Swindon Park Run

I'm doing the London 10k run in July as a fundraiser for The Bike Experience.

Starting this weekend, I'm going to be doing the Swindon 5k each week as well as my normal training. For those looking at the Royal Marines Race, it may also be useful. One of the guys at my gym recommended it to me. You just enter, and they send you a barcode by email that you take along, and hand in at the end to get your times.

Register online at http://www.parkrun.org.uk/swindon/home and let me know if you're planning on coming along as it would be nice to have someone else there that I know!

I can currently do 5k in 36mins on the treadmill, so hoping I can get that down to 25 mins over the next couple of months. I've been advised that, although road running is physically more demanding, because of the scenery changes, and the fact you run in groups, it's often easier to go quicker and more enjoyable. I hope that's true!

I find road running far easier than treadmill - I stuck to the treadmill for the first year that I started running because I was apprehensive about running on the road...now I detest treadmill running.

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Originally Posted by Dabz

I find road running far easier than treadmill - I stuck to the treadmill for the first year that I started running because I was apprehensive about running on the road...now I detest treadmill running.

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That's exactly what I've been told. But I wanted to get my base fitness up first, so that I didn't run 5kms from the house, then get stuck as I was too unfit to get home!

Currently doing 7.5 in an hour, but my goal will be to do the 10k in an hour. As a reference point, my friend can do a half marathon in 2 hours, so there is LOTS of room for improvement! He tried getting me to sign up for a half marathon in March. It took me a while to get up from laughing so hard!

Have never managed to get the hang of treadmills..... always seem to end up in the handle or on the floor!!!

I have a nice 5k route around trowbridge, mixture of hills and flats. My best 10km time is 58mins and have never managed to get faster than that...and probably never will now since the 'great tendon injury of Christmas 2009". The 5k is about the most I can do now, and even then I'm in pain from 4km onwards :/

If you add an incline on the treadmill it simulates road running a bit better so when you go out on tarmac it's less of a shock to the muscles. Smear some dog sh*t on it too for that real authentic road running experience.

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Originally Posted by dan_geoghegan

Smear some dog sh*t on it too for that real authentic road running experience.

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This is fitness first - I'm sure there's probably already sh1t on there! ;D

How much of an incline would you recommend. I normally vary between 1.5 & 3 depending on how energetic I'm feeling. Is that sufficient?

I normally go for 1.5 or 2.

Best of luck with it. Make us proud! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

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Originally Posted by dan_geoghegan

If you add an incline on the treadmill it simulates road running a bit better so when you go out on tarmac it's less of a shock to the muscles. Smear some dog sh*t on it too for that real authentic road running experience.

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Since my off I've been a treatmill mong and hate it , back out on the roads running and I'd almost forgotten how different it is ... Changes in gradient dropping up and down kerbs, the wind, rain, differing heat affecting how you run too, wind direction and strength play a huge part as does the temperature, its far from the controlled environment of the gym with its heating / aircon in the dry with a plasma screen in front of you .

Aid, find a good road route with varying terrain and cambers to get up and down, the hills will make a hell of a difference to your recovery too..

But most of all, good luck buddy x

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Originally Posted by BladeTriple

[quote author=dan_geoghegan link=1326113062/5#5 date=1326119549]If you add an incline on the treadmill it simulates road running a bit better so when you go out on tarmac it's less of a shock to the muscles. Smear some dog sh*t on it too for that real authentic road running experience.

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Since my off I've been a treatmill mong and hate it , back out on the roads running and I'd almost forgotten how different it is ... Changes in gradient dropping up and down kerbs, the wind, rain, differing heat affecting how you run too, wind direction and strength play a huge part as does the temperature, its far from the controlled environment of the gym with its heating / aircon in the dry with a plasma screen in front of you .

Aid, find a good road route with varying terrain and cambers to get up and down, the hills will make a hell of a difference to your recovery too..

But most of all, good luck buddy x [/quote]

Completely agree with the above. I'm not a natural runner being the size I am but find the problem with treadmills is it's too easy to stop if you feel tired or under motivated. At least outside if you run 2 miles from home, there's a greater motivation to run back. On a treadmill, the "STOP" button is just too easy. Outside (when it's lighter) I will try and push myself uphill and then take it easier on the way down to try and get some breath back.

I was wrong - just checked and my fastest 10k time is 56 mins :P 2 mins makes all the difference lol.

Do you use runkeeper or anything? I use the Nike+ GPS app on my phone to keep a record of my runs and the best feature is challenge yourself - I do the same route and it compares with the last run as I go, telling me at each km marker whether I'm faster/slower etc. If you're used to a treadmill spouting all sorts of facts and figures about pace, distance, incline etc then it's worth using a similar app.

Dabz the beauty of running is being able to swtich off and leave the gadgets behind ;) A pair of trainers and some comfy running gear, get a rough distance and just go until your legs get tired , thats another thing I hated about treadmills, telling me how fast (or slow ) I'm going, time left, time ran, distance ran etc... I find it nice just to get out, get a sweat on , do my distance and enjoy the run ;) I guess it's hard for some people to leave the inner geek at home , even when running x :P

Annoyingly, I bought Nike+ trainers, only to find out they don't do the app for android phones (cue the 'iphones are better' comments!)!

But I will prob get the wristband version which is slightly better anyway as it has a heart monitor. I did download the GPS version of the adidas equivalent though - MiFit

I've notched up 704km in total on my Nike+ now - the geekiness appeals to my nerd-brain :P

It's just a good way of keeping a record. If you don't know what you've done, how do you know if you're improving?

I tend to keep a little log book of my weights for the gym as well so I know where exactly what I did last time, and where/when improvement is happening. My squats were near impossible at 60kgs when I started doing them about 4 months ago, but by adding little and often, amd recording it, I've can now deep squat a set of 85kgs. Still not a lot by most peoples standards but it's a big improvement for me.

I guess we all have our own ways at telling how well we are doing at exercise. It all depends what you're trying to achieve - weight loss, muscle growth, endurance etc etc. I find my clothes fit well or badly according to how well I'm doing so never bother with any real geeky stuff. I do know however, what my reps/weights/speeds are so I know roughly where I should be. My pool record is 126 length's (25m) in 55 minutes but am at present at 104 due to Christmas and being a bit lazy at present ;) Plus I'm a bit older than you youngsters ;D

A bit? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

*ducks the punches*

A punch from me would be way over your head..... no need to duck ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

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Originally Posted by Squashed_Fly

It's just a good way of keeping a record. If you don't know what you've done, how do you know if you're improving?

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Generally by how quick I recover, how far I've gone, by the length of the strides I'm taking, where I slow down and if I continue to go slow or speed up in those areas, knowing that fitness will peak and trough on a daily / weekly basis depending on what fluids and food I've had along with rest.

Good food makes you perform better than if you've had junk food and even covering short distances like 4-5 miles you can see and feel it when you're out running.

Also knowing that I have enough fuel left in reserve to do an extra half mile / couple of miles or a longer sprint / faster paced run towards the end lets me know that I'm improving too. The human body has evolved for centuries without gadgets. Just been reading up on the benefits of barefoot running (or at least using minimalist trainers) how its how we are supposed to run, mid sole instead of heal striking which trainers encourage, the top athletes are all raving about it (anyone under 30 hear of Zola Budd?) Seriously thinking about investing in a pair of Vibram trainers right now, anything that minimises injury and improves performance would be great :)

Considering I'm 38 and looked at as an old git by soldier standards (3 years off being a pensioner Snowy , closer to mine than you are in your 50's ;)) I need all the help I can get !

The vibrams are SOOOOO cool! one of the gym trainers has a pair and they look awsome. Are you getting the 5 finger ones?

I am plenty overweight after giving up smoking almost 2 years ago and I am rapidly approaching 55. In order to motivate myself to run I use a Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch which records pace, distance, time and heartbeat from a chest strap monitor.

I did use runkeeper on my iPhone but the gps on the 3GS wasn't brilliant however this is much improved on the 4S. You can upload from the garmin to runkeeper if you like that interface.

I was quite pleased that I managed the 5k Santa Dash through Brokerswood in December and might just have a go at something a bit further this year.