Official Running Thread

[Notters]

Anyone else take their kids to junior parkrun. I take my 6 year old daughter perhaps every other week on average but she keeps absolutely eating into her PB.
10:46 today which seems great for her age? Though it's very hard to find anything to compare with, particularly as the age categories only go down to Under 11.

She doesn't do any other running and am thinking I probably need to start taking her out with me...

 

[knocky1]

Well done for those who had a crack at the Roundhill Romp. There's a Worthing Harrier, Steve Cousins, who has the brand Film My Run, uploads the West Sussex
Fun Run League events (and other stuff) on You Tube. Worth checking out.
Worthing PR with a cramping calf in 20.01 today. Have a 10k in Dunsfold, home of Top Gear, tomorrow, but calf might prevent participation.

I had a very miserable Saturday afternoon after reading that but the VAR verdict helped me to recover. Still a cracking time young man.
Had an interesting chat with an Arena old boy after Parkrun who was giving me advice on how to run an 800m. I kept thinking that he should be listening to me after finishing 2 secs behind me in the 1500m last month.
Anyway he's riled me into a Kyrgios frenzy and I'm fully focused on the 800m on 25th July. Means I'll do 4x400m intervals day before Wednesday's Phoenix 10k and allow that that to hit my time a little.
2:42 800m at 5:30 mile pace is the new mantra and I've replaced the picture on my wall of the back of your head with someone that I can hopefully catch.

 

[Curious Orange]

Anyone else take their kids to junior parkrun. I take my 6 year old daughter perhaps every other week on average but she keeps absolutely eating into her PB.
10:46 today which seems great for her age? Though it's very hard to find anything to compare with, particularly as the age categories only go down to Under 11.

She doesn't do any other running and am thinking I probably need to start taking her out with me...

Yes, Littlest Orange is quite keen, and sometimes runs the adult one too.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Anyone else take their kids to junior parkrun. I take my 6 year old daughter perhaps every other week on average but she keeps absolutely eating into her PB.
10:46 today which seems great for her age? Though it's very hard to find anything to compare with, particularly as the age categories only go down to Under 11.

She doesn't do any other running and am thinking I probably need to start taking her out with me...

That's great to hear Notters! Junior Park Run is a fantastic institution and both my kids have now done over 100 each. I'm not sure how your daughter's time compares for her age group but sub-11 mins for a 6 year old sounds like a fine achievement. Like your daughter, my kids have continually improved their PBs and learnt a bit of race craft too - even though it is supposed to be a run, not a race, but try telling kids that! My daughter started secondary school last September and now competes at District level at 800m, 1500m and x-country - something that would never have happened without JPR.

I hope your daughter sticks at it and continues to enjoy it. From my experience with my kids, it helps creates all sorts of great habits and lifestyle choices outside of the running.

 

[Bad Ash]

Anyone else take their kids to junior parkrun. I take my 6 year old daughter perhaps every other week on average but she keeps absolutely eating into her PB.
10:46 today which seems great for her age? Though it's very hard to find anything to compare with, particularly as the age categories only go down to Under 11.

She doesn't do any other running and am thinking I probably need to start taking her out with me...

I'm pretty certain the Age Grading % is based upon their actual age, just looking a quick look at the results I see 2 girls in the JW10 category but the one with the slower time has a higher %, which would support this. So I think that might help? That being said, not sure that means much at that age.

Started taking my son almost as soon as he was 4, last October. Have to admit it was a struggle at first, he liked the idea of it and said he wanted to do it, but often had a bit of a melt down when there, especially once the finish was in sight. I felt pretty awkward as he was right at the back and then refusing to cross the finish line for a few minutes, holding up all the volunteers from finishing (taking about 27 minutes). Finally had a bit of a breakthrough in the last couple of months and now his PB is regularly falling and down to 14 something.

I have generally been volunteering while he goes round with Mum & Grandma, but if his PB continues to fall, not sure they'll be able to keep up for much longer

Having recently joined my local athletics club myself I was going to suggest looking at that, but having checked I see mine only seems to allow them to start at aged 8.

 

[Notters]

I'm pretty certain the Age Grading % is based upon their actual age, just looking a quick look at the results I see 2 girls in the JW10 category but the one with the slower time has a higher %, which would support this. So I think that might help? That being said, not sure that means much at that age.

Started taking my son almost as soon as he was 4, last October. Have to admit it was a struggle at first, he liked the idea of it and said he wanted to do it, but often had a bit of a melt down when there, especially once the finish was in sight. I felt pretty awkward as he was right at the back and then refusing to cross the finish line for a few minutes, holding up all the volunteers from finishing (taking about 27 minutes). Finally had a bit of a breakthrough in the last couple of months and now his PB is regularly falling and down to 14 something.

I have generally been volunteering while he goes round with Mum & Grandma, but if his PB continues to fall, not sure they'll be able to keep up for much longer

Having recently joined my local athletics club myself I was going to suggest looking at that, but having checked I see mine only seems to allow them to start at aged 8.

This is another conundrum for me.
Have been thinking about doing so myself but the ones local to me seem to be largely road-based and aimed at women of a certain age.
Given that I'm primarily into trail/fell running this isn't ideal!
There are loads slightly further afield that would be ideal but time becomes a challenge.

 

[Bad Ash]

This is another conundrum for me.
Have been thinking about doing so myself but the ones local to me seem to be largely road-based and aimed at women of a certain age.
Given that I'm primarily into trail/fell running this isn't ideal!
There are loads slightly further afield that would be ideal but time becomes a challenge.

What you're describing I would call a running club, whereas I'd say an athletics club is based at a track, although both come under England Athletics. The track based clubs are likely to have lots of stuff for kids, but I guess track & field based, rather than road running (or indeed trail or fell). That being said the athletics club would participate in cross country, whereas I've found running clubs are less likely to do so. None of the running clubs local to me have a kids section as far as I'm aware, just the athletics club.

I think the athletics club have a good mix of boys & girls, but once it gets to the seniors & vets I'm noticing the ratio is much more skewed towards males. Without wishing to stereotype I think the women are less competitive and more interested in the social aspects, which is more the remit of a running club.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Another Weakest Link planned for September (exact date TBC) at the Lagoon and then two next year: Lagoon and Duke's Mound/Marina, whatever you want to call it.

Source: as close to the horses' mouth as you can get.

Also said they tried to keep the one the other week fairly quiet as it was a bit of a test event, still got 77 teams turn up

 

[Notters]

What you're describing I would call a running club, whereas I'd say an athletics club is based at a track, although both come under England Athletics. The track based clubs are likely to have lots of stuff for kids, but I guess track & field based, rather than road running (or indeed trail or fell). That being said the athletics club would participate in cross country, whereas I've found running clubs are less likely to do so. None of the running clubs local to me have a kids section as far as I'm aware, just the athletics club.

I think the athletics club have a good mix of boys & girls, but once it gets to the seniors & vets I'm noticing the ratio is much more skewed towards males. Without wishing to stereotype I think the women are less competitive and more interested in the social aspects, which is more the remit of a running club.

Ah, we have one of these just across the road from us - https://skyrac.co.uk/
Assumed they would be very very serious!
It's funny how they do CX and not running clubs isn't it?

A lot of the running clubs round here do take kids though, and have kids fell runs etc. and you see them all in their kit at parkrun and elsewhere - https://www.bingleyharriers.co.uk/juniors/

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

10k at Dunsfold aerodrome yesterday. Bit of an injury risk after a parkrun and with a dodgy calf but got away with it. It was all a bit naff. There was no atmosphere at all and a poor turnout across the 3 events being run. The 10k kicked off 20 minutes late with the runners awaiting a starter in the boiling sun. The course was long, and with no shade, really baking.
Although I crossed the line in 44.47 (honest!) I didn't feature on the results list and when I chased it up I was given 46 plus. But a category win just about made the effort worthwhile.This was my 5th race in a row where there's been some sort of cock up. It serves to make you even more appreciative of the peerless parkrun set-up.

 

[knocky1]

10k at Dunsfold aerodrome yesterday. Bit of an injury risk after a parkrun and with a dodgy calf but got away with it. It was all a bit naff. There was no atmosphere at all and a poor turnout across the 3 events being run. The 10k kicked off 20 minutes late with the runners awaiting a starter in the boiling sun. The course was long, and with no shade, really baking.
Although I crossed the line in 44.47 (honest!) I didn't feature on the results list and when I chased it up I was given 46 plus. But a category win just about made the effort worthwhile.This was my 5th race in a row where there's been some sort of cock up. It serves to make you even more appreciative of the peerless parkrun set-up.

Don't think I'll chase down 44:47 at a hot Phoenix on Wednesday. Got my 6x 400m in today with a hangover. Brother over from LA been a long drinking 4 days. Glad he's off tomorrow.

You're right about the efficiency of Parkrun.

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Don't think I'll chase down 44:47 at a hot Phoenix on Wednesday. Got my 6x 400m in today with a hangover. Brother over from LA been a long drinking 4 days. Glad he's off tomorrow.

You're right about the efficiency of Parkrun.

Good luck for Wednesday. We all seem to have our own tolerance level for the heat. Hope yours is high......

 

[knocky1]

Good luck for Wednesday. We all seem to have our own tolerance level for the heat. Hope yours is high......

I sweat as much in winter as summer. So plenty of water all day, avoid the sun all day, sit in shade before start and wear a wet hat. Then cop out by running the outward leg at 23".

I'm still mentally scarred by last year's Personal Worse. I was returning from injury (of course) and decided to just go flat out without a training base. As each km passed I got slower and slower and nearly gave up at the Power Station. It was hot and I can still feel the pain. https://www.strava.com/activities/5629773269

 

[knocky1]

Good luck for Wednesday. We all seem to have our own tolerance level for the heat. Hope yours is high......

Very disappointing evening. Only NSC runner and NO

Ran a disciplined 7:36 mile pace into the wind for the first half and on the turn surprised to be unable to pick up the pace as intended. Had the enjoyment of picking off scores of runners including Arena ones and the fun of just getting negative splits. Ran it to my current form 47:06ish. Room for improvement and not a competitive time. Great fun though.

 

[big nuts]

Very disappointing evening. Only NSC runner and NO

Ran a disciplined 7:36 mile pace into the wind for the first half and on the turn surprised to be unable to pick up the pace as intended. Had the enjoyment of picking off scores of runners including Arena ones and the fun of just getting negative splits. Ran it to my current form 47:06ish. Room for improvement and not a competitive time. Great fun though.

Very good pacing. I used to like our post race beer in the Brunswick or the Better Half. Hopefully next year we can get back towards previous numbers.

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

Worthing PR: 20:49 (82.07%). Rather warm on the prom. Please note: no Worthing PRs until August.

 

[Blue&WhiteSea]

Ran a new 10k pb this morning at the super flat super fast Sri Chinmoy 10k in Battersea Park. 36:22 (also my 2nd best ever age grading of 75.67%).
So glad for the 8:30 start and mostly shady course.
Such a fast race that I still only managed 57th out of 135 runners!

 

[knocky1]

Finally getting somewhere after 70 miles running in 4 weeks. Not much for most on here but for me that is 25% of my 12 month total. Had a number of tough challenges with tired legs especially the Roundhill Romp and the Phoenix 10k. No great times as I worked hard on the training. However, the speed is starting to return and the stamina getting better. Took a bloody long time this time!

Now have 9 days before my 60+ 800m and 3k at Lewes track. Will be entering a taper which is long overdue but with a hard session coming at Withdean on cooler Wednesday. [MENTION=18183]big nuts[/MENTION] have you ever sneaked into Withdean for the track through that open gate during the day?

 

[big nuts]

Finally getting somewhere after 70 miles running in 4 weeks. Not much for most on here but for me that is 25% of my 12 month total. Had a number of tough challenges with tired legs especially the Roundhill Romp and the Phoenix 10k. No great times as I worked hard on the training. However, the speed is starting to return and the stamina getting better. Took a bloody long time this time!

Now have 9 days before my 60+ 800m and 3k at Lewes track. Will be entering a taper which is long overdue but with a hard session coming at Withdean on cooler Wednesday. [MENTION=18183]big nuts[/MENTION] have you ever sneaked into Withdean for the track through that open gate during the day?

I’ve never tried midweek, but a fair few weekend’s I’ve got in through an open door, which is down the disabled ramp, in between the pub and leisure centre.

If you can’t sneak in it’s £5.05, not sure what it is for pensioners though!

 

[knocky1]

First time since Steve Cram in 1983, the FA Cup Final year, we've won a 1500m World Championship Gold.
Incredible balls from Jake Wightman to get in front of
Jakob Ingebrigtsen 200m out and control the inside lane.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/62232323