Having found a short segment (1.5K) along our route completely by accidentally taking 3rd place a few weeks ago, I've tried it a couple of times since. Despite my best efforts I was still 9 seconds behind 2nd place and 22 seconds behind 1st. (Of the women challengers!)
I gave up at that deciding out wasn't worth killing myself over.
However...
I was reading someone else's post on which pinkaardvark commented that our pace for 5K should not be the same as 10K. That all made sense but on checking I saw that my pace was actually better for 9K than my last few consecutive 5's.
I realised this was because of dropped back and used the shorts as easy recovery runs, stopped chasing the segment and intervals weren't really working, in the sense that my recovery between intervals evened the pace back out.
So tonight I thought I'd just up the pace once my legs were warm and see about that segment! 🏃♀️💨💨💨
Beaming 😁 when I took the women's 2nd 🥈place!
So, massive thanks to Pinkaardvark for his advice, even though it was unbeknown to him 😆
Now, about that first place 🥇 She's still got 12 seconds on me...🤣
Thank you! And thanks for your hand-me-down advice, lol! We all inspire each other around here, whether intentional or not, and I was inspired by you on this occasion 😃
Thank you David. 😊 If I can inspire just one person on this forum, just once, by simply doing "my thing", I'll be very happy! 😁
We are inspire each other around here and lately I've be hugely inspired by my run-buddy, Ripcurlrana71 , her partner-in-crime, HoagyM , the inspiration for today's post of course, pinkaardvark as well as ju-ju- who just does her own thing inspiring everyone she touches.
As for warming our muscles, I don't get going until about 4K! That's even with a warm up pre-run.
You’re absolutely right that we are inspired by learnings and achievements of others. You are outstanding at taking on a challenge and smashing it! I’ll just plod on with building on my mileage. Xx
If you use Strava, there are Segments created by runners up and down the UK. If you come across one you'll get a personal best on it, which you can then improve on. Additionally, the top runners are placed on a leaderboard so you can compete against them. The list has a separate women's leaderboard and that's the one I aim to crack! One day!!!
Hope that makes more sense.
I've been watching your progress with great interest, see you popping up more regularly now - how are you finding this week's runs? 😊
Ooh thanks , so these segments are recognised sections of map in the Strava system. I get it now.Definately for the competitors out there!
Yes really enjoying the plan thank you.So I've been taking 2/3 days between runs and will try to up my game / tempo a tad for 5k this week having done the 7k so very steadily. Getting the hang of trying to keep some records now , with Runkeeper, as I go.Keep inspiring us!
Haha! It's as well we don't know each other eh! I could pass her in the street and not even know it! 😬
Fantastic Hidden , I could only dream of that sort of thing, that's such an achievement. I'm sure you'll make up the difference very soon, hopefully before your adversary does
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Thank you! I'll put it to one side again as I do think my improvement has come as a result of more miles on my legs. So, for now I'll keep working on stamina. 😊
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That makes a lot of sense. I'm currently working up to my 10k (soon I hope!) but after that, yes, back to working on speed possibly. Or maybe I'll just have a long rest and rejoin couch to 5k in about 5 years time. Or maybe a half marathon. Oh, the possibilities!!!
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I'm sure you'll capture that 10K very soon!
Hoping you don't take a long rest. It's a lot of hard work, but challenges and PB's aside, the health benefits of this programme are fantastic!
😊
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They certainly are. I still can’t believe that it’s less than a year since I started running, and I feel so much better for it!
Good going Sharon - similar thoughts here too, in that I noticed on Strava that my PB for 1k looks eminently beatable, have never really tried to do a fast km.... and I’m due a short run tomorrow. We’ll see 😀
I am stuck at second or third on a couple of segments near me where those above me have clearly been in a car or on a bike when they recorded their times. They were faster than Usain Bolt!
A couple of us runners even left messages asking them politely to edit their runs and were told to mind our own business and stop looking at their personal data. So rude! I reminded them they could always change their Strava privacy settings...
Hadn't thought of that. You'd think Strava would have a way of ignoring unrealistic and untrue recordings. Also, what a blooming cheek! I'd seriously consider publicly naming and shaming them into doing something about it. Thus running lark is hard enough and we're so proud of our achievements that it shouldn't be shadowed by this nonsense!
🤞 you get it sorted. In the meantime, enjoy your next run! 😁
My pal has accidentally done this recently—her fitbit GPS went mad and recorded her as running a segment in a few seconds, but the amount of awful aggression she got from people the second she finished her evening run, she ended up just leaving it to wind them up. (edited to say I'm not accusing anyone here of aggression of course! 🤣) She's not a particularly speedy runner on the whole and they were very nasty and quite personal. People seem so terribly competitive in Edinburgh, I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's a capital city thing or just something in the water. Most of my segments are part of local running club routes and race courses, I'm probably an average speed runner but looking at my segments you'd think I was the proverbial tortoise. There's no way I'll be any where near the leader board any time soon. So enjoy the glory, and chase down that top spot for all of us! 👑
Well, with all due respect, she didn't much like being told she was a fat cow (amongst other things that are not for publication on a forum) and that she should just stop running and die, first one only ten seconds after her run uploaded and before she'd even seen it herself. She cried for a bit, then she felt angry. There are hundreds of segments in the area, maybe if they channelled their vile aggression into going a bit faster twenty metres down the way they'd break a record and not a fellow runner's spirit. She is private now, I never thought to ask why but I suppose that's probably the reason. So slow hand clap for the 'runners' who gave her all the abuse for a genuine mistake, and for not fitting their mould. 👏
Oh my word! That's truly horrible. I was much more polite in my request. One lady admitted she had driven the route in her car just to measure the distances. Then told me to stop looking at her data as she didn't even know who I was. And there was me hoping to find a local running buddy to wave at as we passed.
Hope your friend hasn't been put off and not tarred us all with the same brush.
It was pretty bad, I'm sure it's not the usual response but she had a pretty tumultuous few minutes of thinking she'd finished a good run, being told she was top of a segment, realising it was a mistake and then getting a barrelload of venom. Talk about an emotional rollercoaster..! Luckily (?) she was in the angry phase by the time she told me, and anger is a good motivator—so hopefully one day she'll push whomever it was off their pedestal simply by running faster than them 😁
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B210K - W7R3 2nd 10K 💪 
Hill free hill workout
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A Pre 2nd jab 5K Run 
