later, my mid-week and Sunday long runs are not dramatically faster at some 7:45 to 8:00 mins per mile in spite of my racing paces having improved. Here's my parkrun best per year to provide some context to support my aerobic improvement reasoning:

2011: 25:30
2012: 20:53
2013: 19:18
2014: 18:51
2015: 18:49
2016: 18:14
2017: 18:56
2018: 18:22
2019: 19:05

My wife and I had a baby back in October of last year and my training volume has probably dropped by 1/3 and I threw what little speedwork and intensity out of the window. With 5x runs a week, all at an easy to steady pace bar parkrun, I'm still able to comfortably run a 19:30 5k most weeks. That's all down to aerobic conditioning over the years. For transparency, I'm now 35 years old and am probably 0.5 stone away from peak racing weight.

Edited by Cybertronian on Tuesday 11th June 15:42

Thanks. I will try dropping my interval sessions for a bit and run distance instead. I was injured and out for 3 months and now stuck at 20:4x rather than an ‘easy’ sub 20 I was doing before.

My current Thursday run is 7:30 ish over 6-8 miles with the Sunday one being 10+ at sub 8s. Will do something similar to Thursday on Tuesday instead and monitor the times.

[downthepub]

Lots of great advice, thanks all.

Personally I've found that my times have really come down since doing the longer distances. In fact my weekly parkrun is my shortest run I do these days. Planning on a 16K around the town tomorrow, and 10K on Thursday - but I do have a race on Sunday.

Really need to start interval training with a local club as I know that's the key to performance but I'm uncomfortable with the thought. Big wuss. And at the moment I'm working US hours from the UK which means I miss all the evening sessions. In saying that, having the mornings for long runs without getting up at 5.30am is decent.

[FunkyNige]

downthepub said:

Really need to start interval training with a local club as I know that's the key to performance but I'm uncomfortable with the thought. Big wuss. And at the moment I'm working US hours from the UK which means I miss all the evening sessions. In saying that, having the mornings for long runs without getting up at 5.30am is decent.

Does your watch have a workouts function? My Garmin Vivoactive 3 does and I find it useful for intervals as it buzzes whenever I have to change what I'm doing, I have a couple that I've set up:



I prefer running in a club, but for the evenings I can't make I often do one of these.

[Crasher242]

RizzoTheRat said:

RobM77 said:

What strategy to you all tend to use for running a 5k? My wife recommends 'negative splits', where each km is a little faster than the previous one. I initially found pacing quite hard, and like most race newbies went too fast at the beginning. In fact I still do this, through inexperience in pacing and also because everyone around me seems to go fast at the beginning and I seem to get dragged along without noticing. I must admit that I do quite like running the first km faster than normal and then realising I don't have to push so hard for the remaining four. However, would I ultimately be quicker in theory if I could follow the 'negative split' advice and restrain myself initially, then gradually get faster?

Can your watch do a "virtual pacer" or equivalent? I always start too quick so the virtual pacer shows me how far ahead or behind my target pace I am so I can in theory adjust my speed accordingly. Most of my parkrun PB's have been when I've run at a pretty consistent pace.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Tuesday 11th June 19:01

I started out with a tendency to get caught up in the rush at the start and find my first 1k is way quicker than i'd like.

Since then, I have started to really think about the starts, and i've tried to force myself to start closer to the back and stick with the pack for the first 1k slowly zigging in and out as i make my way forwards. I then tend to find that the 2-4k stretch i have a lot of space around me to sit at a pace i am comfortable with, and then when my watch buzzes off the 4k i can put on the gas and do a faster final 1k.
My home parkrun is Stratford-on-avon, which is a nice and flat 3-loop run, with some good spots for picking off the tail runners, and has a good longish stretch on the final loop that allows for a final burst of speed into the finish tunnel.

[RobM77]

Crasher242 said:

RizzoTheRat said:

RobM77 said:

What strategy to you all tend to use for running a 5k? My wife recommends 'negative splits', where each km is a little faster than the previous one. I initially found pacing quite hard, and like most race newbies went too fast at the beginning. In fact I still do this, through inexperience in pacing and also because everyone around me seems to go fast at the beginning and I seem to get dragged along without noticing. I must admit that I do quite like running the first km faster than normal and then realising I don't have to push so hard for the remaining four. However, would I ultimately be quicker in theory if I could follow the 'negative split' advice and restrain myself initially, then gradually get faster?

Can your watch do a "virtual pacer" or equivalent? I always start too quick so the virtual pacer shows me how far ahead or behind my target pace I am so I can in theory adjust my speed accordingly. Most of my parkrun PB's have been when I've run at a pretty consistent pace.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Tuesday 11th June 19:01

I started out with a tendency to get caught up in the rush at the start and find my first 1k is way quicker than i'd like.

Since then, I have started to really think about the starts, and i've tried to force myself to start closer to the back and stick with the pack for the first 1k slowly zigging in and out as i make my way forwards. I then tend to find that the 2-4k stretch i have a lot of space around me to sit at a pace i am comfortable with, and then when my watch buzzes off the 4k i can put on the gas and do a faster final 1k.
My home parkrun is Stratford-on-avon, which is a nice and flat 3-loop run, with some good spots for picking off the tail runners, and has a good longish stretch on the final loop that allows for a final burst of speed into the finish tunnel.

Ours is one big 5.1km (yes, really) lap, so I'm lucky there as I never have to lap anyone. You do get an awful lot of people sprinting the first 100m or so though, which is bloody annoying as they overtake me doing about 3:20-3:30/km and then slam on the anchors and run at about 4:30/km after a 100m or so. I nearly ran right into the back of a group of guys last time I went. It's only the top 20 or so who are running sub 20 minutes, so if I start back from the front row then I'm not sure I'd ever get up to my target pace. If I went often enough I'd probably get to know who those top 20 are and follow an experienced runner.

[Zooks]

irish boy said:

Theres no strategy that works for me for parkrun other than start far too fast, hold on to that speed for grim death, then on the final straight lift it to a sprint and die on the line.

+1

[KTF]

Zooks said:

irish boy said:

Theres no strategy that works for me for parkrun other than start far too fast, hold on to that speed for grim death, then on the final straight lift it to a sprint and die on the line.

+1

If I get to the finish and am not asked 'Are you OK?' by the person handing out the token then I haven't been trying hard enough

[KTF]

KTF said:

Cybertronian said:

Back then, the mid-week runs were around 8 mins per mile, and the Sunday longer run was 8:30 per mile from memory. I tried to not force the pace, though if I was feeling particularly good one day then I'd allow it to drift faster on occasion.

Even today some 7 years later, my mid-week and Sunday long runs are not dramatically faster at some 7:45 to 8:00 mins per mile in spite of my racing paces having improved. Here's my parkrun best per year to provide some context to support my aerobic improvement reasoning:

2011: 25:30
2012: 20:53
2013: 19:18
2014: 18:51
2015: 18:49
2016: 18:14
2017: 18:56
2018: 18:22
2019: 19:05

My wife and I had a baby back in October of last year and my training volume has probably dropped by 1/3 and I threw what little speedwork and intensity out of the window. With 5x runs a week, all at an easy to steady pace bar parkrun, I'm still able to comfortably run a 19:30 5k most weeks. That's all down to aerobic conditioning over the years. For transparency, I'm now 35 years old and am probably 0.5 stone away from peak racing weight.

Edited by Cybertronian on Tuesday 11th June 15:42

Thanks. I will try dropping my interval sessions for a bit and run distance instead. I was injured and out for 3 months and now stuck at 20:4x rather than an ‘easy’ sub 20 I was doing before.

My current Thursday run is 7:30 ish over 6-8 miles with the Sunday one being 10+ at sub 8s. Will do something similar to Thursday on Tuesday instead and monitor the times.

Just to quote myself again, I checked my best time of the year stats on the parkrun page:

2013 00:19:52
2014 00:19:42
2015 00:19:20
2016 00:18:59
2017 00:19:36
2018 00:19:20
2019 00:19:53

2015 was when I ran London so was adding in an extra distance run on the Wednesday as well as the usual Tuesday speedwork, Thursday distance and Sunday long run so my weekly mileage was a lot higher than it is at the moment.

Seemingly this does have an improvement on your times as I am not training for anything at the moment so my weekly mileage is back down to 'sensible' levels again. My 2019 time needs improvement as I am still running with a sore hamstring and am constantly knackered thanks to a 16 month old keeping me busy...

[Cybertronian]

KTF said:

2015 was when I ran London so was adding in an extra distance run on the Wednesday as well as the usual Tuesday speedwork, Thursday distance and Sunday long run so my weekly mileage was a lot higher than it is at the moment.

Seemingly this does have an improvement on your times as I am not training for anything at the moment so my weekly mileage is back down to 'sensible' levels again. My 2019 time needs improvement as I am still running with a sore hamstring and am constantly knackered thanks to a 16 month old keeping me busy...

I can echo that; my 18:14 was from the middle of following one of the P&D Advanced Marathon plans, and my 18:22 last year was from one of the Faster Road Racing half marathon plans. No 5k specifics, but lots of distance and marathon/half marathon pace work.

[C0ffin D0dger]

My regular parkrun isn't on this weekend so I'm switching to the next nearest....

The regular is rated one of the easiest in the country, the next nearest one of the hardest

Haven't done it before, it's on a farm and all trail so I'll be getting the Salomons muddy. Will still do the 5k warm up run to the event beforehand as well.

In an effort to bribe the wife/kids to come and pick me up I've booked a table for a fry up in the cafe after.

Looking forward to it

[C0ffin D0dger]

C0ffin D0dger said:

My regular parkrun isn't on this weekend so I'm switching to the next nearest....

The regular is rated one of the easiest in the country, the next nearest one of the hardest

Haven't done it before, it's on a farm and all trail so I'll be getting the Salomons muddy. Will still do the 5k warm up run to the event beforehand as well.

In an effort to bribe the wife/kids to come and pick me up I've booked a table for a fry up in the cafe after.

Looking forward to it

Scratch that, just been cancelled due to a waterlogged course Need a plan C. The other local run will be rammed because of this. Might just do my own thing...

[KTF]

C0ffin D0dger said:

Scratch that, just been cancelled due to a waterlogged course Need a plan C. The other local run will be rammed because of this. Might just do my own thing...

If you are looking for inspiration then tourist tool is always useful: https://touristtool.mybluemix.net/

[irish boy]

Managed to hit the 20 minute barrier this morning for the first time. It was pretty tough going tbh, felt like 90% plus for all of it. Been working toward it the for last month so pretty pleased.

[Halb]

Volunteered.
second week on trot
wore shorts
second week on trot my legs were bit to hell
s

[T6 vanman]

Being injured the biggest risk with parkrun is the attitude "i'll only plod around" actually as we all know ...after the first Km the red mist has descended and your blasting through the runners and up to your usual competition crew,

Took the 35 minute pacers bib yesterday …….. or a forced plod around as I call it