What advice can you give me for my first Parkrun? Do I just run a bit and walk a bit, doing what I can? My partner fancies it and we both saw a clip on Freesports that made us want to try it. He hasn't run for years so we would probably walk a fair bit.
Written by
angie31964
Graduate
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
No harm on running run 3 of week 5 on your first parkrun, however, unless you can run the whole run in 20 minutes which is highly unlikely as you are new to running you will have to walk part of it after the first 20 minutes, after 20 minutes of running, have at least 3 minutes of walking, after that you could run/walk the rest of the course.
Thank you. I definitely can't run 20mins lol. I am looking forward to it. I think 3 to 5 mins walking will definitely be on the cards in between a bit of jogging.
Just run for the time allotted in your run.... then walk the rest...Plenty of time for running for 30 minutes in Week 9... and you don't want an injury this early on
When your parkrun starts, begin your warmup walk. All the fast runners will shoot off and get out of your way. After the 5minutes warm up, your running will start and just do W5 exactly as the app/podcast tells you. When you get to the cool down walk, simply keep walking until you can see the finish line. By then you’ll have enough energy to run up to and across the line. Finishers will be there to applaud you.
Check if the parkrun route has multiple laps. If so, try and stay out of the way of faster runners. There will be a newcomers’ briefing at 8:50 am and you can ask about overtaking policy at that course.
parkrun is very inclusive and open to folks of all abilities. That said, the marshall and timekeepers are all volunteering their time. So try not to stop and pick blackberries (or queue for an ice cream) before ambling around the course. Strolling into the finish funnel at 10:30 am is not going to make you popular.
Thank you. I did read a thread about people doing that. There are three laps as I understand it. Thank you for your advice. I will definitely not be charging into it, so the brisk walk to start with is great advice.
Hi do it! Start it with the 5 or more warm up as the C25k app and then do your session as normal. Then walk the 5’ warm down. Then check how far you got and the it’s up to you. In week 7 I run 2’ and walk 2 or similar until the end but of course you can also walk all the rest. Dont worry aboht your time, what’s sure is that you’ll improve each week!
Thank you. I am definitely not worried about time 😬 I just want to finish before lunchtime lol. I have walked 5k in under an hour so will be interesting to see how I do. I love the fact you get your time at the end! If there are laps, how do they know you did all the laps, or doesn't it really matter because it isn't a competition?
Interesting I’ve only done it on a 2 Lab course and it’s pretty obvious when you get overtaken which group you are in 😂 I would say as you are quite early on that would be better for you to walk at the end and also you could increase your walk time at the start. Some people walk it all And they are still faster than my running!
Aww! The one I am going to has three laps so I just wondered since the website shares the names of those who have broken the best time. Hard to keep track I would have thought!
Interesting I’ve only done it on a 2 Lab course and it’s pretty obvious when you get overtaken which group you are in 😂 I would say as you are quite early on that would be better for you to walk at the end and also you could increase your walk time at the start. Some people walk it all And they are still faster than my running!
Hi, I did my first park run on week 5 a couple of weeks ago.
My local park run has a few hills which I struggled a bit with... and had to walk anyway but it was good for the experience.
A few people at my local park run (Falkirk) walk it so even by doing short bursts of running I wasn’t last !!(tho they have people walking the course at the rear to make sure everyone is accounted for)
I loved it and am going back this Saturday to see if I can beat my time.
Go for it! Everyone is really supportive and they all had to start somewhere.. 😁
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.