Going for a sub 20 Parkrun before New Year!

[Tiggsy]

Set myself a goal in jan to get my Parkrun under 20 in 2019.

Around spring i sort of gave up on it (got just under 21) as I got into OCR races and had to up my endurance (got into marathons and ultras instead) and now there's 2 runs left in 2019!!!! Xmas day and saturday.

Ran my first PR in ages this saturday and got a 20.20 and felt comfy so it's a possible!

Will be a real good target to hit - started jogging at 40 (as I was 23 stone) but only really started jogging more than once a week this year - 2019 saw my first half, full and ultra!

Oh...and I need to take the dog.....he slows me down, he's fast over 2k then drops his pace. Normally I'd leave him to go for a PB but he ran a 10k trail with me last sunday and (somehow) he kept ahead of me the whole way and got us home in 3rd (among the dogs) - so I owe him a shot at his own sub 20!

Oh...and the course may be a bit flooded! If nothing else......we'll be the fastest 16 stone man with Jack Russell combo in santa hats (crushing that category!!!)

Posting for accountability!

Anyone else got quick later in life without a background in running? I love how running progress comes so much quicker than strength/size.

[smn159]

Good work! Sub 20 is a decent effort whatever your age.

I started running three years ago, although I did play a fair bit of football when I was younger, and ran 21:25 back in the summer. I'm closer to 60 than 50, but still have ambitions to go sub 20 in 2020... currently marathon training so maybe will have a good go at it in the Spring

Good luck!

[Skyedriver]

Good luck Tiggsy

[gazza285]

Good luck, I've managed a sub 20 only once, over two years ago, but can run a sub 20.30 easily. That last bit is seemingly just beyond my reach.

[cslwannabe]

Good luck fella!

If you don’t manage it, keep going as you’re within touching distance.
Where is your local run as 20:20 at many courses is easily sub 20 at some of the faster ones?

[Halb]

I'll never be near 20, but at 17 stone I do aim to be around 24ish at may time. I'm sticking with my weights routine so it'll be a slow amendment.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Great effort. I started in April at 18st 8 and ran 36:30. Now down to just under 15st and my pb is 27:15. Aiming to get to 12st 8 and sub 25 mins.

I'm 57.

[JapanRed]

You ran under 21 mins in spring this year despite not running more than once a week until 3 months earlier?

Good going that. You should smash <20

[irish boy]

I started running last year, also turned 40 and went for a check up and was told had slightly high cholesterol/blood pressure etc and I needed to get active. Was never great at any sport so I figured I had 2 legs so I’d try running.

First parkrun I rang a friend to ask what if you couldn’t run the whole way

Managed 25.30, and set about improving it. To get sub 20 is tough, especially on our parkrun as it’s got a fairly substantial hill that’s done 3 times.

The way I managed it was to go out too fast, 6 min pace, and hold it for hell or high water till the hill, do my best to hold sub 7 up and pump it down and round again.

Make no mistake, it hurts. Make sure and do at least a 1 mile warm up including getting out of breath. Intervals are you friend faster than race pace.

I managed 19.29 pb this year, and tried another parkrun without a hill and got 18.46. Even managed 39.55 at a local 10k, so there hope for us over 40 beginners. It’s been a great hobby which has turned my health and mood around, along with meeting some great people.

[Tiggsy]

JapanRed said:

You ran under 21 mins in spring this year despite not running more than once a week until 3 months earlier?

Good going that. You should smash <20

Yep. And was around 17stone then. Now down at just under 16 and that’s a more natural weight for me (and I find the marathons and 50ks tough if I creep over 16

[DuncanM]

Tiggsy said:

Set myself a goal in jan to get my Parkrun under 20 in 2019.

Around spring i sort of gave up on it (got just under 21) as I got into OCR races and had to up my endurance (got into marathons and ultras instead) and now there's 2 runs left in 2019!!!! Xmas day and saturday.

Ran my first PR in ages this saturday and got a 20.20 and felt comfy so it's a possible!

Will be a real good target to hit - started jogging at 40 (as I was 23 stone) but only really started jogging more than once a week this year - 2019 saw my first half, full and ultra!

Oh...and I need to take the dog.....he slows me down, he's fast over 2k then drops his pace. Normally I'd leave him to go for a PB but he ran a 10k trail with me last sunday and (somehow) he kept ahead of me the whole way and got us home in 3rd (among the dogs) - so I owe him a shot at his own sub 20!

Oh...and the course may be a bit flooded! If nothing else......we'll be the fastest 16 stone man with Jack Russell combo in santa hats (crushing that category!!!)

Posting for accountability!

Anyone else got quick later in life without a background in running? I love how running progress comes so much quicker than strength/size.

So much to love in this post! Love the fact you're running with your Jack Russell

[gazza285]

Well?

[Halb]

Well I ran 29 and my hamstrings felt like they were made of rusty girders

[Tiggsy]

gazza285 said:

Well?

ok - This was supposed to be a run yesterday that was about personal achievement/goal setting/fast as fk jack russells - instead, it became a run about sacrifice for those you love, self belief and almost getting divorced.

Here's what went down......My partner (fiancee, for her official title) had started running a little a few months back. Just 3 or 4k jogs with me and our two dogs. I should explain the dogs - we have two, brothers. One is a beast (nixon).....he will run with me anywhere. He wants the sub 20 as much as me. He runs 90% of the runs I do. His brother (Jefferson) is useless. He sleeps at 6am when me and his bro are out crushing it on the trails. So fiancee and Jefferson want to run a little as they feel left out. They had got to doing a 5k in around 33mins and I suggest a ParkRun where they should get sub 30m given you run faster in a group and the adrenaline pumping. Then finacee got a sore throat in early Dec and it never happened. Hence focused on me and Nixon getting sub 20.

Then...xmas eve, she says she is up for a xmas day parkrun. So I sacrifice one of my chances at sub 20 to get her round (with lazy dog) in sub 30. We turn up xmas day at 8.30am.....she looks around at the 400 people there and says "well I'm going to come last"......WTF? why? You are 30 years old, 120lbs, fit, healthy....you may not win the bloody thing but to assume you are rubbish against the average? Get a grip. Common sense says you'll be about average. But she insists on starting at the back!!!! Which means we get held up, have to pass half the runners to come....what a bloody surprise.....about half way through the field in a time of 30.51. I was so annoyed that her lack of self belief cost us the sub 30 that I refused to scan my code and got listed as "unknown". Much to her disgust. I tried to explain that I didn't want a crappy time on my records when that crappiness was a result of negative thinking. Had she done a 35 but given her all......I'd have been happy. I then ran the 15k home with Nixon while she drove with Jefferson, as I told her we should get at least one useful run in that day So, we went into xmas day with her planning to divorce me (before we are married) and me having to get her to run yesterday (the last one of the year) as there was no way she was ending 2019 with her first parkrun being a negative flop that she had no business inflicting on herself!

Luckily, my powers of persuasion are good and we ran yesterday, starting in the middle of the pack and getting a 27.51!!!!!!! She is delighted, Jefferson nearly died, Nixon wondered why the hell we are running so slow of late and I blew my 2019 target because her belief in herself was more important than my time.

On the up side, me and Nixon also ran home again and are doing 10k today before a big run tomorrow so are stacking up the miles and we'll get sub 20 next saturday!

On the down side - I used her new found running love to sign her up for the seven sins 7 mile hill run tomorrow - which by all accounts is a mud bath and if we wrap it under 2 hours it will be good. Me and Nixon can't wait, she doesnt know what she's in for and Jefferson may well have a heart attack.

Still, all fun!

[Tiggsy]

Halb said:

I'll never be near 20, but at 17 stone I do aim to be around 24ish at may time. I'm sticking with my weights routine so it'll be a slow amendment.

This is the tricky bit - I still lift heavy as I want a build that looks like I lift more than I run! Which leaves me compromised on running and obstacle course events. In the past I'd have sacrificed one for excellence in the other - but at 46 I have adopted a more balanced approach. I want to be better than most....and thats enough. I know when I race I'm the biggest guy at my position - I've certainly never seen a parkrunner heavier than me come past. Same with OCR events, the guys flying through the obstacles weigh 135lbs and thats not something that floats my boat. Likewise, in the gym if i see someone lifting weights I can't get close to nowadays I remind myself I could have a pack of cashews and run 50k if the zombies arrived. Not something the typical gym rat can do.

Oddly, or maybe obviously......I feel better at 46 than any point ever. I can lift, run, climb, swim.....and do it all better than most. Which given the state of the average human....is really a target anyone fit and healthy should have.

[Halb]

Tiggsy said:

This is the tricky bit - I still lift heavy as I want a build that looks like I lift more than I run! Which leaves me compromised on running and obstacle course events. In the past I'd have sacrificed one for excellence in the other - but at 46 I have adopted a more balanced approach. I want to be better than most....and thats enough. I know when I race I'm the biggest guy at my position - I've certainly never seen a parkrunner heavier than me come past. Same with OCR events, the guys flying through the obstacles weigh 135lbs and thats not something that floats my boat. Likewise, in the gym if i see someone lifting weights I can't get close to nowadays I remind myself I could have a pack of cashews and run 50k if the zombies arrived. Not something the typical gym rat can do.
Oddly, or maybe obviously......I feel better at 46 than any point ever. I can lift, run, climb, swim.....and do it all better than most. Which given the state of the average human....is really a target anyone fit and healthy should have.

Yes I'm the same. I could throw the weights out, and go for my specific goal for my 10k in may, but I can't do that, so it means real hard work for 5 months combining the two but obviosuly, legs and posterior chain need to be given second place and just hold at a weight without hampering the running. I sometimes get 'are you a fighter/rugby player' when at parkrun. I'm happy that in a typical noddy gym I'll be in the top 1% and for running I'll at least outlast most normals when the zombiepoclypse hits.

[Halb]

Tiggsy said:

ok - This was supposed to be a run yesterday that was about personal achievement/goal setting/fast as fk jack russells - instead, it became a run about sacrifice for those you love, self belief and almost getting divorced.

always a good start to a story.

[Tiggsy]

19.29 - nailed it. But it cost me £600.

Went to London last night for NY - hotel £400, tickets to club £150, parking £35, fuel....bloody hell, this is now over £600.

Arrived at 6pm - at 9pm was in the car heading home as the dog was sick and my kids thought he may die. I'd have tossed a coin to return but she likes the dog more. So was home today and thought I'd get something out if the disaster by doing the Woodley Run at 10.30am. No official time yet, but 19.29 on the Fenix.

Oh, and the dogs alive. So, result all round.