5k pb's?

[rossd72002]

I was wondering what your 5k pb's were? I'm particularly interested in your improvements so if you know it from wk10 and how much you've improved since? Mine was: wk10 36mins - Now 23mins

[JoolieB1 Graduate]

I graduated with a parkrun, 5K in 36 minutes which is my fastest (peer pressure plus fear)! My comfortable time for the distance is 40 minutes though. I still find that distance a challenge and have to push to keep going after 30 minutes. I don't want to speed up right now as I would rather increase distance and want a comfortable running pace for that. Bi think there is a lot of pressure to be competitive about running and I want to keep enjoying it and keeping fit. Julie

[Hidden]

I graduated in April, my first outing at Park run was 29:50 the best I have managed is 25:32 and run it at around 26 minutes regular now. I'm trying a different approach this week in the hope to get under 25 minutes.

[Rlear Graduate]

My 5k 6 weeks ago was 32 mins. It's now 36 mins! I am working towards a 10k and have had to slow down to enable me to run further.

[rammsteinqueen Graduate]

Ooh that's a great time. It is the one thing at the back of mind I really hope I can improve on. Well I am at the end of week 8 and my 5k time is 35.14 - I really want to get as close to 30 mins as I can by the end of next week. My regular run route is a brute though.. Maybe I should run on the flat.

[goonkeepgoing Graduate]

I don't think I'd even ran 5k at week 10!! My first 5k was over 36 minutes. In August (6 months post grad) I did 27:18. I've not had chance to do a Parkrun since but I think I could skim a little off now. I wish I'd made more progress on increasing my distance though. That's my winter project

[rmnsuk Graduate]

I graduated around 33:30 and got it down to just under 29:00. I'd like to trim a bit more off, but I'm not that bothered. I will probably try for a PB next time parkrun does a pacer week.

[ViaM Graduate]

First world topic

[AvatheGardener Graduate in reply to ViaM]

C25K is a first world topic!

[Steve_L Graduate]

I think you're just showing off!

[rich_wolves Graduate]

I cant get below 33 minutes and i always feel like im going really fast at that pace too !

[AncientMum Graduate]

It's really great to celebrate our achievements but, without knowing every respondents' age, sex, weight, underlying medical history and baseline fitness levels before starting the programme, then the replies you get are essentially meaningless. Worse, they could seriously demotivate some forum members if they start to compare themselves unfavourably with other, speedier runners. Let's face it, we all have our insecurities, and I suspect that this sort of comparison will only enhance them. I am inordinately proud of my 5k PB, although I know I'm much slower than many of the people on here. However, I'm faster and stronger than I was a couple of months ago and that's all that matters.

[rossd72002 in reply to AncientMum]

As I mentioned I was more interested in people's progress since graduation and as the people on this forum are using c25k I am assuming the base level is fairly similar. I put mine to encourage others to do the same and in no way to show off, if you've been running a while you realise there is ALWAYS someone running further and faster so comparisons are fruitless. As for demotivating, that would depend on the person. I'm motivated by my own improvement and genuinely by seeing the effort less experienced runners give. Running is easy, but to actually get out and do it with all the distractions and excuses life offers is a testament to everyone's character. I love by the rule a 7 minute mile or 17minute is still a mile!

[AncientMum Graduate in reply to rossd72002]

Oh dear, I feel like I'm picking an argument with you, but I would dispute your assertion that everyone on here has similar base level fitness. We have people in their teens and people in their seventies; we have people with serious underlying medical issues including MS, ME, scoliosis, asthma, depression, epilepsy and hip and knee replacements amongst many other health issues; we have people who have 5, 6, 7 and more stones to lose; we have people who graduate in 9 weeks and others who have taken over a year; and we have people who have recently given birth. We are, by definition, a very very mixed bag united by our love of running. Rather than give an absolute figure, perhaps it would be better to say by how many seconds or minutes you have improved since you graduated.

[mcgurranhouse Graduate]

Wk10 31mins now 26.03 (last week at Parkrun)

[mcgurranhouse Graduate]

And as the saying goes, no matter how slow you run you are lapping everybody on the couch!

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

I agree with everything that AncientMum says, but also admit to being intrigued by other people's PBs. With the huge range of ages and physical conditions of those on this forum, direct comparison is by no means helpful, but if my mate Mo posted his best 5k time on here, I would be impressed and certainly not demotivated......so I can see both sides of the argument and it seems to me you are looking to see how much people improve after graduation. Your improvement post graduation is impressive.

Age/gender grading scores give a much clearer indication of the effort that an individual is putting into their running, much to the chagrin of my 32 year old son who still can't beat either of his parent's parkrun 5k scores.........but that may be due to some bias in the system. Trying to match other people's PBs is, I suspect, a predominantly male preoccupation, however Madame Truffe takes great delight in having pipped my best age grade score..........much to my chagrin.

I managed to knock 4 minutes off my parkrun PB in the first year after graduation and a further nine seconds in the following year, as I have related on here before, so reducing the time gets harder, so enjoy those PBs while you can and remember, they are PERSONAL BESTS and don't relate much to other people...........just think of Mo.

[amateurwriter Graduate]

I started running parkruns during my 6th week of c25k but that was actually around the 9th month of me doing c25k, took me just over 11 months to graduate, my quickest time is 36:20, my average time if I run at my own pace is around 39-40 minutes which I don't mind as I'm not a really competitive runner, I run more for fun

[Realfoodieclub Graduate]

I understand the post but as some have said it can be a difficult issue to talk about on a forum like this. I myself would refrain from posting my total time (because it would personally make me feel bad among the times posted here) for the run but would happily talk about the decrease after graduation. Personal bests are just that they are personal to the individual and many On this forum have overcome issues to get to run the 5km some have not even got to the 5km and are very happy with the 30min run. 30 min of the couch is a great acheivement in itself. if I was to answer your question my way it would be

Since graduation I have I have knocked 6 min of my 5km time

Or

Since graduation I have added 0.6km to my 30 min time.

[Theziggy Graduate]

Quote Rossd72002 "Running is easy"

Well then

a) I am doing something wrong or

b) What I am doing is not running

[rossd72002 in reply to Theziggy]

That's not true, running itself is easy, running for longer than the first 3 steps takes effort (and is hard)

[Theziggy Graduate in reply to rossd72002]

"That's not true, running itself is easy, running for longer than the first 3 steps takes effort (and is hard)"

So running for two steps is easy, anything more is hard?

I know the idea of running for me is quite easy, in my head I am very very fast and not out of breath at all. The reality is sadly the opposite.

[rossd72002]

This wasn't about making anyone feel insecure, or demotivated. This was about me asking if people had improved post graduation. And if so how much? I graduated a LONG time ago and have found running to be essential in my life hence the 5k improvement. That improvement is not my biggest achievement though. I still regard my first 30mins as my biggest achievement in terms of running, and will continue too until the day I complete something I now consider outside my abilities.

[Hidden]

My personal best was finishing my first 5k.

At the end of C25K I have now realised I still had some distance to go before hitting the 5K mark, in fact the first time I achieved 5k was the race I did at the end of September.

As much as I love reading about how well others are doing I have to admit that it sometimes makes me feel a little inadequate but hey that's something I will just need to work on.

[jenman1 Graduate]

Very interesting reading the comments on this thread.

I could easily be put off by the sub 30 mins 5k times. I am way off of that and as a few of you have said its about the running not the time.

I am going to try parkrun again this week, as I didn't enjoy the first and last one I did in June.

[AndyD Graduate]

I don't think that a 5k PB time has any direct link with how someone is "improving". My 5k time is still much slower than those mentioned.. but I don't really care. I am now running 30-40k per week without any injuries and to me that is "MY" gauge of how well I'm doing.

Everyone is different and we all how our own targets that we may aim for to show "improvement" This may be getting out once a week for 3k or adding to the bling collection at least once a month... we're all different and that's a good thing!

[rossd72002 in reply to AndyD]

Just out of interest though how do you gauge whether you're improving? It's great that you know you're improving, I actually think that regardless of how far you can run a 5k is a good barometer. My 5k pb was last week and just after completing a hm.

[coryluscontorta Graduate in reply to AndyD]

I'm loving your Freudian slip of 'ruining 30-40k'!

[AndyD Graduate in reply to coryluscontorta]

Oops.. updated... but perhaps that's the attitude I need... "I ruined that 10k of tarmac!"

[AdamB Graduate]

I'm faster than quite a few people here, and I suspect, slower than some of those who haven't posted their times. I judge my improvement on how much I am enjoying my running. If I'm still enjoying it, I'm improving as far as I'm concerned - the rest doesn't matter.

I've just done my slowest parkrun ever last weekend. It took me 10 minutes longer than usual, but that's possibly because I got lost and did 7K instead of 5. I still enjoyed my run though. I think I could argue that I must be improving because having to do an extra 2K didn't really bother me. I still crossed the line laughing alongside the rest of the group who got lost with me (we all assumed that the person in front knew the way - the person at the very front suddenly disappeared off out of the park and that's when we all had a rethink about exactly where we were...).

If anyone really wants to know my parkrun times I'll give them the link to my parkrun page. They aren't times worth shouting about here, though. There's a group of us on Garmin Connect who know each others times if you really want to find out how others are doing.

[rossd72002 in reply to AdamB]

Not to be cynical but the fact you use a garmin and have a group means you do judge yourself in terms of time. I know enjoying it is key and being able to do an extra 2k does prove improvement and you should be commended for that. This really wasn't about comparison in terms of times but genuinely about how people improve post graduation. This post does seem to have caused conflict about 'how fast you go' and as I mentioned a mile is a mile. All of my post graduation friends that I'm able to talk to will happily say I started at 5k in an hour and now do it in 45mins (for example) it's not to judge anyone its to show carrying on after the program is worthwhile and you don't need to aim at 10k, hm, m or even ultra. 5k is a great distance but everyone wants to improve. If you tell yourself you don't you're kidding yourself.

[AdamB Graduate in reply to rossd72002]

Oh, I certainly judge myself in terms of time, and pace, as do others. I think it's just something that I try and keep separate from this forum and discuss elsewhere. Here, we celebrate everyone's high points. As we've all come from different start points and had different experiences, it's so difficult to compare.

I'm conscious of the fact that I've put one colleague off running because he saw my parkrun times. He is 30 years younger and thought he was doing well until he saw my time 5 minutes ahead of him on the results pages. It's not my fault and I don't think I could have done anything about preventing it, but he has now decided that perhaps he isn't so good and has consequently given up. It's his loss, but I don't want a repeat.

For the record, my 5K PB is 19% faster than my first 5K time which was near the end of C25K.

[coryluscontorta Graduate]

One of the reasons I love running is that it's me against me. The only person pushing me is me. If I don't feel I want to go for it today and just run in the sun and hear the burdies tweeting, I can. I'm not at all competitive in any part of my life and when I sense others need to win to sooth their ego I just let them. I set my own goals, and when I achieve them, that feels phenomenal. So, no, I'm not too upset that others are faster, or further or whatever, I'm just pleased that Im getting better as time passes.

However, I do appreciate that for others it's really helpful and motivating to measure yourself against others. Different strokes for different folks eh! It's all good, so long as it's getting you out there and feeling the benefits.

[rossd72002 in reply to coryluscontorta]

I love this reply, it is exactly my reason for running. I'm not against anyone but myself and I wasn't trying to judge how fast I am in comparison because I don't really care. I am Interested in how much people have improved be it 1min, 1 sec or if someone has done 5k once (seems unlikely) how much further??

[AvatheGardener Graduate]

Since graduating I have done two parkruns, a week apart. The second one I ran 1m 48s faster than the first. The times were really fast- faster than when I run on my own- I think because everyone else seemed to be running so fast, and there's a drive to complete the course and not be the last one in!

Having said all that, ancientmum's points are well valid. C25K has enabled a huge range of people to move, to have a programme to progress in fitness; some are beset by age, weight and illness, and it's not going to be of any value to compare times. I suspect that if I was able to undertake and complete parkrun tomorrow I would be +10 minutes due to intervening time being beset with medical issues and gemlins which mean I've only run 1-2 times a week, which in turn means my fitness has gone back a bit...

[Tomas Graduate]

Very interesting discussion, thank you very much Ross for kicking it off.

I find myself agreeing and disagreeing with several statements at the same time.

Yes, we are definitely all very different, we have a different base, different physique, different abilities, etc, etc, etc. It is not the case that any 23 year old 9 stone male runner with good physique and 15 years' running experience can be expected to run as well as any other 23 year old 9 stone male runner with a good physique and 15 years' running experience. If it had been the case there would have been zero point in athletic competitions. And of course, comparing a 48 year old woman with arthritis in the left knee to a 57 year man who had a hip replacement last month is even worse.

There are a lot of dangers involved in comparing our own time to that of others, because it will never ever be a "fair" comparison. So it's almost a given that the comparison can only ever result in either us beating ourselves up unecessarily (which is bad) or bigging ourselves up unjustifiably (which is really not that bad, feeling good about oneself is healthy).

At the same time, we often see people celebrate here on the forum that they have now managed to run 10 km (or a half marathon or a full or an ultra). These posts are generally greeted with "well done, that's wonderful, I'd love to be able to do that as well". I don't see anything fundamentally different between celebrating speed or celebrating distance. They are different goals, but equally worthwhile for those who like goals (and equally meaningless for those who are not motivated by goals). So I think it's a good question Ross.

And with all that said, my graduation run was 5 km in 30:06. My fastest ever is 25:something. I guess it's interesting at some level that I can remember the graduation run to the second (and if I had to, I could spend an hour describing the route and the weather on the day) whereas I can't recall at all when I did the 25:something, nor do I have a clue what the "something" part is.

So five minutes knocked off over the course of about 18 months. That's not a lot, but I've learnt to live with the fact that my body was built for comfort and distance rather than for speed. I enjoy running (most of the time), and that's what keeps me going.

[rossd72002 in reply to Tomas]

I think you've hit the nail on the head. I'm surprised people are so uncomfortable to talk about speed but happy to say I finished 8miles today, it's essentially the same thing.

[amateurwriter Graduate in reply to Tomas]

I agree with you as well other people's comments about not comparing yourself not even to someone your own age, I am about 10 minutes slower than people double and triple my age (I'm 23) but due to health problems I know I shouldn't and don't compare myself to people my own age or any other age because I am a lot slower than most people, I compare my own times to my own times to see how well I have improved,

I will set small little goals each parkrun so the first one was to run up all the hills and run/jog the flats but ended up walking some of the flats near the end, the 2nd run my goal was to run the whole course which I did, and each week on the friday I will sit and think for a few minutes and set myself 1 small personal goal to reach during the parkrun for the day after and most of the time if not all of the time it has nothing to do with my time,

I sometimes have a goal of talking to someone new before the run or making a new person feel comfortable before the run so they don't feel so nervous, I enjoy setting the small goals rather than telling myself I will try to run today's parkrun in __ minutes and __ seconds because if I do that I will probably push myself to far and I enjoy the parkruns to much to set myself a time, yes a PB is great but achieving the small goals and volunteering each week far outways the time for me personally

[dagshar Graduate]

I think I agree with Tomas, but also a lot of the other comments. As someone not far off 50 who had never run and never done any regular exercise apart from the odd zumba class (more irregular than regular), I am absolutely amazed at what I have achieved in the past 7 1/2 months, and that that was probably partially due to the fact that I am quite healthy, have never smoked and was never overweight. I am even more amazed and impressed when I read about all the people here who are 10-20 years older than me and are doing even greater things! Comparisons about progress may also be tricky because we tend to have different priorities with regards to our running. I have only ever done 3 park runs (purely because I can't usually make Saturday mornings) and rarely run 5k for speed. I do have a Garmin and love my statistics, but improving the 5k time is not a top priority as running for speed is not the running I like best. I first completed 5k a few days after graduating and I think it was around 34 mins, my first park run a few weeks later was much faster at 30:47 and my third park run (and most recent timed 5k) was nearly four month later with 29:27.

So there has been improvement in time. However, there are other indicators that I have improved as a runner....my overall weekly mileage has risen, my stamina has improved, my heart rate stays lower for longer and I am now able to run much longer distances which is something that I enjoy much more than running 5k for speed. As and when I do manage a park run, I am curious to see how I do though, as the longer slower runs really do help with running faster for shorter too.

[Hidden]

I have had quite a few pbs, due to being quite slow, so they are easier to achieve I guess! And they feel so great to achieve don't they?! I have knocked about 3 minutes off since when I first graduated and my last pb. At the moment I am unable to run and itching to get back to it!

[amateurwriter Graduate in reply to Hidden]

I'd just like to say that I hope you recover soon so you can get back to something you enjoy and that is running

I'm also slow but everything I have gained through running as well as parkruns far outway my speed, I look forward to each week, and even if I have to stop running next year for a while I will still get up at 5 in the morning to get to parkrun early to help out (if I can) if not then I will get there to be a marshal and cheer people on

Take care and I wish you a speedy recovery,

Siobhan x

[Hidden in reply to amateurwriter]

Ah thanks Siobhan. I always enjoy your posts on Parkrun.

[amateurwriter Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Your welcome and thank you my posts usually revolve around the journey and the run more than the time itself so new people on here read the post and see how wonderful parkrun is