Parkrunners unite!

[IsThatTrue]

Right, lets find all the park runners we have on here. I did my first park run on sat.

I am very impressed with my time of 33.18 :) I am ridiculously pleased with myself.

So park runners, where are you?

Thanks BIWI and and IsThat

isthattrue yerr you just pootle round at the back n motivate n help those struggling, make sure no one gets left behind or lost.

Thanks for the welcome. There are actually 3 in Copenhagen and I am staying near one which was held in a big park so it was a loop around it 3 times but was nice and flat.

My home one normally has over 400 on a good day so going to a small one with about 60 people was nice. It was mainly men there and my aim was not to be last! I am going home to visit parents soon in Ireland and am planning to do the Portrush one while there. Think I am getting a bit obsessed!

When are you doing Portrush Iggity? I'm doing it on 7th September. Probably

Well done everyone! Am very jealous of these times! My aim today was to run without stopping, and I achieved this, although my time was 31 mins 57sec so not the sub 30 of my dreams. I had a girl of around 8 jogging in front of me all the way round who didn't break a sweat

I did think of you all this morning as I was going round; virtual moral support!!

knackerelli well done for your time. Very similar to me (31.32) I'd love a sub 30 but its going to take some work.

Ooer MagicKey, that's fantastic! Do you have any tips for speeding up? What was your 'strategy'?? I can tell I'm going to start taking parkrun way too seriously now, it's my newest obsession

Looks like everyone had a fabulous run this morning, I think encouraging each other here has been brilliant!

I broke sub 28 for the first time this year - 27.53...absolutely delighted :)

My official time was 31.19, just seen - I thought it was 33.40 so that was a pleasant surprise! Now to see if I can knock any off it!

standing a great time, what is your pb?

imwoodward what a pleasant surprise. :) well done you.

I think we should all give ourselves a huge pat on the back, however hard it is, however fast/slow we are, we are out there, doing something to improve our fitness and our lives. :)

Ooh, I Parkrun too!

Finally got my result through. 35:05 which is a PB by 50 seconds. Sticking with this one for August n going back to my home one in September. Can't wait to see my time on a flatter course. Might make the magical sub 30 cops wasn't too far off it

As for going faster I found interval training really really helped. I'd do 2 interval sessions a week, 1 longer run and ParkRun. The interval sessions would only be 20-30 mins or so costs maximal work so any longer n don't think I'd be pushing myself enough. One session would focus on speed on hills. The second just sprints on the flat

I'm fed up - my time yesterday was almost as slow as when I first started doing Parkrun ages ago. Must get properly back into training mode and sign up for a 10k or something. However, it was fun to see a couple who were getting married later that day doing Parkrun in wedding gear -veil, top hat and all! And they brought drinks for all the runners to have afterwards!

I did my 38th Parkrun yesterday. Hoping to get my 50 t shirt before Christmas. PB is currently 26.30 but I'm running slower at the moment as I've been running with a friend with a foot injury, plus I'm training for a half marathon and have been saving myself for our longer Sunday runs (will be 9 miles today!)

My Parkrun is huge. We had 436 runners yesterday and yet we still struggle to get a full set of volunteers most weeks! We worked out that people only need to volunteer 3 times a year for us to always have enough help yet it's always the same people over and over again I'm tail running next week as it means I can help out while still ticking another run off towards my 50 shirt.

Welcome blathers

Well done on your pb mellie I need to get my arse in hear and do some intervals. And hills, god I hate hills.

holmes don't be disheartened, use it as a kick up the backside to get to where you want to be.

holmes I know what you mean - it took ages before my speed showed any movement, and my best times were when I was running 4 times a week, including long runs.

Wow, 38 Blathers I'm on my 21st! I agree about the volunteers, I've volunteered quite a few times but a lot of people never think to help out the event they enjoy so much.

One week very soon we're going to have to cancel Parkrun because no-one will volunteer I actually enjoy volunteering almost as much as I do running. It's so nice to be one of the cheering squad helping everyone with their run.

blathers I take it they've put out appeals during the run ( not just emails which not everyone gets) ? It'd be such a shame for a huge event like that to be cancelled.

I've emailed about volunteering at our local one soon.

Got my time 43.57. That's embarrassing isn't it! Just hope I can do better next time. My kids both did sub 30 and didn't break a sweat. I was 297 out of 330. Do you think I can improve this time?

My front thighs are agony today. Going to try and run on my TM tmrw. I've never had sore legs after a run before.

I'm also going to try and clean my diet up. Have been eating rubbishy carbs since running so I'm gong to try and calorie count. I've been suffering from headaches this week, nearly every day which only abate after eating (even if I'm not hungry). I've got 2 stone to lose and feel I might run better without the weight. I'm looking forward to next day but for some reason I just feel like I won't manage it. Self sabotage is rearing its ugly head!

Blathers - hope you get volunteers. I enquirer at my run but they said as they get 350 plus runners every week there's also usually an abundance of volunteers.

To those who asked - I try and shred 1-2 tea a week as I find it really helps my running. Am really hoping I can manage the run next sat.

Baking - are you stretching after your run? If you aren't, then you really should - and not just once immediately you finish - keep doing the stretches every time you think of it.

Embarrassing would be turning up but being too chicken to get out of the car- 43.57 is a great start! You can cut down your time if you want, or just enjoy being out in the fresh air and being active.

That's a shame about the lack of volunteers. I've only been parkrunning since April but I've volunteered 3 times now- I think it's a lot of fun! I don't understand why more people don't do it.

baking your time is not embarrassing at all. You did it. You ran 5k outside. You didn't think you could do that last week did you?

As for your diet. I did a running club 6wk course when I started (in June) which included 1 theory lesson on diet. The most important thing I learnt is that we don't need sugar in our diet. At all. And eating sugar makes you crave more sugar. A good diet is based around protein and veg. Fruit is a nice change but not essential. If you are exercising its good if your body has some carbs but a minimal portion is fine. Also avoiding processed carbs (white bread, pasta, rice) is good too.

I've lost 23 lbs in 9 weeks and I haven't stopped eating anything. I have cut my carbs right back, upped my veg and restricted treats (but not stopped them). If I really want a bar of chocolate I have 1, but an individual 1 not a share bar like I used to. I also drink much much more water now. I drink 1 pint before each meal which helps me eat less. I have also taught myself to stop eating when I'm full rather than 'finishing my plate'.

Sorry if that's all a but muddled but I hope some of it helps :)

baking well done on overcoming your fears and getting out there and doing it! And beating 33 other runners!

That's a great start. Agree with teh stretching. And an easy way to start losing weight is just to REDUCE your carbs - one slice of toast not 2, 1 spoon of potatoes instead of 3 etc.

Baking - that's not embarrassing at all. You did better than everyone who stayed at home on their sofa! And you weren't last (which is usually my biggest fear).

holmes - My time varies by 7 or 8 minutes, depending on whether I've slept enough/eaten properly the night before/had too much Friday night wine and chocolate/time of the month. There's no particular pattern to it, I'm not on a downward trajectory or anything.

IsThat - thanks for the diet advice. DH always tries to get me to drink a smoothie after I've run, most of the time I can't face anything sugary like juice or smoothie but his theory is I need to replace carbs. Congratulations on the weight loss - very impressive!

My parkrun has the same problem with volunteers as Blathers' (though I don't think we go to the same one - Blathers we exchanged some PMs when I was under a different name on the Woolly Hugs team thread - I am not far from you).