I was having a meander round t'interwebs and came across a thread on a running forum. Some blokey posted asking what a good time might be for a 5k. The posts that followed were quite intimidating and of a tone that meant I could almost suck the testosterone out my iPad.
I may not post much on here, but I do read quite a bit, and I get such a lot of inspiration and encouragement from you all. You're all really positive and friendly and not frightening at all. Some of you probably can manage a sub 20 5k, but you use that knowledge and strength to guide and support those of us who can't. Fantastic!
I like this forum, I think I'll stick to this one and not frighten myself with others.
Written by
coryluscontorta
Graduate
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Yeah, it was. I would have been too scared to add anything to that thread. There was a post from one man that was so derisory I withered with shame even from the safety of my own home. Yikes!
***Your*** time and no-one else's; be bloody proud of it too, whatever it may be! 🏃🏃🏃
I fully agree, by the way; it's always so friendly and inspirational here. We all started in the same sorta place and seek to help and encourage others. Always. 🏃
oh my sub 20 for 5km. That is only in my dreams or maybe nightmares as my legs would suffer afterwards. It does not need to be I can run 5km in x minutes, the difference here is we ALL started at the same point, on the couch!!!
Before c25k what was there out there to make running a pleasure for all? Nothing I ever heard about, that's for sure. And now this, here, is a very broad world with a lot of room for everyone; that, there, is a narrower world. It has its place, but that place is not as elevated as some people might think. To me this c25k world now occupies the best summit, not that other stuff. Why? It's actually beneficial. All those benefits that the ineffectual have sung about for all those years are actually being put into effect every day here. And it works in this fantastic "no pain, no pain" way. (That's allowing my aching back of the first attempt to count as "no pain", I suppose). Something that makes the world better for 0.1% of all people must surely be worth less than something with the potential to make it better for 99%?
Yeah, sub-20 minute 5k? I can do that easily! On a bicycle....
Think I have seen that running forum, or one similar. Really intimidating, struttingly macho posts - totally ignores the fact that women might choose to run, too.
HOLD ON! HOLD ON!! I just had a checkout of that site and I LIKE IT!!
I mean - one contributor said that a good time to run 5K was half your age :)) - I can easily do that!!
EDIT! -- now I am REALLY deflated - just found out that the world record for 70 year olds is 18 minutes - how am I gunna do that in the next 12 months!!???
I read a very similar article! When I was running parkrun the man who came in first finished in seventeen minutes and a few seconds.... Less than half my time, so he must have passed us as we were coming up to completing our first lap- speed is nothing to worry about unless you want to be a racer! You're just running for you, right? Enjoy it, and stuff those snobs who think you're nobody unless you can do sub 20. 😀 x
Each to his or her own... I got over competition and comparing myself to other people a long time ago - there's enough crap in one day without worrying about whether I run faster or slower than someone else I don't even know. As my Grandma always said, "Bugger that for a game of soldiers".
Haha, lol, yes some of them can be quite Nietzschian. I was involved ina 'debate' recently when people were proposing that no-one had any place in early waves of events if they had not moved to 'intermediate level', which was, in their view, sub 20 5k sub 35 10k, 1 hr 10 Hm etc. It intriigued me how the further one ran the quicker one had to go.
Anyway the discussion descended into some rather unpleasant nme slinging and so on quite quickly and it eventually transpired that the person writing all that was not running anywhere near those times.
At my parkrun this Saturday the fastest time (17:31) was recorded by a male runner in the 30-34 age group, with an age grading of 74.22. The highest age grade score was achieved by a female runner in the 55-59 age group, at 84.82, with a time of 21:38. I, needless to say, was well behind in both time and grading, but thoroughly enjoyed my run, even though I was overtaken in the last half k by that 10 year old girl who runs every parkrun in the world. The last runner came in at 58:41 and was cheered across the line, with genuine respect for his efforts, rather than condescension.
While there are macho runners, without a thought for others, my experience has been that most runners are like those at parkrun, supportive and friendly, regardless of age and ability and of course like those on this forum who are even more supportive and even more friendly. We haven't forgotten our own experiences of W1 R1.........
My take on it is this: at GNR yeterday Mo Farah turned in a time which was just under half mine. That's right - he ran for less than half the time I did. Who put in the most effort? It must have been me because I was running for twice as long
Look at it this way - everyone of us who has completed week1 run1 is better than Usain Bolt. He runs for less than 10 seconds of the very first minute of running and then has to stop for a breather
Be proud of yourselves - you can all whup Usain any day
When I run, I'm doing it for me, and me alone. If I put in a better time than I'm accustomed to, then sure, I'm happy about that, but the most important thing to me is just to be out there running.
If I see another runner who is faster than me, then I will often try to keep up for a while when they pass me, but that is just making use of them as a pace maker I drop my speed back again as soon as I feel I need to in order to still be able to complete the distance I want to achieve.
It's the same with ParkRun, I always start near the back, I start running gently, and I look for someone who's running at a pace comfortable for me, and I try to stay with them. I tend to find that later in the run I am able to overtake a few folk and find another pace maker further up the field. But I never think of myself as competing against anyone else, they are just helping me to control my pace. If I'm running against anyone, then it's against me
After C25K I gradually increased my distance, as that is what interests me most. Speed did gradually increase, but that happens on it's own the more you run. After my ankle injury in march it has been a fascinating learning exercise. For a while I was only able to run 5km once a week. It's only in the last couple of months that I've returned to running more regularly.
I can still do long runs, I've done 3 18km runs last month, but I find that I cannot yet do regular long runs. Currently if I do a long run then I need to rest for several days. Sooo I'm currently only doing 5.5km runs. I've gradually built up the frequency. This week I'm running 6 days x 5km, and it's going well so far. One of our wise gurus on here said that after a year of running we can leave out the rest days, so I thought that I'd tentatively give that a go
But all of this learning how to come back from injury is just another example of running against myself and no one else. I have to judge my own body not someone elses
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Yes Yes Yes - My 1st sub 30 min 5k
My 2017 goal of sub 30 min 5k done!
couch ... to 30 min ... to 5k!
I've done 5k!
Sub 30 minute 5K
