Anyone else had a go at parkrun?

First topic message reminder :

Was wondering whether anyone else on V2 has had a go at "Parkrun". It's a 5k run every Saturday morning at 0900 in parks or other similar venues. It's free and is organised by volunteers. There's loads of venues all over England and in several other countries as well.  It's not really a race, other than you against yourself, you can see all your timings on line, including how fast you are for your age group, and (if applicable ) how much you've improved week on week. Many venues have several hundred people of all ages taking part.  I'm *ahem* well into middle age, and was completely unathletic. But my daughter got me started and now I take part nearly every week.

lfc91 wrote:Oh sorry that was poorly worded, I have been following that pattern for around 6 weeks now. Only issue is that I previously focused solely on runs in the 4-6K range. Longer runs seem to be having a less than ideal affect on my legs (Specifically left knee and Achilles).

Might need to ease up the pace. Do you do most of it at low intensity or no? It's said that 80% of your mileage should be low intensity.

No to be honest most of it would be pretty high intensity. Been suggested to me that I have a problem with Under-Pronation (Based on my recurring injury types and the wear pattern on my shows). So I am considering going to one of those sports shops who put you on the treadmill and analyse your running pattern.

lfc91 wrote:No to be honest most of it would be pretty high intensity. Been suggested to me that I have a problem with Under-Pronation (Based on my recurring injury types and the wear pattern on my shows). So I am considering going to one of those sports shops who put you on the treadmill and analyse your running pattern.

Worth it, although your shoes are the best clue! I'd take them along if you go.

Well I will be taking the trainers to run in and although relatively new they already have a pretty noticeable wear in the same spot on each shoe. Hopefully can advise me on which trainers would help sort the issue.

21.06 on saturday. Was a great day for running, still conditions and about 10 degrees.

lfc91 wrote:21.06 on saturday. Was a great day for running, still conditions and about 10 degrees.

Good run there - quite a chunk of time taken off.

ATM just seems to depend how i feel on the day. The week previous my first mile was 7.05 and I felt punctured after the first mile. This week it was 6.52 and I felt relatively fresh.

Just had a look at the course for the upcoming 10K and it actually includes a lap around my local parkrun between 3-4 miles so nice and familiar.

First 10K over, chip time was 45 mins dead! Happy enough with that. Although when I stopped the watch it read 44.59:63 (For some reason that extra .37 made me feel much happier about my time). Almost perfect day for running in belfast aswell. Only down side was a stiff breeze in your face the final 2K that really made it hard work.

Will be signing up for another in the coming months for sure.

Scottrf wrote:

lfc91 wrote:First parkrun back in about a year or more. Ran a 21.33 (just over a minute outside my previous best). Relatively happy. Signing up for my first 10K in April so will get a few more park runs in between now and then as well as a few 6 mile training runs. Think 44-45 minutes would be a reasonable target?

Yeah it's reasonable. Pretty much bang on a 45 minute equivalent. But most people struggle to replicate at higher distances so you'd probably be a bit slower unless you improved your fitness a bit.

Aiming to break 20 minute for 5k this year. Which would be the first time for over 10 years. In pretty poor shape at the moment.

Well done lfc91 on getting 45 mins dead (not literally I hope)   These race time predictors are often pretty accurate!

To be fair, based on my most recent 5K the converter I used was suggesting 43.59. Always knew that would be a really big ask for my first 10K. At the 5K marker I was 22.20ish so knew then 45 was probably the realistic target.

Hopefully get well under 21 minutes at this weeks parkrun (Assuming of course I can walk without sharp pains in my thighs by then!)

So, from where I was a couple of months ago which is struggling to do 5k in 30 minutes, managed 23.30 yesterday. Still a way to go but happy with the progress! Run on 11th June so hoping to take it down to around 22.

Very big gain in just a few months. Great running.

lfc91 wrote:Very big gain in just a few months. Great running.

Thanks. Was coming from the least fit I've been so gains should be quicker, next improvement will be a bit tougher. I reckon I could get to sub 20 this year if I can stay injury free though. How's your training?

Not as frequent as I would like, 3 runs a week is my max ATM. Frequent issues with my left knee/hip always leave me needing at least 2 days between runs. Another 10K this Friday night though, im told this one is rather more difficult than my first and the forecast for Friday is wind/rain..... Should be fun!

How about you?

Yeah I'm really easing into it, injury prevention being the main focus so far. I also have knee issues but luckily slight and infrequent pains. Problem used to be shins but I think slowly increasing mileage has helped there. Been running every other day, moving to 2 on one off now.

Mostly slow miles, introducing some tempo runs. Sunday was my first full out run.

Every seen this? https://runsmartproject.com/calculator/

Never seen it before but aligns pretty well with the paces I've been doing.

Never seen that exact one although I did use something similar to estimate a good target for 10K. Although according to the calculator I should have been able to complete the 10K 2 minutes quicker than I did based on 5K times.

Actually been doing a bit of speedwork lately. Running above race pace Kilometer followed by slow 800m recovery, just to try to get my body used to running that bit faster. Last session for instance was a 1 mile warm up run (to my local park) then 4 fast Km of 3.40, 3.43, 3.51 and 4.01 each followed by an 800m recovery. Was a nice change from just going out and running 3-6 miles at the same pace.

Well, if you put in a recent time and go to training it will show you the sort of pace for intervals. Using 21 mins as your 5k it gives repetitions of 3:52, pretty similar to your workout. It does help to do it by feel though.

Well my recent times are all around 20.40-50 so seems close enough! Although my last parkrun was definitely affected by doing those fast Kilometers on the Thursday night, legs felt dead by 1K!

Good running guys - great feeling when times are coming down!  I did a 10 miler race on the May bank holiday monday. Very nice course on country lanes in Kent. Lots of gentle undulations but no serious hills. Did it in 1:23:00 which I reckon is probably par time for me over that distance.  Bank to parkrun on Saturday.

Did 9k slow yesterday though and getting knee pains today...annoying.

45 mins 43 seconds on a very hilly 10K course on Friday night. Was quite pleased in the end, conditions were quite bad and the hills were really draining (one in particular had me questioning if I would ever want to run again....).

Well done. Unfortunately I've had to have a week off so far with IT band pains and now a hurt calf. Incredibly frustrating.

Scottrf wrote:Well done. Unfortunately I've had to have a week off so far with IT band pains and now a hurt calf. Incredibly frustrating.

Feel for you. Hate injuries, seem to have always picked up more than average throughout my sporting life aswell. Are you at an age where more injuries/slower recoveries are to be expected?

lfc91 wrote:

Scottrf wrote:Well done. Unfortunately I've had to have a week off so far with IT band pains and now a hurt calf. Incredibly frustrating.

Feel for you. Hate injuries, seem to have always picked up more than average throughout my sporting life aswell. Are you at an age where more injuries/slower recoveries are to be expected?

29 so not so much. Injuries I have had in the past tend to pretty much only be shin splints. Trying foam rolling, yoga (which actually I think might be responsible for the knee injury) and strengthening. Only going to leave me with 2 weeks more training before the run.

Yeah technically we should both be in our sporting prime (26 & 29) which im not sure is a good sign for us....

Do you have a target time in mind?

Was thinking 22 before this, not sure now. Ran a 23:30 flat out Sunday before last and another on Wednesday (aiming for a 25 minute tempo run but went too quick). Depends how much impact the time out has, probably still 2 days from running. Longer term I'd like to get below 20 this year.

Managed to get out last night, and haven't lost much fitness (6k 28 min).

anyone ever broken a toe?

I've a displaced fracture from a month ago and meant to be running the Royal Parks half in October but cannot train

6 x 800m @ 3.20 in the heat yesterday. Ouch!

Third 10K in as many months coming up next Friday night. Flat course, weather forecast looks like it could be a warmish night. Maybe push for a sub 44 run....

Good luck! I have a 5k on Sunday, mileage has been limited.

Bought a Forerunner 620 which I love!

Guy in my office has one Scott, swears by it now. Would love one but don't really have the money to spare at the minute for a fancy running watch.

Will just have to stick with my £15 runners stopwatch for now...

Nothing wrong with running by feel, just wanted a better idea of pace for tempo runs because I can't predict it like I used to. And wanted to stop taking out my phone for GPS. Superb watch but not sure vertical oscillation and ground contact time are the most important stats...

Yeah they don't sound like something I would be interested in knowing...

Main restriction for me is, any time I want to do any tempo runs or speed work I am restricted to my local park as it has Kilometer marks for the parkrun. Sometimes nice to change venue...

lfc91 wrote:Yeah they don't sound like something I would be interested in knowing...

Main restriction for me is, any time I want to do any tempo runs or speed work I am restricted to my local park as it has Kilometer marks for the parkrun. Sometimes nice to change venue...

Just do a mapmyrun of your usual routes. Or fartlek.

Ran 21.15 which I'm happy with, especially fighting through traffic of the 10k and half they started just before.

Good running mate. Always draining steering in and out of traffic. Notice it some weeks at park run when the inner path is flooded and it's 3 laps of the outside.

Ran a 20.58 myself (21.01 on the results though). Was disappointed. Ran a 22.01 5k on Wednesday in between 3-8k of my 10k training run so though I would go a bit quicker.

Thought I paced it badly going out in 4.0, 4.10 per km (bit quicker as my GPS was short). A guy who few past me after 800m came in over 24 minutes...

Did you have a target in mind? Either way 21.15 is very good off limited mileage. Going the right direction.

My pacing was perfect for what I wanted to run. Just that my body wasn't fit enough to actually run the time I had in mind! Was 12.01 by the 3K marker (20 obviously being the target). The problem being I was 16.40 by the 4K marker!

Target was 21.45 - 7 min miles. Which is the pace my GPS had, but that had the course coming up short. I ran 4.02, 4.12, 4.38, 4.36, 4.15 paces so went out too quick.

Going to try to increase the mileage now, if injuries allow.

Yeah the first one especially was very quick for what you were targeting. Not always a terrible thing though. My long standing 20.21 PB was done off a 6.15 first mile. The 2nd and 3rd were obviously closer to 6.45s. Haven't been within 20 seconds off it before or after.

When is your next race?

lfc91 wrote:Yeah the first one especially was very quick for what you were targeting. Not always a terrible thing though. My long standing 20.21 PB was done off a 6.15 first mile. The 2nd and 3rd were obviously closer to 6.45s. Haven't been within 20 seconds off it before or after.

When is your next race?

Haven't planned it yet, going to see how training (particularly mileage increase) goes. There's a triathlon a friend wants me to join I think in August and a 10k in September. Tempted for a Parkrun sometimes in July.

What's your next target?

I have a 10K on Friday night. Target is below 45 (haunted by the fact my official chip time PB is 45 mins exactly when I clocked it at 44.59!). Was thinking sub 44 initially but it looks set to be around 18 degrees at time of race. I really struggle in the heat.

Would love to do a triathlon. Would need to improve greatly at swimming though....

Should be doable. Longer tempo runs 40-60 min at 4.40/km / 7.30/mi should help. Bit late now obviously.

How did the 10k go?

45.04! Had it in my head on the start line that it probably wasn't a day for the PB due to the heat. So to get that close is quite disheartening.

How'd the training go over the weekend? Stay injury free?

lfc91 wrote:45.04! Had it in my head on the start line that it probably wasn't a day for the PB due to the heat. So to get that close is quite disheartening.

How'd the training go over the weekend? Stay injury free?

Unlucky to be so close to 45 but good job! Beat my best by 6 seconds

Yeah good! 27k this week, easy 5k Saturday and 5k in 22.20 yesterday, too hot for running.

Slight discomfort in the knees still but nothing serious.

Don't think I have ever reached 27k in any given week. Think 20k would be about the norm for me spread over 3 runs. Really need to start trying to get more miles in if I want to see improvements. Feel like I have been in 20:45-20:50 5k shape/45 10k shape for nearly a year now!

Any races picked out yet? Have a potential 10K in Greyabbey on 7th July that I might sign up for.

What are your typical 3 sessions then? You can probably add in 1-2 easy sessions to add mileage without impacting your other sessions. I run my easy miles about 2 min/km slower than my tempo runs. Aerobic fitness without fatigue.

Leading candidate is a 10k in September with probably a Parkrun or 2 beforehand.

One 8-10K run. Usually just below 10K race pace (4.40-4.45). One 5-6K run. As close to 5K race pace as possible (4.15-4.20). Then either parkrun saturday morning or an easier 5k run saturday afternoon.(Preferably Parkrun).

Also been experimenting with speedwork. Above race pace Kilometer then 1 kilometer recovery. Done it 3 times so far the past 2 months. To be honest though it is all impacted by how tired I feel after work. Hard to find the motivation to be constantly pushing myself. No doubt everyone is in the same boat in that regard though.

What about you?