GRcade

My best is 8:22 per mile and that's running 4 laps on a athletics track.

strawberry floating awful run tonight. I had a belly full of vindaloo from lunch time and it felt like running through water with a bowling ball in my stomach. Actually had to stop twice which is something I've not done in a couple of years

What makes it worse is I averaged 8.24 over 4.5 miles and beat my time from the other night

I think you had an excuse with that pre-run meal

19:35 at parkrun today, not a PB but I wanted to get another comfortable sub-20 and I didn't feel like death afterwards so I'm happy

Did my 4th parkrun today and managed at 21:51. My first one was as 24:59 so reasonably happy with the progress so far. I need to beat 21:06 by the 15th July to win a bet though

Any top tips for increasing speed?

Interval sessions I'd say.

Had an interesting experience today.

I was walking to Parkrun as usual when this guy approached me and asked if I knew the way to the park. I told him I was on the way there myself. He was also doing Parkrun.

We got talking, he was camp, very thin, didn't seem much of an athlete. I asked him what sort of time he was aiming for. He said he was hoping to break 16 minutes. I thought he was taking the piss.

He went on to win the whole thing with a time of 15:56 . Absolutely unbelievable running. Turns out he had planned on completing in the World Championships that was happening in the area, but he had just missed out on qualifying. I guess he needed an ego boost!

Did 5k today in 22:58, my first time sub 23!

I can see sub 22 being doable within a few weeks but after that I expect gains are going to be much slower.
I also need to find some faster routes. My current one has a fence to climb over and a busy roundabout to cross.

Was probably a bit hot to be going out for my first run in over a week tonight! Managed 5k in 25:58 which isn't bad I think considering I only really started running a month or two back (cycling has generally been my main activity for the past few years)

I'm really struggling to sort my pace out though, I'm not quick by an means but I always seem to come out of the traps too fast (first k is usually closing in on 4:00, later ones are over 5:00) and then end up failing to get the kind of distance that I want to. I've never done much jogging and was generally more into sprinting - any tips on how to quell my desire to go fast?

Jenuall wrote:I'm really struggling to sort my pace out though, I'm not quick by an means but I always seem to come out of the traps too fast (first k is usually closing in on 4:00, later ones are over 5:00) and then end up failing to get the kind of distance that I want to. I've never done much jogging and was generally more into sprinting - any tips on how to quell my desire to go fast?

Do you do parkrun? You could put yourself nearer to the back at the start so you're forced to go slower at first, so you get into the habit. If you're on your own you could just treat your first K as a warm up and purposefully go slowly, almost at walking pace if needs be.

Been marshalling at parkrun today, ahead of the We Love Manchester 10K tomorrow

42:23 at today's 10K, knocked over four minutes off my previous best

Spindash wrote:

Jenuall wrote:I'm really struggling to sort my pace out though, I'm not quick by an means but I always seem to come out of the traps too fast (first k is usually closing in on 4:00, later ones are over 5:00) and then end up failing to get the kind of distance that I want to. I've never done much jogging and was generally more into sprinting - any tips on how to quell my desire to go fast?

Do you do parkrun? You could put yourself nearer to the back at the start so you're forced to go slower at first, so you get into the habit. If you're on your own you could just treat your first K as a warm up and purposefully go slowly, almost at walking pace if needs be.

Been marshalling at parkrun today, ahead of the We Love Manchester 10K tomorrow

I've not been to a parkrun yet - just running on my own in the evenings. That's a good call though - I think having people around me will help, give me a pace to match.

When I'm running on my own I tend to do about a 1-2 K brisk walk as a warm up before properly starting, I just need to learn to rein in my pace once I do start that first K!

Ad7 wrote:How the strawberry float are you all so casually fast?

I've been doing this what 3 years now and the fastest I've ever gone was 7 min a mile for ONE mile before having to go back to 7.20 7.40 and I considered that to be belting along. You guys are all 'oh I'm dog slow at the moment I can only run so slow that the world turns the wrong way and I go back in time. Float off the lot of you

I've realised my home route is effectively hard interval training. Steep up hill for 5 mins , flat for 5, up and down for 5 and so on. strawberry floating hard work.

It's mainly down to practice and when you've been running for a very long time, it doesn't usually take that long to get back into it. You've been doing it for three years but I've considered myself to be a 'runner' since I was eight (30 years now...) - I used to go to training sessions before school during cross-country season from the ages of nine to 12. (We had a very keen teacher who used to come in early, bless her.)

Poser wrote:So I'm just doing the same 2.4 mile route over and over until I git gud. My times were slower than I was used to - over a minute slower than I was doing two years ago, but after doing that four times, I've made a breakthrough today. Did it 35 seconds faster than I did on Tuesday (17:10, or 7:09 mins per mile. It's a 22:13 5km).

I've got that down to 16:36 now, so starting to feel much better. Still not running as frequently as I should, but I feel like my legs are moving like they should now, and my form is good - running on my forefeet for most of the distance now. I find that very important for my overall speed.

I absolutely must start finding time to do some longer runs now.

Every parkrun in the UK, ranked by elevation

Running Thread meet at Lanhydrock o/

Spindash wrote:Every parkrun in the UK, ranked by elevation

Running Thread meet at Lanhydrock o/

My closest parkrun is Hampstead Heath, not surprised to see that high up on the list it's a killer! Done homewood once before that's a killer too, so can't say I fancy Lanhydrock with that elevation gain

Spindash wrote:Every parkrun in the UK, ranked by elevation

Running Thread meet at Lanhydrock o/

That Lanhydrock course - If you were visiting and running for the first time, you'd think it was a piece of piss after 2.5km then get such a horrendous surprise

Also - there is a guy running 50 miles today in my gym on the treadmill for MacMillan Cancer. 50 miles on a treadmill - Could it get any more dull?

Spindash wrote:Every parkrun in the UK, ranked by elevation

Running Thread meet at Lanhydrock o/

My parkrun was Homewood (I've just moved house so it won't be anymore) which is high on that list. It has one short hill but it's stupidly steep. You have to do it three times and I'm always wanting to give up after the third.

Hills

This was my best pace in the 4.5 mile loop at home. That middle bit is a strawberry floating banana split, especially if you're not in the mood.

Been getting in shape these past few months for well tbh the first time in my life. "Graduated" the couch 2 5K plan 3 weeks ago but was finishing 30 min runs at 4.6K.

Just did a 30 min run there at pretty much exactly 5K tho.



Yaaaaaaay.

I know BMI is inexact but I still find it useful to measure progress. I still stand to lose around 30lbs to get to the healthy side of the scale so can only expect to get better eh?

I'm not sure about that website. The elevation profile it shows for my local is simply not correct. It doesn't resemble the course at all.