Hello Everyone and happy weekend. Today is parkrun day, a free 5K event which takes place every Saturday morning all around the world. It is for everyone, slow, fast, able, disabled, big, small and everyone in between. Oh and don't forget about the super Mum's and Dad's who push their babies in buggies. You can walk, jog, run, run/walk, it's not a race, just a run in the park and loads of us here on Bridge to 10K do it religiously every Saturday morning.
Some of us may not be able to do a parkrun at the moment so until parkrun returns fully for everyone some of us will continue to take part on our own in a Virtual parkrun every Saturday morning called a (not)parkrun. Or if you are away on Holidays, prefer to run on your own, or do not have a parkrun close by you a (not)parkrun is perfect, please feel free to join in. Please post a little run report after your parkrun or (not)parkrun and let everyone know how you got on. The little run report can be done over a post parkrun coffee and treat/cake. (parkrun is all about the after run coffee and cake, and meeting friends old and new).
If you are a new graduate and would like to start, all you have to do is run, walk or jog at a parkrun or a 5K run/jog/walk (not)parkrun anytime today or tomorrow and write a little run report under this post. It's like a little community and it is good fun, sets you up nicely for the weekend. If you want to you can register on the parkrun website and you can log your 5K (not)parkrun. In fact you can log any 5K done during the week as a (not)parkrun.
For anyone whom has not done a real parkrun yet and if it is available to you, give it a try. It is the most wonderful community event. Saturday mornings will never be the same again.
Looking forward to hearing from all of you who ran in real proper parkruns and (not)parkruns. Happy running and have a lovely weekend.
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damienair
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Hi damienair & park runners, and (not) park runners,
Just no.2 son & me for park run today. HM is next Saturday & hubby pulled up on a run yesterday with some twinges again in his calf so is playing it safe. Park run times were 19:28 for no. 2 son & 29:36 for me. Hot & Humid 🥵
Hi everyone, please excuse my enthusiasm but I’m still grinning! Not because of speed, as it certainly wasn’t speedy, not because of the conditions, as it was windy beyond belief - but because I ran at Severn Bridge PR with Jenny and didn’t need to walk despite not running for weeks. (My Rome PR experience was more of a stagger and I simply can’t count it!)
I was pretty nervous before setting out, not knowing how my post virus body would behave - but wow it felt epic! No twinges, no breathlessness and most of all, no coughing! 🤸♀️🤸♀️Best of all, I was able to muster a sprint finish, something I couldn’t do after the last virus I had. Happy days. 🙏🏻
Yes it was my slowest Severn Bridge PR time ever, but this is also the first time I’ve come back from a lengthy spell of no running or even yoga. Chuffed to bits. The conditions were a hoot, being a full on headwind on the return leg. I swear I was barely moving at one point!
Now, let’s crack on and kick start my training! ❤️
Running with a cough/ blocked up airways is a nightmare. Your’s sounds to be clearing up nicely.
My new inhaler is working wonders! No cough, clear airways and my good peak flow level is maintained between doses. I don’t need to think about breathing now, even when running intervals.🤞 it lasts!!
Oh I hope so BC. 🤞 I’ll hop back on my HM plan on Monday (no idea where though!) just to get some structure, and see how it goes.
Yes, running with a cough is hideous, which is why I gave myself a defensive extra week off to shake it. It’s 98% gone now, and it sounds like you’re better now too. 🙏🏻 Great that your inhaler is doing the trick. Watch BC and CC fly (maybe not CC!!) 😂
Apparently the Southern Flying Squirrel is chipmunk size, so you might get away with it. I am sure that remaining injury free after my GSR calf injury cleared up is largely down to keeping the pace down. This is still up there with my best winter running ever, so it would be daft to spoil it. 🏎️
I’m sure it’s on the extinction list BC! 😅🐿️ At least the Bristol variety certainly is!
You’ve been doing so well avoiding injury, so I’m sure Captain Sensible will keep on the straight and narrow. One thing you don’t want is the IC after all your diligence 😇
I did my local parkrun this morning and was joined by my lovely wife Nicola who was walking Ruby our Cocker Spaniel. I relaxed yesterday evening with a couple of beers and a glass of wine. Not the best idea. I ran ok but at almost 3K into the run I felt tired and walked up a hill on the second lap. I ran the rest after that and felt much stronger towards the end of the run. My Garmin finish time was 31:47. I’ll try and do better next weekend. Another parkrun ticked off and a fresh lovely spring morning.
I wasn’t really up for running this morning, which is unusual for me. I decided that drastic methods were required; intervals 😬. I down loaded a 25 minute NRC session with Coach Cory and pushed myself out of the door. 5 minutes into my warm up the rain appeared. Once you are wet it doesn’t really matter does it? As soon as the intervals kicked in, the enjoyment started. I managed to find sufficient gears; slow, 10k pace, 5k pace and 1 mile pace and the easy paced rests between intervals were long enough to get my breath back! Even the miserly VO2 max gave me another point back. So all good after an unpromising start. The overall time for 5k was just under 35 minutes, mainly because of the slow warm up; but I enjoyed running the quicker bits. 13k scheduled for Monday…no intervals in that !!
Good old Coach Cory, he’s always there to provide some intervals fun, and it seems like he succeeded with you too BC! 🎉🎉🎉 Good luck with the 13k too. 😀
The plan speeds up after 15k anyway. It seems to stick on 16k for two weeks, then drop to 8 miles, to focus on pace. Monday’s 13k is meant to be easy pace 😇
Today was a bit of a scramble. Just missed the first bus and had to run around looking for an alternative route. Ended up doing a different parkrun to what I’d planned, which is what I enjoy about having multiple parkruns nearby.
Did Peckham Rye today and ticked off P. Had a lovely brunch at a local cafe nearby to recharge my tired quads 😋
Luckily there's 2 near each other, and they're on the same bus route. I was planning on doing the one further down, but would have been late, so got off the bus early and went to the closest one instead. Got there like 2mins before the kick off.
Good afternoon Damien, this morning I got the train to Springburn Parkrun in Glasgow, before I left home I Iost my watch so I didn't know the time, let alone the time I ran at parkrun, luckily when I got home I found my watch, believe it or not the watch was stuck up the sleeve of my light jumper, what had happened was I changed jumpers in the house before leaving and the watch strap had loosened, glad I found it.
I had no idea what my time was until the result came through once I was home, my time was 31.59,pace-6.23m/km and happy to say age grading was 60.29%, I am always happy to get a +60% age grading as it doesn't happen too often, the weather was dry with excellent visability, in the distance I could see some of the mountains of the Scottish Highlands with Ben Lomond by Loch Lomond showing very clearly in the distance.
Thanks Dexy, I don't have a Garmin and I never take my Smartphone to parkrun, I just look forward to receiving my results from parkrun once I get home, by the way this morning was my 75th parkrun. 😊 🏃🏾 I met a lady who only ran her 3rd parkrun today, she accompanied me walking back to the train station, she now lives in Glasgow, her other two parkruns were at Hove Promenade parkrun.
That is a better excuse for hiding your watch than I have seen from M. Macron so far🙂. You were lucky it didn’t fall out. Good run and good time for you this morning. 👍
Lucky it wasn't my wrist barcode, my watch and barcode are next to each other on my wrist, the barcode nearer my hand, the watch a tad up my arm, if it had been the barcode that got stuck in my jumper I would have panicked, from now on I will make sure that doesn't happen again.
I decided to volunteer today as it’s been 5 weeks since I last volunteered. I did barcode scanning which is one of my favourite roles as you get to chat to people and match faces to names on barcodes. We were showing a new volunteer how to do scanning and she soon had the hang of it. I was invited out for breakfast with the core team afterwards, which was lovely and I helped a couple of others with the token sorting- that’s the kind of mundane task I enjoy! I plan to take myself out for a run later on once the wind has died down a bit. Looking forward to the lighter evenings as I’m not a big fan of running in the dark!
I love token sorting, you can just zone out to it. Careful of that communing with the core team, they’ll have you on board before you can say ‘Run Director’ 😉
Hello Damienair, pleased to say UpTheStanley and I were both running this morning. Him after a minor op, but stitches were removed yesterday, and me after my physio said yes I could run after straining my LCL while skiing.
There was a 40mph westerly so the outward journey seemed quite easy but turning around the cone at the halfway point was something else and I jeffed it. Mr Garmin showed perfect positive splits and a time of 35:00 and took away another 2 points off my VO2 max. He doesn’t understand headwinds and running breaks but I don’t care; I know I’ll get them back. It was exhilarating and there was a great atmosphere today. I came in 1st of the 4 in my age group (2 were tail walkers 😂)
Breakfast with mr & Mrs Coddfish (who decided not to run) and Oldgirlruns and our day is complete. 😃
Yes, so am I. I’ve just realised this is only my 5th parkrun this year what with, Covid, skiing and volunteering. I need to knuckle down again in April.
Well done you for keeping the running right through. On the way back it felt like there was an elastic band pulling me back towards the cone in that wind.
Oh wow, only your 5th this year? 😳 My numbers aren’t that much better I suspect. 🙄
I had to engage my first gear (like the Ashton Court hill) and trundle into the wind today. On the way out I could hear the returning runners’ comments about it being tough going, taking their breath away, OMG this is so hard etc, but even so it was stronger than I was expecting! 💨💨💨
Well done on braving that lot Dexy5. Only cold and rain to cope with up here. I think that high winds are the worst conditions for running. I am please to say that my V02 max has recovered by two points since I started using my new inhaler. My AHR for this morning’s run was below 140… headed back in the right direction. I may face drug tests if I compete again!
I can cope with the wind if it’s not raining BC, but both is a nightmare. Glad your inhaler has worked. I lost 2 points after a 6k run after skiing and another 2 today, but I still seem to be as fit as an excellent 20 year old. 🤣🤣
Well done Dexy! That’s some run considering everything. I’ve seen some interesting photos from Marine Parade in Western Super Mare today, with the spray coming off the sea wall whilst the runners were out 😱
My (not)parkrun was just what I needed this week 🥳 Not sure if it was the theme of the coaching - everything is okay 5K - or the speed of my run, today just felt perfect. Despite the weather (or because?), which seems to be rather April-like: I got rained on a tad, then the sun came out, all the while the wind kept blowing in gusts.
The only thing I missed were the smiles from other runners! I don't know what it is about Cologne but runners don't seem to greet each other. Maybe I'll just need to start saying "Guten Morgen!" out loud as I pass since just smiling at them isn't loud enough... or get my act together and attend the parkrun! 🤣
Yes go to parkrun ChannelRunner2 ! It is true that some runners are in a world of their own and probably don’t even notice you, never mind smile. But there’s always smiley people at parkrun. 😊
First PR since 4th March. As I stepped out of the front door the heavens opened so I decided if it was still pouring down when I arrived I'd give it til 10 to 9 and give up. Lo and behold at 8 45 the sun came out! It was quite a wet/muddy run but warmer than expected. Still doing just over 45 mins but what worried me slightly was that my HR maxed at 173 which according to one health website is a bit high for my age - recommend 151 max. I am quite small though so maybe that affects it? I don't feel lightheaded or dizzy and it comes down quite quickly when I've finished. I think I'll keep an eye on it over the next week and maybe have to slow down a little bit. Resting now.
My advice is not to worry about that maximum HR, unless you have medical issues. The formula using your age doesn’t really work for runners. Look at your max HR after a parkrun or race and then adjust the HR zones on your tech.
I remember my watch went mad the first time I used it at parkrun, and I was really worried too. But I still haven’t died. 😂
Hi Bruch1 , Dexy5 is right, as long as you feel OK and have no medical problems, don't stress about that heart rate.
Most health websites seem to use the 220 minus age formula to calculate maximum heart rate. I'm 62, so the suggested MHR is 158, which for me is complete and utter nonsense.
I wouldn’t worry too much about it Bruch. If you feel ok then it’s ok. I’m small and I’ve always had a high bpm when running. The important thing is that it comes down again quickly. It used to worry me too but I’ve been doing this running thing for 5 years now and, like Dexy, I’m still here!
I’ve hit 196+ running & I’m 48 years. I had my max heart rate checked in a lab ( long story ) and that’s normal for me. The formula certainly is not right for me 👍🏻
Well done on your parkrun. Don’t worry too much about max heart rate. As you get fitter it will come down. My resting heart rate used to be around 80-85 bpm. And when exercising it was up around 170-175 bpm. Now my resting heart rate is around 50 bpm and when running my max heart rate is around 145-150 bpm. The fact that you recover quickly and your heart rate comes down quickly after is a great sign. Happy running.
Clare Castle parkrun for us today as we’re visiting my mum, hence the late reply.
My HM plan said for a relaxed 30 minute run. Unfortunately I looked at last week’s results of Clare Castle and saw that I’d be in with a few personal records if I pushed it a bit, so that plan just wasn’t going to happen 😅 Competitive? Moi? 😆
It’s a lovely course, starting by a disused railway station, with a little museum and station building that’s been turned into a cafe. Youngest kitten was very happy with this as he’s a big train buff and he is currently writing up a project on the Beeching Report and cuts of the early 1960s, of which Clare Station was one of its victims.
The course was mixed surface, probably not quite the right shoes but I had nothing in between a light tread and big chunky lugs. They did the job though. There were clearly more people than last week’s 89 and more women than last week’s 25 (I know, I was really surprised!) but I was still up for it. There were a large group of Vegan runners in our tourist briefing and everyone was really chatty and friendly.
It’s 3 laps and I ran the first with youngest kitten ( Katnap having shot off). He soon got fed up with the congested narrow bit and went off ahead. So I just clung to a couple of people for laps 2 and 3. I seemed to have more in the tank than them and overtook, which I was quite surprised about as I was getting quite tired.
At the end I still had enough for a short sprint, probably because it was on a harder surface so I could really push into the ground. Very happy with my time (c28.5 mins) and I managed to get my highest ever parkrun placing and 4th female out of 48 ladies, 1st in my age grade. Competitive itch well and truly scratched 😄
Now to try and sort the soreness in my legs out before tomorrow’s ‘easy’ 8 miles and next week’s HM taper! Nothing silly now!
Hope you’ve all had good runs too, have a lovely runny week 😻
You just can’t help yourself can you TC? 🤣🤣🤣 I totally understand why, and I’d be the same if I knew I was in with a chance of getting some records under my belt - but that’s never going to happen and instead I love seeing you smashing them left, right and centre. 😀
Now behave with your easy 8 miler and taper won’t you? No monkey business. 🤣🤣
No, I’m afraid not Cheeky 🤣 parkrun just has this affect on me. I was chatting to a chap afterwards and he said he felt quite demoralised by me going past him (sorry!). However, he only runs once a week and I’m currently doing 4-5 so you gets what you puts in. It’s nothing personal, I love getting those records and running past people taller, bigger and younger than me…it’s a bit naughty really but I’m going to keep doing it until I can’t anymore! Go find a parkrun with <100 runners Cheeky, it’s quite easy to get a high age grading at those.
I was very restrained on my 8 miles. You’d have liked it Cheeky, it was a Coach Bennett guided run (it’s ok, you can have him back now 😁). I kept an easy, steady pace apart from the three little 100metre fartleks near the end where he got me to try out some pacing. I nearly told him where to put his fartleks but as they were only 100 metres I decided to go with the flow, and I’m glad I did as it reinforced in me that I have them about right. Whether I can hold on for that HM pace, I’ll find out next Sunday 🤞 No monkeys were harmed during this run 😁
Hello everyone! We have moved on from Cascais and are now in Nazare in Portugal, which claims to have the biggest surf waves in the world! Anyway, I had intended finding a route through the pine forest round our campsite but couldn’t find a footpath along the busy road so decided to run into Nazare, which Strava said was mainly flat. Huh! 121m of descent in the 2k down to the resort, a flat bit along the seafront, but that meant 121m ascent back up the hill. A very slow time but some spectacular views!
I’m just keeping fingers crossed that the UK will decide it’s actually Spring by the time we get back at Easter! We’ve pretty much had sunshine all the way 😍
Good evening Damien, fellow parkrunners, and (not) parkrunners.
Back in Wales this weekend: Hafan Pwllheli for my twelfth visit.
Mild this morning but a stiff breeze which meant a fair bit of wind chill. I kitted up appropriately.
And then there was the tide. I was last here two weeks ago at a high spring tide. As anyone who keeps an eye on such things, spring tides happen after full moon and new moon, about two weeks apart. Of course it was another high spring tide today.
And that meant the B course because part of the normal course would be underwater. Half the distance but repeated twice.
There were just over fifty of us there this morning, most of whom had never done this venue before.
The start was delayed a few minutes to allow a few stragglers get to the start line. Then we were off.
As is my habit, I hung back at the start and let those who haven't done this course before zoom off ahead. I knew I'd be passing a few of them later on.
The first bit was soft and relatively flat, leading to a firmer bit of almost level sand. The slope across the beach got steeper the further we went, and the occasional freak wave led to people scampering up the shore to avoid wetting their feet.
Then at the turnaround point it got even softer! Beyond that point the rest of the beach was under the waves.
Of course, we all had to go back the same way, then do it all again. I paused briefly at the end of the first "lap" and had to walk at one point on the final return due to the waves forcing me onto some very soft sand at the top of the beach.
A man was running with a husky type dog which looked as if it was merely walking.
At the end the GPS distance was 170m short, so I collected my finish token and ran beyond the finish for a bit.
I hung around and chatted until the tail walker (who was jogging) came in. Then the turnaround marshal came trotting in carrying her cone.
love this pic damienair 😍 I’ve still yet to run near water - hopefully a Parkrun next week will change that. 😊
No Parkrun for me yesterday as I did a 20k hike in Skipton, Yorkshire where some of the pathways were flooded and we had no option but to wade right through (soggy feet for the duration) 🙈
Hi damienair, my local parkrun was cancelled due to high winds and high tides so we went on tour and I went with a group to The Gnoll, Neath. An interesting 3 loop course centred around the lake with a cross of tarmac, trail, stone and mud. There were two, what I call inclines on part of the trail and one, that is described in the parkrun blurb as an 'incline' and as a visitor described in their write-up 'a small hill', but what I and probably at least a third of the entrants would say qualified as a hill. I know there are many good runners at these events probably sprinting up these 'inclines' but there are a large number of people there just for the fun of it too so a more appropriate description should be in the general blurb. Anyway I put on my best Tim smile gritted my teeth and did it. Not my fastest time but certainly not my slowest and surprised to see some of my splits were under 6mins 😂😂
The photo is my home starting and finishing straight, can't understand why they cancelled it 😂
I’ve been on holiday so after two Italian parkruns (the well established, friendly Milano Nord and the iconic, absolute bucket list Mura di Lucca) it was Hellbrunn parkrun in Salzburg, Austria yesterday. The smallest parkrun I’ve ever done, just 20 of us which was useful considering my previous best finishing position was 36th. Another super-friendly event. Probably half of us were visitors so the local core group of runners is pretty small but well organised with great parkrun spirit.
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