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Thursday 16 May 2013

Fancy Some Pain?

I’ve entered the New Forest Marathon in September (and naturally having succumbed to the “I can do better ...” which strikes after EVERY marathon, no matter how successful it was) I’m looking for ways to knock a few minutes off of my Paris marathon time. Or as many minutes as possible without having to have my legs amputated and replaced by those of a Kenyan.

According to the experts (in this case the hugely successful Steve Smythe who has run a sub-3 marathon for THREE DECADES!! – The man’s a machine!!  – a good way of doing this is to start with the basics. I’m going to work on 5k and 10ks and build the speed up on these.



In theory, I like this idea. 5ks are short, they only last about 20 minutes (and a bit) and there’s a parkrun every Saturday which can be my progress test. Also it should be fairly easy to tell if something works or not. If I get slower, something’s gone horribly wrong. In theory, 5ks are good.

However, in reality 5ks hurt. They REALLY hurt. In fact every time I finish a parkrun I say to whoever is standing in the barcode queue with me “I’d forgotten how much this hurts.” This may be down to my terrible memory. Or lack of originality. But I remember getting myself around my first parkruns (about 2 and a half years ago) by telling myself “Just finish this one. You don’t have to do this again next week if you don’t want to ...” Of course the next week I’d always be back in the queue saying to whoever I was standing next to “I’d forgotten ...”

As the saying goes, misery likes company ... so do you fancy a bash at getting your 5k time down? It doesn’t matter how quick or slow you are ... the aim is just to knock a minute or so off of your current time.

Partners in misery so far:

Anyone else up for some pain? We'd love to have you along too!

11 comments:

  1. YES! I'm so in! I've just mentioned you and Kathleen on my recent Summer goals post for our operation sub 20 minute 5k!

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    1. Uh-oh!! So even if - in a moment of weakness - I remove this post thinking I'm going for an unachievable goal, I'm still down in writing elsewhere? Rats! I gues I'd better knuckle down and get that speed training in then! :)

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  2. Yeah this is a goal of mine too :)

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    1. Hooray!! What's your twitter handle? Do you fancy keeping us updated as to how you're getting on?

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  3. I've only done 1 5k race so far - they suck! :) I ran it in 23 minutes something but I do think it's time to up the speed and see how do now (2 years later).

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    1. Wow!! That's really impressive!! It took me MONTHS of doing 5ks to even get it below 30 mins!! Fab!!!

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  4. Oh me please!I like a bit of pain.Never done 5k b4 but not this weekend the weekend after on the 26/5 and I'll post on Twitter @Beer_n_Blisters

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    1. Hooray!! Glad you're in, Chris! What ... never done a 5k? You're missing out! No really. They hurt a bit but are properly addictive!! Let me kniow how you get on this weekend!

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  5. Ooh I'm in, akthough I am bit steadier than you guys (sub-20 would be equivalent to triple rollover lotto jackspot win) but sub-22 would be good!

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    1. Glad to have you in!! So ... when you get your sub-20 in a couple of months you're DEFINITELY buying a lottery tocket, right?

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  6. Count me in. I'd love a sub-24 sometime soon!

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