Author Topic: Cross Training: Running (Read 433404 times)

mattc · « **Reply #825 on:** 29 August, 2012, 06:33:30 pm »

Quote from: teethgrinder on 29 August, 2012, 06:22:19 pm

Parkruns are easily accessable compared to even a club TT,

I would say the difference is very small:

where you have to pay an entry fee
Typically £2/£3? (£1 not long ago) - that's less than most spend in the caff afterwards, and less than almost any gym/leisure centre session.

and be a member of a cycling club.
No, not really. Some events, yes. The distinction is probably hard to discover, I admit!

Parkruns can be sociable too, you can run with your mates. Can't do that in a TT unless it's a team TT.
It's only 25 minutes! There's more time spend chatting/warming up before/after. And you get to look at the results board for a TT (if you want to - you can ignore it if you want). You have to be the same speed to run together, I don't see a lot of that on Parkrun (some - yes).

So I think all your points are relevant, but I don't think they are deal-breakers. I think it's more about the image; what people THINK is the case.

Cycle-sport is still not "something anyone can do". The Londo Marathon and the like have done a great job over recent decades of making amateur running a "normal" thing.

teethgrinder · « **Reply #826 on:** 29 August, 2012, 07:30:36 pm »

I wouldn't do a parkrun if it cost £3. (The CTT levy is £2 per rider as of this year, so the absolute minimum for a club 10 would be about £2.50)

You can ride one of the "Come and Try It" events as a non club member. We have to have the name and address of each rider on record too.

mattc · « **Reply #827 on:** 29 August, 2012, 07:46:13 pm »

Yebbut you're abnormally tight, and expect to ride 800km for that money!

teethgrinder · « **Reply #828 on:** 29 August, 2012, 07:50:15 pm »

OK.
You win.

citoyen · « **Reply #829 on:** 29 August, 2012, 09:00:46 pm »

I concur with everything Lady C said, plus the fact that my local Parkrun is a lovely route along the seafront while my local 10 is along a horrible stretch of dual carriageway.

Actually, I would love to have a go at the local 10 but it's on a Wednesday evening and I can't ever get there in time cos of work, hence I've never got round to it.

I reckon I could do a 10 on my road bike in around 26-27 minutes. My 5k time is under 22 minutes but I don't think I could do a 10 in that time without a proper TT bike.

d.

Lady Cavendish · « **Reply #830 on:** 31 August, 2012, 09:53:07 am »

Citoyen- you *need* a proper TT bike

I think you generally ride about the same pace as me (?) and with a TT bike, silly helmet etc I can ride 22 mins for a 10.

I did 4k this morning. Still painfree

Next Saturday I am going to try a parkrun. Never did I think I would get so excited about a 5k- they may not have been my 'thing' before, but they are going to be now

Lady Cavendish · « **Reply #831 on:** 05 September, 2012, 10:04:38 am »

5k done this morning

Gandalf · « **Reply #832 on:** 05 September, 2012, 11:18:08 am »

Did fives miles yesterday, arches OK but now my heels are hurting again. Back on bike today.

citoyen · « **Reply #833 on:** 05 September, 2012, 01:04:04 pm »

Well done, both of you!

Lady C - yes, I really need a TT bike but I'm not sure my wife would agree...

d.

Dibdib · « **Reply #834 on:** 05 September, 2012, 01:08:37 pm »

The more I read this thread, the more I think I really should get off my arse on Saturday morning and go do another Parkrun. I can't remember my time from the last one, but it was shamefully embarassing - I think I was 101st out of 103 or something like that

All I can promise now is setting the alarm clock!

citoyen · « **Reply #835 on:** 05 September, 2012, 01:12:08 pm »

There's nothing shameful about actually getting off your arse and doing a 5k run first thing on a Saturday morning, however long it takes - doing any form of regular exercise is more than a lot of people manage.

d.

Dibdib · « **Reply #836 on:** 05 September, 2012, 01:22:04 pm »

Well I just managed to dig out my 5k PB from the depths of my email archive... My first Parkrun was 40:43 and the second was 36:14. Both probably consisted of more walking than running!

Now where did I hide my trainers...

citoyen · « **Reply #837 on:** 05 September, 2012, 01:27:26 pm »

Nothing shameful about those times. There's no way I'll ever knock four minutes off my PB in one go!

Obviously a wee bit of room for improvement, but that will come naturally if you make it a regular habit.

d.

Gandalf · « **Reply #838 on:** 05 September, 2012, 01:30:44 pm »

I haven't been able to do one for many weeks due to my evil paymasters making me work Saturdays

Only two more left to do though

I'm not sure challenging my son in law on my first one back is wise, but you've got to have a punt haven't you?

mattc · « **Reply #839 on:** 07 September, 2012, 10:12:20 am »

There's a good reader's letter in today's Parkrun email:

"Hello parkrun,
Having not realised that the Redcar parkrun was cancelled on Saturday 18th August, I along with around another 10 people turned up to a deserted Locke Park. Once we realised that the event wasn't on that day we decided to do the run anyway. We all dutifully lined up at the start line and off we went after a call of ready, set, go. Coming through to the finish line one of the more experienced (faster) runners was at the finish line with his stop watch shouting out our times as we went through whilst other runners had stayed to cheer us through the finish line. I am new to parkrun but I have to say this was easily my favourite parkrun so far.
Cheers,
Emma Bailey "

Makes me wonder why anyone needs barcodes, scanners, marshalls, finish funnels, websites, sponsors ...

Dibdib · « **Reply #840 on:** 07 September, 2012, 10:22:23 am »

Quote from: mattc on 07 September, 2012, 10:12:20 am

There's a good reader's letter in today's Parkrun email:

"Hello parkrun,
Having not realised that the Redcar parkrun was cancelled on Saturday 18th August, I along with around another 10 people turned up to a deserted Locke Park. Once we realised that the event wasn't on that day we decided to do the run anyway. We all dutifully lined up at the start line and off we went after a call of ready, set, go. Coming through to the finish line one of the more experienced (faster) runners was at the finish line with his stop watch shouting out our times as we went through whilst other runners had stayed to cheer us through the finish line. I am new to parkrun but I have to say this was easily my favourite parkrun so far.
Cheers,
Emma Bailey "

Makes me wonder why anyone needs barcodes, scanners, marshalls, finish funnels, websites, sponsors ...

I totally agree, although I suspect the barcodes and scanners and whatnot are just the means to an end of getting those ten - or fifty, or a hundred and fifty - people in the same place at the same time. I think Parkrun's biggest sucess is creating a sociable "event" out of what can be a pretty solitary activity, especially as that's what puts me off running on my own.

This is why I'm happy to tolerate the (not that obtrusive, in my limited opinion) sponsorship at Parkruns: it's preferable to paying someone so I can run slowly around a park, but equally I'm grateful that there's someone doing all the legwork and organisational stuff so I don't have to.

mattc · « **Reply #841 on:** 07 September, 2012, 10:28:33 am »

I agree about the sponsorship - it's very un-overbearing, and non-intrusive (I need a dictionary/thesaurus).

Now while _I_ don't give a fig about websites and finish funnels, I suspect they are what attracts a LOT of parkrunners. So they're contributing to the events' success. As you say - it's about getting a load of people together, not just the few luddites like me.
_{[But I still like the idea of grass-roots sport that doesn't require loads of support from non-participants ... ]}

citoyen · « **Reply #842 on:** 07 September, 2012, 11:15:47 am »

For me, the organisation is very much part of the attraction of parkrun - having a set time and place to do the run motivates me to get out and do it more than if I were left to my own devices. It's also good to run with other people rather than on your own - I usually find myself running with someone of similar pace. A couple of weeks ago, I fell into step with another runner and as she flagged towards the end, I was able to give her encouragement to keep going. So there's that camaraderie too.

I do my own timing anyway, but having the official times and placings on the website just adds to the fun - though I can imagine being timed might put some people off.

d.

Dibdib · « **Reply #843 on:** 08 September, 2012, 11:22:15 am »

Bah, parkrun fail this morning. Cycled down to Westbury yesterday to do the Trowbridge run with a friend, but I packed after a lap. I was getting a bit of a niggle in my knees, and knowing I had a 35 mile ride home this afternoon I thought better safe than sorry.

Just waiting for Dev's result email to come through - I'm pretty sure he's beaten my PB on his first ever 5k, and might even be sub 30 mins. Git.

Lady Cavendish · « **Reply #844 on:** 08 September, 2012, 12:41:53 pm »

Ran my first one back today. Started very tentatively, just kept it nice and easy the whole way, felt strange to run at chatting pace but I was just so pleased to be at a 'race'!!!

Made it round fine, foot survived, I dont want to put any more than that through it at the moment though, I think it only has 3-4 miles in it for now. Time fwiw was 21.40, I think I will just try and take 5-10 seconds a mile off each week until I get my confidence back, I'm too scared to try any faster running!

citoyen · « **Reply #845 on:** 08 September, 2012, 02:54:44 pm »

Quote from: Lady Cavendish on 08 September, 2012, 12:41:53 pm

Time fwiw was 21.40

21.30 for me - new PB! And very much *not* "chatting pace" (average HR 175bpm, and 185bpm for the final km). Very pleased with my time though.

d.

welshwheels · « **Reply #846 on:** 08 September, 2012, 07:34:42 pm »

citoyen · « **Reply #847 on:** 09 September, 2012, 12:51:53 pm »

Woke up too late to go on the club ride this morning but it's too nice out there to be cooped up indoors, so I went for a run instead - chose the long trail round the local woods as my route, which claims to be 7.5 miles (ie about 12km). Set my pacer for 5min/km, thinking that would be a sustainable pace. After 6km, roughly the halfway point, I was bang on that pace. Of course, the loop is mostly downhill on the way out, and mostly uphill on the way back...

I measured it at a touch over 13km on my Garmin, which included a small diversion where I missed a signpost, and it took me a total of 1:09:33. I'm pleased with that, especially as the terrain is quite heavy going in places - not to mention steep!

That's by far the longest I've run in one go for a very long time - probably since I had to do the cross country at school. Most enjoyable it was too.

I've now decided to set myself the goal of getting that down to under an hour - I reckon that should be quite achievable if I come at it fresh - my legs were feeling a bit heavy after my efforts on yesterday's parkrun. I also did about 50km on the Brompton yesterday afternoon.

I'm actually getting quite into this running lark.

d.

Ewan Houzami · « **Reply #848 on:** 09 September, 2012, 01:23:57 pm »

I wish I could cover that sort of distance now! I've been running on and off for the last couple of years, and aim to step it up a bit more over winter as I wind down the cycling, but I still find it hard to go out on a slow jog for more than half an hour before some part of my legs/feet/hips give up. Seven years ago I could manage six mile runs with no ill effects off the back of a few 2 mile jogs and an endurance base through cycling.

There is no reason why I shouldn't be able to run that sort of distance and more again, but it's just not happening. I've done the walk/run thing, intervals, hills, and am perhaps half a stone heavier than I'd like. I'm fit enough on a bike (but not as much as I was), but I just don't seem to improving. And it takes my legs a week to recover from my measly three miles. It's quite frustrating as, like Citoyen, I really want to get into it.

Bugger it. Sun's out. I'm off for a ride!

mattc · « **Reply #849 on:** 09 September, 2012, 04:43:13 pm »

Goldilocks, I'm in a very similar perplexment! A few pages back you'll see many posts about my ongoing niggles, but basically I've only just managed ~50mins pain-free - and that's at a really plodding pace.[yet I used to be able to do 90mins-ish, weighing 2 stone more. I could probably do more back then, just never really tried.]

Parkrun is a real bonus, cos I seem to be able to do 5km flat-out (i.e. pathetically slow by "runner" standards, but at least my heart-rate confirms I'm trying).

There seems to be no link between my running and my cycling experience. It's very odd.