20-11-2025, 12:34 PM
Thanks Gavin, you have got my situation absolutely spot on but to provide a little more info and reason (quite often illogical) 
. I provide you with this and that is that, pre covid and post my little knee op, sub 21:00 Park runs on this same course were a constant. I recognise at the time some 5 years ago I was on an annual regular marathon program, running two marathons and Oceans every year. Naturally this training included far higher mileage, 5 or 6 days a week and a far more complex running regime methodology, including all the elements required to run a fairly decent marathon around the three hour mark. In my naivety I believed that with a bit of training I should be able to at least get back to around the 23:00 parkrun minute mark, even if my marathon days were a thing of the past.
Not wanting to put my knee at any further risk, I decided to run three days a week and see where I could get to in terms of a time improvement. I have run long enough to recognize that without a proper more structured program, including at least a bit of anaerobic LSD, speed and possibly some interval running I would never be able to really improve my times. I also know instictively that I am currently probably running too hard, too often given the training that I have been doing, adopting a rather imature no pain no gain attitude to my running.
I am now thanks to our recent contact and your invite in your hands and am happy to comply with the suggestions that you put forward. I am more than happy to work towards a weekly 1 hour Sunday slow run, working towards 15K together with an interval session.
Apologies for the lengthy reply but do think its necessary for you to fully appreciate where I have been and where I am at, both with my running and then in my head (logical and illogical).
Looking forward to some more structured running into the future.
Thank you kindly.
. I provide you with this and that is that, pre covid and post my little knee op, sub 21:00 Park runs on this same course were a constant. I recognise at the time some 5 years ago I was on an annual regular marathon program, running two marathons and Oceans every year. Naturally this training included far higher mileage, 5 or 6 days a week and a far more complex running regime methodology, including all the elements required to run a fairly decent marathon around the three hour mark. In my naivety I believed that with a bit of training I should be able to at least get back to around the 23:00 parkrun minute mark, even if my marathon days were a thing of the past. Not wanting to put my knee at any further risk, I decided to run three days a week and see where I could get to in terms of a time improvement. I have run long enough to recognize that without a proper more structured program, including at least a bit of anaerobic LSD, speed and possibly some interval running I would never be able to really improve my times. I also know instictively that I am currently probably running too hard, too often given the training that I have been doing, adopting a rather imature no pain no gain attitude to my running.
I am now thanks to our recent contact and your invite in your hands and am happy to comply with the suggestions that you put forward. I am more than happy to work towards a weekly 1 hour Sunday slow run, working towards 15K together with an interval session.
Apologies for the lengthy reply but do think its necessary for you to fully appreciate where I have been and where I am at, both with my running and then in my head (logical and illogical).
Looking forward to some more structured running into the future.
Thank you kindly.