Parkrun No. 7 - 14km (with a new PB!)

dannewton just finished a 14.18km run, that lasted for 105 minutes.
This run helped dannewton burn 1211.0 calories.

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Description from Strava: Well, its Saturday! This means its Long Run Day, and currently also Parkrun Day.

the Parkruns are only 5km, but I integrate them into part of a longer run.

Before I get with describing how the session went today, I also wanted to share details from a run a couple of days ago:

link to activity page on strava

Yep, you read that correctly, I completed pretty much the whole 6km session as a run, with only a short walk to warm up, and a second short walk as part of a cool down.

Its the first time I've managed that in 3 months, so I'm super stoked that too intents and purposes I'm now back running. Yes there is still a little niggle in the calf, but as each week passes that tightness is less and less noticeable.

Going forward I know I still need to incorporate some strength training into my schedule, and the stretches too...

Time for todays run. The weather looks cloudy and overcast, but is still surprisingly warm at 8:30AM when I set out this morning. It is an improvement on the torrential rain we had last time.

And as the weather was better, there was a correspondingly much larger turnout today; almost 300 people today compared to the 200 runners last week.

As I had set of slightly later than I had planned, I only just managed to get arrive at the starting location at Boultham Park just before it started, so missed the race briefing

whoops, don't want to do that again!

runners (and walkers) heading to the starting position

With my previous session in mind I wanted to run the 5km Parkrun in one go (ie without stopping to take a walking break). I started in the middle of the pack this time, instead of hanging around at the back, and this meant that I was able to start at a faster pace than I had in previous races.

The route at Boultham park is quite simple, with 3 laps around this rather pretty lake.

I ran the first lap at a similar pace as the people near me, and decided on lap 2 and 3 to push the pace and to see how my calf would perform. At this point I felt comfortable, well biomechanically at least, as all my limbs were functioning as expected. My heart and lungs were complaining due to the lack of fitness, but that will come back in time.

Finishing the 2nd lap, still felt 'relatively' strong so kept on pushing the pace. Really enjoying stretching my legs out actually running instead of plodding, and still no issues or complaints from the calf. I even managed to 'kick' for home, and run the last 300-400 meters as fast as I could.

definitely gasping for air once I finished!

After collecting my finish token and then getting my parkrun barcode scanned, it was time to head back home. I took several walking breaks on the way home, purely to get the heart rate down as I had been pushing fairly hard.

I was expecting a Parkrun PB, and soon after I arrived home I received the confirmation:

Under 29 minutes (just!). Technically this is only shows the the fastest time I've run a parkrun event, I have gone faster in the past, and I actually have a 5km PB time of 23:01 but that was many, many moons ago.

I doubt I'll ever get to that level again, so if I can keep improving what I currently have then that will be enough for me

Now its time for a quick shower and then I'll be heading over to parents for a BBQ... I'll probably end up eating too much, but after todays performance I think I've earned it!

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If you would like to check out this activity on strava you can see it here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/9631035853

About the Athlete: Living in the UK, I am an intermittent Runner, but always striving for more consistency. When I'm not training I can be found photographing insects or listening to really loud angry music (which is the best type of music obviously!)

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