The FastDay Forum

Finally getting around to doing my first Parkrun at Heaton Park on Saturday. Looking for a gentle sub 30 with a view to getting under 25 minutes over the next few months. Need to work all those slow, long distance runs out of my system.

I was volunteering last week, had a great time.

AND we made history in having a female come home first!

This week I'm either Colour-running or Dog showing, next week I'm in Vegas, possibly my home PR on 7th, in Scotland on 14th, and have been invited to a different Belfast venue on 21st

Hi Melanie,

I wondered where you had been, congrats on having a fastest female.
Keep us posted on your travels

Hi jmousey - I would say that feeling weak now is a bad sign - how many days a week do you run? And how do you vary your pace between them? How old are you? What time did you run last year, and what are you aiming for? IE, tell us more!

I would not be fasting in your position, I would be eating plenty and probably resting 2 days a week/running 5 (5:2!) to get to feel comfortably during the longer runs, ideally up to 20 miles 2 weeks before the race, and miss out the shorter runs as necessary to avoid feeling too flat all the time - yes, you need mileage but you need to be on top of your game for a decent marathon...

Back in parkrun harness again after my holiday, but two things different - the course has changed to avoid the crowding at the start (and get the 5k length correct!) and my arm is still in lovely pink synthetic plaster. It was also very warm and raining gently. OK, excuses out of the way - time was 24:02, over a minute slower than three weeks ago. The first mile was exactly the same pace but I could not sustain it, which was always my problem anyway. Mustn't grumble, I suppose - other than another 62 year old has just appeared who is reliably quicker than me... Curses!
Anyway, how did the rest of you get on today?

Apparently not! Where have you all gone?

Edit - to add Well Done to Simon for a first parkrun time of 27:14 and a finish exactly in the middle of the field. Tell us all about your experience!

It was a brilliant experience. The organisation was superb and although it was my first time I knew exactly what was happening and was going to happen. It was basically just a case of turning up and running and everything else was taken care of for me. The course was clearly marked and well marshalled and the atmosphere was friendly and welcoming which is an ideal scenario.
I was hoping to do sub 30 minutes and so was very pleased with my time and know that there is more to come yet. I can thoroughly recommend Parkruns to anyone.

Yes I avoid running the day after a fast, especially long distances like that!

This will be a great idea for us over the winter. There are three of us at the moment doing a couch to 5k training program. Two have us have done it before and regulaly ran for over two years but let it slip when work commitments got in the way. My son is joining us this time after having a femoral osteotomy two years running on both legs he is keen to get fit again and he is doing really well. Do you know if children can run with their parents at the parkruns? He's just coming up 12 but at well over 5 foot wouldent look out of place with the adults.

Children are more than welcome at parkrun, the only requirement that parents/guardians have to stay with under-11s. Certainly there are 4-yr-olds in the country who do parkrun.

Also, you can push your baby or toddler in a buggy and even trot round with a dog (on a lead) - there is a group called Canix who let dogs pull them around races!

Have a look at the parkrun home page to see all the rules and find your nearest event - and good luck! Remember to report in here so we can see how you get on...

Hello runners,

Well done Simon and Pete.

parkrun is a great, inclusive, friendly organisation, I am so glad this forum pointed me to it.
I am away from home at the moment in Pembrokeshire, staying at my Mother's house. Last time I was here I found a new route to run, along a sea front path from Wiseman's Bridge to Saundersfoot Harbour and back, a distance of about 5km ish. Lovely and popular with runners it seems.
On a slightly more extreme note we are on the Ironman Wales route and there are a lot of competitors out training even though there is still 10 days to go

Thats brilliant, thank you for the quick responses. I'll take a look at the website.

Slowly building up my distances, managed just over 7km today. My problem is I'm a busy working mum (work 1 full time job + a casual hospital shift most Saturdays), so I rarely find time to exercise during the week, can manage twice if I'm lucky. So am finding the slow build up to longer weekend runs frustrating!

Good morning parkrunners,
A much cooler Saturday here, and my first outing for my new GPS watch. I have been using my phone as a GPS app and at least 3 times it has done something that necessitated fiddling with it at the start, so I decided to bid for a watch on eBay. After missing out on loads I finally got one and today is my first time out with it. I hope it does what I bought it to do!
Good luck all

Morning SianS - endless fun to be had with a Garmin, assuming that's what you have got. Their own software is OK but SportTracks (freeware, or cheapware) is better and allows for endless analysis of performances - you can see where you slow down & speed up, whether you set off too fast or too slow etc.

Good luck today, conditions should be perfect! My right hip has been very stiff/painful all week since trying to run with the club on Tuesday evening so I do not expect very much today - and OH is doing the Run Director role so we have to set off early and sort the volunteers out...