From fast to slow 🙂 All-time PB last week, second slowest parkrun ever this week as I was tailwalking. Lovely morning out for it.
Also lovely to be back in the Dene. Possibly exploring somewhere new next week but we’ll see!
Category: Exercise
parkrunday: Agnew #113
I don’t really know where to start. So let’s start with some stats.
Previous all-time parkrun PB: 28:42, Town Moor, September 2018.
Previous post-pandemic PB: 30:25, Crichton, August 2022.
Previous 2023 season’s best: 30:32, Leazes, August 2023.
BRAND NEW ALL-TIME PB 27:01 ON SATURDAY AT AGNEW :O :O :O
Combination of a summer of very hard training, a pancake-flat course, and Nike Vaporflys.
Things that are so overwhelming I can’t even begin to understand them at the moment: previous inability to get under 30 minutes post-hiatus, previous inability to hold this pace for more than 400m during interval sessions, assorted others.
I am in total shock.
parkrunday: Leazes #120
A very wet one this last weekend. I went to Leazes as Geth was parkrunning for once (as part of his long run) and had settled on Leazes for a bit of pace work as Town Moor was still off (for a festival that ended up getting cancelled… but let’s not go there).
I wasn’t expecting much pace in the rain, especially as I’d had to powerwalk most of the three and a half miles there after getting to the metro and realising I’d forgotten my bank card. It turned out to be a good warmup though and I was able to bomb it round for a good course PB, finishing in 30:32. Still hunting that post-pandemic sub-30! Didn’t have speed shoes on though so maybe next time.
Lots of TMBR folks also got course PBs so maybe the rain was doing a good job.
Further afield next time, and hopefully even faster…
parkrunday: Rising Sun #289
I keep meaning to try out Denton Dene, the new parkrun on the west side of Newcastle, but it might have to wait for a few more weeks. I decided on Rising Sun on Saturday morning, as I find it quite a peaceful place to run once you’re past the congested start.
Steady run with some progression towards the end got me round in 32:35, which I didn’t realise was a course PB until later that day! I had it in my head that I’d previously done 32:00 dead on, but it was actually 33:00. Nice to see more improvement.
Leazes next week as Geth is doing a rare parkrun again!
Race Review: Great North 10k 2023
Another year, another Great North 10k route!
The Great North 10k used to be entirely in Gateshead, starting just outside Gateshead Stadium, heading out for an out-and-back along the Quayside, and finishing on the track inside it. I didn’t do it last year but I’m aware the route was changed so that it crossed one or two of the bridges and went along the Newcastle side of the Quayside for a bit, very similarly to the RunThrough Gateshead 10k that now takes place at the end of April (which I did for the first time this year). This year, they changed the route again, making it similar to the special 2021 route for the Great North Run where we all ran out halfway and then turned back. The difference was that as it was just a 10k, we turned back as soon as we got to the end of the Tyne Bridge – so we did pop into Gateshead, but only for a few seconds!
Still chasing that sub-hour 10k, I did some proper training for it this time with a couple of months of speedwork and higher mileage. Geth also offered to pace me as he was still recovering from his injury and wasn’t planning to race fast himself.
We set off too fast due to the downhill start. As with the GNR, this is hard to avoid. The bulk of the race after the Tyne Bridge out-and-back is a lot of twisting and turning in central Newcastle and I did start finding it a bit difficult to keep to pace at this point, especially when we went through what looked like the midway timing mats (quite a bit after 5k on my watch) in 30:08 and I knew I wouldn’t be able to match my first half. I kept up as best as I could up the hill to the Great North Road and the very tough final section along the gravel paths of the Town Moor to the finish line.
Geth paced it well but sub-hour still eludes me. I finished in 1:01:21, which was a 1 min 20 sec PB following my 1:02:41 at Sunderland in May. Getting closer. But not there yet.
Things that slowed me down on the day:
- A less than easy course including the Town Moor’s notoriously tough gravel
- Very strong winds, which in particular made the exposed Moor even tougher
- The course measuring long on my watch (about 6.3 miles) – I know you have to allow for these things but the watch reckons I did 10k in 1:00:37! Swings and roundabouts…
As such, I know I can do it someday. Just need to find that golden combination of a fast course and good conditions.
It was lovely to be at the race with so many Benchies and to go for a pub lunch afterwards!
I’ve arranged one final crack at this distance for 2023. Geth and I are running the Leeds Abbey Dash in October. It doesn’t appear to be that flat (Yorkshire flat perhaps), so not the fastest of courses, but I am determined to give sub-hour another go.
parkrundays: Rising Sun #284, Town Moor #585, Jesmond Dene #115, Pendle #406 and Jesmond Dene #117
Bit of a parkrun catchup post as I’ve not had much time for blogging recently!
A few weeks ago I went to Rising Sun for the first time in about five years. It used to be my go-to alternative parkrun when Town Moor wasn’t on, but then Leazes and Jesmond Dene started up in 2019 and I’d sort of forgotten about Rising Sun in the intervening time. It was really nice to try it again (I think I’ve now run it three times on three slightly different courses).
The week after that, I was parkwalking for the first time at Town Moor, as I had a race the following day. I understand the parkwalking role is different from the tailwalking role, but I found that there weren’t really any other walkers to encourage – there was (I think) one very fast walker and a few slow runners, but they were all quite a lot faster than my brisk walking pace and so I ended up hanging back with the tailwalkers and other parkwalker after all (all fellow Benchies so it was nice). We finished in just over 50 minutes so quite a fast field.
A week later, it was NHS celebration day, so I headed down to Jesmond Dene in one of my many blue race t-shirts. It was a lovely day for a run so I took it easy en route and enjoyed the cake afterwards!
Then last week, Geth and I were visiting the in-laws so I was back at Pendle parkrun. Incredibly, after trying and failing to break 35 minutes at Pendle for years, I somehow ran 32:46 without really pushing it! No idea where that came from! Really pleased though.
Finally, this last weekend, I was volunteering at Jesmond Dene – finish tokens in the torrential rain for an hour. What a difference a fortnight makes weather-wise… No photo as it was far too wet for a selfie.
I’m really enjoying a variety of parkruns at the moment and expect that to continue for the rest of the summer and beyond!
parkrunday: Leazes #114
A slight change of scenery this last weekend. Geth wanted a fast parkrun and believes Leazes to be the fastest in the local area (I’m not convinced. That hill at the end of the lap really slows you down!), so off we headed.
I decided not to attempt sub-30 as it was still very warm, but still managed a good pace and ended up getting a course PB of 32:36. Not bad and hopefully I can improve on that on a cooler day.
No idea about next week yet. May well leave it till Friday to decide!
parkrunday: Jesmond Dene #111
Another late parkrunday blog post but I wanted to get my Blaydon Race post up first!
I was timekeeping at Jesmond Dene again (my favourite role these days) as I wanted an easy morning after the previous night’s race. It was a gorgeous morning for standing around volunteering (perhaps a bit warm for running, as has been the case for a good week or so now) and also a busy one for Jesmond Dene with nearly 300 finishers! This was due to (a) Town Moor being off for the Hoppings fair, (b) people wanting an event #111 for their Nelson challenge* and (c) post-Blaydon Race tourism.
Going somewhere else this coming weekend to get a run in!
*geeky parkrun tourism stuff, don’t worry if you don’t know what that is.
Race Review: Blaydon Race 2023
I’ve always had a bit of a ‘mare at the Blaydon Race in the past (see my 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 posts), largely due to not being an evening runner. Evening running has traditionally given me a stitch. However, I’ve been practising over the last ten months or so by regularly going to the Monday night TMBR run, so I hoped this would be less of an issue this time.
I’d also never managed sub-hour at the race, even in years when the course was shorter due to aforementioned stitch issues and other things. It was meant to be the same route as last year (which had been about 6.1 miles on my watch) and I’m still two or three minutes away from a sub-hour 10k, so I thought it’d be a close thing (but was hopeful).
I had pasta for breakfast in order to try and rejig my stomach clock appropriately (as the race was due to start at 7:15pm) and nothing else during the day except a small breakfast-type snack late afternoon. I then left for the race with plenty of time to spare so that I could use the baggage bus and hang around with TMBR folks before the start.
It was the usual great atmosphere at the start area, and I was able to chat to plenty of folks I knew from various running groups. Bit of a nervous wait for the start, and I was a bit confused about where the start line was as everyone started running early (so I started my watch about 12 seconds before the actual timing mat!), but once we got going it was a nice fast race and I had to be really careful not to sprint off. This is a real advantage of the new Quayside start – it avoids all the bottlenecks we used to have in the centre of town, although it is a shame it doesn’t quite match the song as well these days!
I managed to hold a slightly faster and steadier pace than I’ve been doing in my 10ks recently – 9:40 min mile average, slowing from about 9:20 min miles at the start to just under 10 min miles by the end. I don’t think this would quite have got me in under the hour if it had been a full 10k, but thankfully the course turned out to be only 5.8 miles by my watch this year (no idea why, it was the same route as last year!) and I finished in 56:24! Finally a sub-hour by some margin, and a 4 min 11 sec Blaydon PB!
I still have a lot of running demons left to slay but Blaydon was a pretty big one. I’ve been trying since 2017 and I finally had a good race.
Of course I’ll be back again next year though – the unique race atmosphere is too good to pass up, especially now I’m finally able to enjoy it properly!
parkrunday: Town Moor #584
I’m a little late with last weekend’s parkrunday post – it’s been a busy week!
I tried for sub-30 – it was pacer week at Town Moor and I knew my friend Jack from TMBR was pacing 30 – but I could only hang on for less than a mile. 31:41 in the end. I’ll keep trying this summer.
Volunteering again this weekend though!