A parkrun PB

I really look forward to every fortnight at Sandgate parkrun, when it's my turn to run (Dean & I alternate between being Event Director and running with the kids in the pram).  It's really the only run where I really try and improve my times - usually during training, I'm not too concerned about my pace.

I have two sets of PBs - with pram and without.  Since starting parkrun 3 months ago, my goal has been to one day break the 25 minute mark with the two kids in the pram.  I've been close a couple of times, running about 25:15 on two separate occasions.

Well, today was the day!

I set out feeling pretty good - we had an attendance record of 152 today, so I did find the start a bit crowded, and I only really got into my own pace at about the 500m mark.  I spotted a guy in a blue t-shirt and he became my pace-setter (and I managed to stick about 10metres behind him for the whole 5km).

I had my ismoothrun app going on my phone, but I fumbled with it at the start, so I knew that the distance & time being relayed to me wasn't quite accurate.  I felt like I was running about 5 minutes/km, and was feeling pretty good.  I'm a bit competitive, so I was enjoying overtaking a few people!

At the turnaround, I thought I was doing pretty well and realised there was a slight tail wind for the 2.5km stretch home - bonus!  I was sticking pretty well behind blue shirt, and realised he was nearing one of our parkrun regulars - a lady who often finishes a couple of hundred metres ahead of me.  That was a bit motivator to keep up the pace and pass her, having never beaten her while pushing the pram before!

One of the great things about Sandgate parkrun is all the encouragement I get from fellow runners after the turnaround!  It really boosts me along to get so many encouraging words :-)

I was starting to get pretty tired and hot around the 4km mark, but knew I was too far in to drop my pace.  So I stuck with blue shirt and tried to focus on the stretch home.  A whining child in the pram wasn't really helping, but thankfully I managed to distract him with promises of seeing Daddy and playing at the playground soon!

Another female passed me along the stretch home - I was a bit annoyed, as I had been in third place and really wanted to hold onto that!  She ended up beating me by 2 seconds - I just couldn't catch her at the end.

I finished and cooled down a bit, forgetting to look at my time on the app (why do I always do that?!?) - but I knew it wasn't spot on anyway.  One benefit of being a parkrun ED is being able to see my result as soon as we get home!  Dean loaded up the times & checked my result...

24:47!!!

I was so thrilled - I thought I'd given 25 minutes good crack, but I didn't expect to beat it by that much!

It just goes to show how helpful the hill runs have been in getting my speed up.  All in all, a fantastic run today and it's so satisfying to tick a goal off the list.  It was only about 4 months ago that I ran almost exactly that time with no pram at North Lakes parkrun - I can't believe my improvement since then and how running with the pram (all 40+kg of it including kids!), is becoming second nature.

Now to crack 24:00!

A Week of Hills

This is the hill I run...I'm sure it looks steeper when I'm on it!

I like to mix things up a bit with my runs, so I don't get too bored and to help improve my fitness.

Hill runs were introduced by my dear husband Dean in early December.  He set me a challenge - and when he does that, he knows my competitive nature will take over and I won't be able to refuse!  The challenge was to run up a hill (it's a bit under 100m), which falls at the 2.5km mark on our usual run.  The first week was 1 hill, the second week was 2 hills, the third was 3 etc etc.   Once I'd been running the hills for a couple of weeks, I noticed my 5km parkrun time was getting significantly faster - and it was no coincidence!  I should point out, these hill "sprints" include pushing the pram (with the 2 kids inside!) - it's really hard work!  On days when we run together, we each do a few sprints with the pram and a few without.

The last couple of weeks I've really been struggling with the hills, and only really doing about 1 session of hills a week.  I just felt like I didn't have the energy to get up there and I was ready to go home after only 1 lap!

So this week, I've had a bit of a hill focus.  On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I've run the standard 2.5 kilometres, then 6 laps of the hill, then the 2.5km home.  The 7km loop takes about 46-47 minutes, which is a fair bit slower than my usual pace - but I've really been trying to run every step of the hill, no matter how slowly I go.

It is seriously hard work pushing 45+kg of pram plus kids uphill!  But I have to say, I've gotten so much encouragement this week from other people going up or down.  That really gives me a boost and gives me a bit of extra push to go on!

I've found myself using a technique when I'm on the way up, that I used when I was in labour!  I read about it in a book called "Birth Skills" - and it's pretty straight forward, but it's just counting it out.  This helps to distract you from the pain, gives you a focus and helps make the time go faster.  And now I know how many steps I take up the hill, so I use that as encouragement along the way (halfway there!  Only 10 steps to go!)

The great thing about doing hills as opposed to just a standard run is that it really gets the heart rate up and adds on a couple of extra kms that I probably wouldn't have otherwise run.  So here I am on Wednesday, with over 20kms already under my belt for the week, and I haven't even done a long run yet - bonus!

I just want to finish by saying that this week marks 1 year since I started the 12 week body transformation.  I am simply amazed at how far I've come in a year - I could never have imagined I would call myself a runner!  I really want to encourage anyone just starting out - a year ago, I could barely run 1km - and now I'm heading for a marathon!  Anything is possible!!!

The view on the way down - it just happens to be the former Sandgate Baptist Church, where Dean & I got married 6.5 years ago!