Park Run PB ?

[ridingstar]

My 4th Park Run and my 2nd after IC for 1 month and I got a PB of 35.21 I don't feel as happy with that as I actually walked for about 30 secs 3 times. I think the problem was I set off with faster runners and therefore ran faster and tired myself more. I felt happier last week when I ran the whole thing in 36.55. Is it better I run faster and walk a bit like today, or slower and don't walk at all like last week? I presume running faster is getting me to improve my fitness?

[JoolieB1 Graduate]

Wow, that is a great time. You avoided injury and managed your time by putting in a recovery walk but still managed to go faster! You even tried to keep pace with faster runners which was very ambitious! I have registered with Parkrun but not ready to go yet, so you are actually living my dream - good for u!!

Julie 😀

[Noaky12 Graduate]

It depends on what you're own personal goal is.

I get much better results and much prefer doing the run walk method. But my sister refuses to walk at all.

Don't beat yourself up over walking for what about a min in total over 5k? You def scored a PB. ☺

[amateurwriter Graduate]

Firstly let me congratulate you on your new PB, that is a fantastic time and you will soon be under 35 minutes before you know it

Secondly, I can see where you are coming from, I don't like to walk any of the parkrun but lately I've been probably to tired mentally to fight off the gremlins so have ended up walking, running faster will improve your fitness, if you would prefer to run the whole course and increase the speed bit by bit, then go for it, that's what I'm going to try, you never know next week if you slow down your pace just a touch so you don't feel like walking, you could get a PB and get your time down under 35 minutes, I'd suggest doing what you feel comfortable with whether that is to keep at roughly the same pace or slow down a little bit and run the whole course but you could be like me decide to run the whole course and start to fast anyway lol, I hope that makes sense

Good luck for your next parkrun x

[Hidden]

Well, what do you want from parkrun ? If its personal pride in completing a 5k without walking you had better not walk ! If you want to chase pb's and run/walk enables you to do that then include some walk breaks. If you just want a nice outing on a Saturday morning it doesn't matter if you run or walk, its all fresh air and exercise.Personally I am chasing a 50 park runs t-shirt so my focus is just on getting to the end, running, walking, crawling....I don't care !!

[JoolieB1 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Same here, currently starting week 7, registered for Parkrun and once I can run 5K I will be there. My goal is to have a reasonable time and run it all. After that it is about fun and running with others, I am not going to break any world records but want to think about doing my own runs in the countryside, woods, tracks etc so I am more concerned about being safe and uninjured so I can be out and about! I guess though we all have different goals but that is what makes me get out!

Julie

[Pigivi]

Instead of feeling bad about taking 30 sec walking breaks - think of the fact that it is probably what made you achieve a PB... and 1min 34 seconds it's a very good chunk of time off your previous one - you probably would not have achieved that by running non-stop, as we may tend to slow down especially if one starts off too fast

[gary_bart]

Faster is exponentially more difficult, so if you've sped up (whatever way you did it), you've significantly increased the amount of work you did in the 5 km.

Hmm ... actually I think that "whatever way you did it" is not right. If you spent some of the time walking, you had to make up for that in even more increased speed to get your PB, so using running and walking in such a way that overall you speed up would require more work than just choosing the speed you're going to make, and keeping steadily at it all the way.

[ridingstar Graduate in reply to gary_bart]

That's a good way to look at it !

[mfamilias Graduate]

Rule number one is to enjoy yourself - whether you run, walk or mix the two I don't like walking, and will slow down but won't stop. It depends on what you are after. I've found that setting out too fast is detrimental to my time on the long term, as I tire myself out too soon.

[Coddfish Graduate]

Try not to see short walks as failure, particularly if they help you complete the event without crashing at the end, and / or achieve a faster result overall. Run / walk is a really good method for allowing you to increase overall distance. Ultimately being able to complete parkrun without stopping will come from stamina, which can come from running longer distances. One of my regular runs is 1k run / 2 minute walk intervals and I can now slog on for an hour doing that.

[ridingstar Graduate in reply to Coddfish]

That sounds good I think I will try that for one of my runs !

[ridingstar Graduate]

Thanks all my aims are to run 5k a bit faster and also to run further gradually building up to 10k. I suppose interval running is what got me here so if I can get a faster time with a bit of walking maybe that's not a backward step and hopefully the walking will get less each week !

[beetie Graduate]

I've read your post with interest as I tend to do the same thing! I used to start off way too fast and then burn out. I've learnt to set off at a comfortable pace and not to worry too much about people passing me. I've only done 2 park runs, but on both occasions quite a few people overtook me at the start and then I spotted them later in the run and I overtook them! I also run for about 3 x 30 seconds too! I aim to reduce this, but in the meantime I'm trying not to give myself too hard a time over a little power walking! The advice you've got from everyone on here sounds good. Good luck with your next park run! x

[ridingstar Graduate in reply to beetie]

Yes when I started Park Runs my aim was definitely to run the whole thing. Now I know I can do that my aim is to speed up so seems walking a bit will help that if it lets me run faster. I hope the walks will get shorter, It will be interesting to run faster a few times and add short interval walks if really necessary and then go back to a more steady run and see if that time has improved !