Beginners Running - Advice Needed

[Lucky]

I started Park Runs in October. First run was hard work and over 33 minutes. 17 runs later and I’m now down to 26.50 and have definitely got the bug. Time reductions are getting harder each week now, but I have a goal of 25 minutes by the end of the year. 

Apart from absolute times I’m measuring progress by my finishing position in relation to the overall field size. When I started I was beating about 30% of the field. At the turn of the year I was delighted to get into the top 50% and this week was a new best, with me ahead of over 59%.

[RED-DOG]

I started Park Runs in October. First run was hard work and over 33 minutes. 17 runs later and I’m now down to 26.50 and have definitely got the bug. Time reductions are getting harder each week now, but I have a goal of 25 minutes by the end of the year. 

Apart from absolute times I’m measuring progress by my finishing position in relation to the overall field size. When I started I was beating about 30% of the field. At the turn of the year I was delighted to get into the top 50% and this week was a new best, with me ahead of over 59%.

Doing some great times Mr L.
Your doing 5k in the same time I do 3.5k.

[Jamier-Host]

For anyone with kids, some places also do a "Junior Park Run" on a Sunday morning over a distance of 2k. They can do it from 4/5 years old and some of the older kids absolutely fly round!

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/events/juniorevents/

[Tractor]

Back at it!

A parkrun started near me at last and that has given me the motivation needed to get back running.

Anyone else still running?

[RED-DOG]

 

[Lucky]

Yes, just got my free red T Shirt for doing 50 parkruns since starting them in Oct 17. 

Haven’t improved my times since last February though.

[Sheriff Fatman]

Back at it!

A parkrun started near me at last and that has given me the motivation needed to get back running.

Anyone else still running?

I missed this thread first time around, but completed a 'None To Run' programme in 2018 (a gentler version of C25k), and started doing parkruns in June last year.  My current tally is 21, but I'm still painfully slow, with a PB of 46:56.  I have now completed the course without walking though.

I'm signed up to do the Bradford 10k in March and the Vitality London 10k in May, both of which will likely be walk/run intervals (which are actually quicker than me running the whole thing).

Last night I did my first group run with a local running club.  I was the one being back-marked, but doing it was a huge step outside my comfort zone.

I popped up in a few parkrun photos on Saturday, as there was a photographer on site, one of which is below.  I like it, as it looks like there are people behind me, but I'm actually being lapped by them.

[StuartHopkin]

It was a huge step outside my comfort zone.

This is the most important thing!
Great work Sheriff.

[RED-DOG]

Well done Sheriff.

 

[booder]

Well done Sheriff.

 

[Tractor]

Well done Sheriff.

 

Great stuff.. please keep us updated with the 10ks.

I must admit the Parkruns are great, i have always been a solo runner as its a good way for me to switch of from work for a while but now i am coming round to running as a group activity and will probably join a local club in the not to distant future.

 

[Sheriff Fatman]

Well done Sheriff.

 

Great stuff.. please keep us updated with the 10ks.

I must admit the Parkruns are great, i have always been a solo runner as its a good way for me to switch of from work for a while but now i am coming round to running as a group activity and will probably join a local club in the not to distant future.

I can't speak highly enough of the parkrun environment, and it's that which caused my participation to begin with.  I took my eldest daughter to a new junior parkrun near us in February last year, and watched her run the course.  The following week, I took along her 5 year old sister too and went around the course with her as she finished 5 minutes behind the next place child.  The following week, we went back, with me volunteering to be the tail walker as I'd be at the back of the course anyway.  I then became the regular tail walker for the next few weeks, and have volunteered at pretty much every one since then, apart from holiday absences, etc.  I'm now on the core volunteer team and have done a few stints as Run Director.

Alongside all this, I started doing the None To Run interval sessions on the circuit after the junior parkrun had finished.  None To Run aims to get you running continuously for 25 minutes after 12 weeks, so is better than C25k for beginner runners and overweight people (which targets you running a 5k after 9 weeks).  Some of the regular volunteers who watched me do this started to encourage me to do the local parkrun.  Once I did, I got so much encouragement from the volunteers and other runners that it was impossible not to go back.  By my 2nd run I was being called out by name by people lapping me and volunteers at the finish line.  The support network extends from the sub-18 minute runners at the front to my regular group of 40 minute + runners who I'm trying to chase down one by one.

I injured my groin in the summer and had to stop training for around 7 weeks, by which time I'd gotten the bug.  For most of those weeks I did various volunteer roles and am also now on the core volunteer team for that parkrun aswell.  I've already earned my purple t-shirt for 25 volunteer stints, which will keep me going until I get the red 50 run shirt later this year.

In the last few weeks, Grace (the now 6 year old) has started to walk the 5k parkrun course with my wife, so we now have weeks where all 4 of us are doing the main parkrun.  Juniors qualify for a t-shirt after 10 'big' parkruns.  Alice (9yo) has qualified already (and is the fastest of us at present, with a PB of 37:21).  Grace has done 3/10 so far, in addition to 22 junior events.

For those fearful of being able to run 5k, it's perfectly acceptable to walk at parkruns and plenty of people do so.  There's always a tail walker at the UK events who stays at the back of the course in whatever time it takes for the slowest person to get around.  We regularly have people completing the course in over an hour at Woodhouse Moor and there's a national programme of GPs now 'prescribing' parkrun participation to patients, and there are now around 600 parkruns around the UK, with new ones being set up on a regular basis.

I'm still relatively early in my parkrun journey, but can honestly say discovering it has been a life-changing experience, and it's now central to our weekend activities as a family.

[Sheriff Fatman]

Great stuff.. please keep us updated with the 10ks.

Completed the Bradford 10k in an official time of 1:41:17 this morning, achieving my two aims of not finishing dead last (although I'm probably in the final 20 out of 3,000 or so runners) and not being moved to the pavement when the roads re-opened after 1h 45 minutes.

There are a couple of pictures here: https://twitter.com/Riffman117/status/1107299465264795648

[booder]

Well done Curtis.

[Karabiner]

Good job (not quite so) big man.