Recently I have been losing weight... down to 113kg from 135kg at the start of this year. Took up running 6 weeks ago and now doing my first ever parkrun next Saturday.
Ran a few 5ks and my best thus far is 33mins. Really hoping to beat that, any tips on how to make me a bit faster in a short space of time? Really nervous about it all, hope I don't succumb to the pressure on the day or over exert and DNF/injure myself.
Do you guys have any food/drink before the run? Pacing tips? Don't think my parkrun has any pacers so I'm self-reliant in that aspect.
Thanks all
Personally, I would just have something light like a banana. If you want to “do a time”, then I suggest you set up strava on your phone if you haven’t done so already. Let’s go for 32.5 minutes which I’m gonna suggest from what you’ve said that, that’s achievable. That is a pace of 10 minutes, 27 seconds per mile. Make sure that you’ve got your split average pace set to miles on strava and then you can track where your pace is at during the race. Hope this makes sense.
Don't think you need to worry about food for a 5km (other than being hydrated) and pace wise, consistent from start to finish is probably the way to go although a negative split is always nice.
Not sure you're going to get much time to influence speed in such a short space of time but interval training will help (like running at full pelt for 400m, resting for 90 seconds and doing it 6- 8 times). Make sure you have a slow 1.5km warm up and cool down either side.
Recently I have been losing weight... down to 113kg from 135kg at the start of this year. Took up running 6 weeks ago and now doing my first ever parkrun next Saturday.
Ran a few 5ks and my best thus far is 33mins. Really hoping to beat that, any tips on how to make me a bit faster in a short space of time? Really nervous about it all, hope I don't succumb to the pressure on the day or over exert and DNF/injure myself.
Do you guys have any food/drink before the run? Pacing tips? Don't think my parkrun has any pacers so I'm self-reliant in that aspect.
Thanks all
Enjoy it - there has been a really supportive atmosphere every time I've run and it's a great way to start the weekend! Don't go too fast on your first one, you want an easy time to beat for your second parkrun!
I wake up around 7 so usually have a light breakfast, but I've done it without or with minimal food plenty of times.
No pacing tips from me. I usually go all out on the first half and then spend the rest of it knackered and getting overtaken.
Don’t worry about any targets, just enjoy the run and the atmosphere. Every parkrun has different challenges, some are flat, some are (very) hilly, some have plenty of space where you can run uninhibited while others have width restrictions which force you to slow right down. It’s all part of the fun. Just relax and enjoy it !
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Not sure you're going to get much time to influence speed in such a short space of time but interval training will help (like running at full pelt for 400m, resting for 90 seconds and doing it 6- 8 times). Make sure you have a slow 1.5km warm up and cool down either side.
Enjoy it - there has been a really supportive atmosphere every time I've run and it's a great way to start the weekend! Don't go too fast on your first one, you want an easy time to beat for your second parkrun!
I wake up around 7 so usually have a light breakfast, but I've done it without or with minimal food plenty of times.
No pacing tips from me. I usually go all out on the first half and then spend the rest of it knackered and getting overtaken.
Think I'll have a banana and a black coffee and hope this will do the trick.
Will be sure to post my result on this thread next week and will be checking this thread more often.
If anybody is remotely interested, it's the Harlow parkrun and seems to be pretty flat... thank god!