Parkrun PB

I have mentioned before about how hard I have found it to improve my course record at my local parkrun (Bramhall.) I had a blinder in March 2014 and did the course in 19:21 but found it impossible to get near that time for a while. Even after another summer of marathon training in 2014 I was struggling to get under 20 minutes for the rest of the year.

In 2015 I got injured in the spring and then finally managed a respectable 19:34 at the end of the year. In 2016 I finally improved my record with a 19:18 in spring and a 19:03 in August.

Last week I managed a decent 19:15 on slightly tapered legs and a very muddy course. Today I was more rested and the conditions were much better. Could I finally improve my record?

I did a shorter warm up of 2 miles with some strides at the end. This time I had a few more minutes to recover before the start of the race as well.

I was pleased to see some fast club mates on the start line - they would help pull me round the course.

I started off at a sensible pace and straight away about 20 people come past me but I knew that many of them would come back to me. Two club mates, Ian and John were just in front of me and for the first lap I kept up with Ian as John pulled away. Ian was going fast enough for my liking and I wasn't expecting to be able to live with John.

In the second lap Ian tired a bit and I pushed past him. It was then a case of getting as far in front of him as I could. My heart rate was in the right place, about 163 and my watch was telling me that the pace was good. The Garmin is consistently useless on this course and normally measures it at 2.8 miles rather than 3.1. This means that it always tell you that you are going much slower than you actually are. Normally the indicated mile lap times are about 6:45 or so but today they were more like 6:30 so I knew I was going well.

Into the last Km and I could hear someone catching me. This helped spur me on and I managed a decent sprint down the hill to the finish line, managing 4:30 pace according to Strava!

When I looked at my watch I was expected a good time but couldn't believe my eyes when I saw 18:45! My first sub-19 on this course and 2nd fastest 5K ever. That also got me the club record for my age group. A lot of fist pumping ensued. I haven't felt that excited about a PB since I first went sub-20 here.

Things are looking good. Only eight days to go and I can't wait!