Richmond Park

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/richmond/

After a bit of a race against the clock we scraped into the start of the 343rd Richmond parkrun today to a worried looking Oliver who probably thought we’d driven to the wrong park! It was one of those mornings where every traffic light was red and everyone seemed to be trying to keep to a steady 15mph through the centre of Kingston. We arrived at the park at about 8:50 and after some interesting navigation to the car park had a mad dash to where we could see the runners had congregated in the distance. It was one hell of a warm up though and I toyed with starting the watch early to monitor the full 6k we ended up running.

Luckily we made it in the nick of time and joined the fairly large crowd of 339 (including me, Hannah and Ollie) to meander down to the start line in the scenic royal park. After a pre-race strategy chat where I resolved to take it very easy to save myself for a club league race the following day, I threw caution to the wind and shot off like a greased pig.

I was pleased with myself as I looked at my watch as I was running at about 3:40/km and it didn’t feel flat out. 1km in and I was already doing maths that pretty much equated to a world record….well, a PB anyway so I kept it going. After covering the first 2km in 7:38 the sub-20 looked well and truly on, but looking at the profile plot from my watch we had actually been running a gradual down-hill which explains why trying to keep the pace going for the third kilometre made me feel like I was going to keel over. As well as that very gradual decline being almost imperceptible, the gradual incline over the last 2km was, for the most part, unnoticeable other than the fact that my pace just got worse and worse. I finally clocked in at 20:37 which is actually a time I am happy with, but it was quite hard work for the last 2 or 3km.

In terms of difficulty I would put this almost exactly level with Hove, because I think now I know the course profile I could pace myself a lot more consistently and achieve a very similar time to Hove. Other factors for this comparison: Richmond doesn’t have any big hills like Hove does despite a similar total incline, but in some ways that hampers you because you never really notice you are going up or down hill; Richmond has a mixed terrain including road, trail and grass which for me I find trickier than a full on road route; Richmond finishes slightly up-hill whereas Hove finishes on a nice decline; Richmond is only one lap which gets rid of any repetition. 

The field seemed reasonably well mixed and included some very decent runners. They seemed pretty friendly too, especially at the end everyone seemed very jolly but as we arrived so late I never got the chance to absorb the ‘vibe’ of this one. The setting was nice, running around a park that was largely undisturbed by anyone else. A few other runners scattered about doing their own thing but the paths were all plenty wide enough for everybody. There was no course congestion at any point, helped by the fact it was only one big lap. 

Definitely a course with some PB potential and in a nicer setting than Hove.

Pictured: Me, Hannah and Oliver. 'Selfie' courtesy of Ollie!

Tilgate (Crawley) - Part 2

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/tilgate/

Saturday the 19th Hannah and I had another pop at Tilgate parkrun. Both of us had only run this one once before, Hannah when she first started out and me running around with her getting told I was annoying her! So with that in mind we knew we shouldn’t struggle to get a course PB. As mentioned before, I had in my head that this course could be easier than Hove so I wanted to put that theory to the test.

Given that the nasty incline that I could remember was something I’d only have to run up once, I thought that’d be less draining than running up the side of Hove Park 2.75 times (approximately!). What I hadn’t allowed for was that prior to the concrete hill some have nicknamed ‘The Travelator”, there was actually another brief incline which sort of sapped my energy before I even got to the part I was prepared for. On that basis (see previous blog entry) I realised that actually this course is a little harder than Hove.

On the start line the starter announced "welcome to Burgess Hill Runners who are making a bit of an event of this". I'm not sure what he'd got wind of, but actually there did turn out to be quite a few of us there and it was nice to bump into a few familiar faces at the end. 

I started a little way back on this one and found it difficult to fight my way towards the front after it started. This didn’t impact my time, because it gave me a bit of spare energy for the remaining 4.5km, but as the first parkrun i’ve run with a starting funnel, it was a little tricky at first. As previously mentioned you begin with a lap round the pretty lake over a bit of a gravel path….i’m not sure what the correct shoes are for gravel but I’d bet my bottom dollar someone somewhere does have special ‘gravel shoes’ for sale. This takes in a very gradual incline which you’d barely notice if you walked, but it does bring your heart rate up a tiny bit while you’re running and it shouldn’t be taken for granted. After the trip round the lake you go off for a big lap around the woods and greenery (this is where that little bugger of an incline stitches you up) before eventually mounting a bit of a climb up the aforementioned concrete slope. After that it’s mostly flat or downhill but the one extra lap around the lake means another little go over the ever so slightly inclining gravel path. As you come back round to the finish your path intersects with the tail runners who are embarking on their final lap of the lake and whilst marshals did shout “keep left” to them, I think only one of the 10 or so runners I was ‘lapping’ actually knew what ‘left’ meant so my little tip for this race is to put your sprint finish in before you actually get to the last 200m because you can’t rely on these runners to move for you. I’d never get cross with people who are out doing their best in something like this, I just sort of weaved in and out without saying anything!

I clocked a time of 21:02 against a target of sub-21. If anything I felt slightly fitter than I did for Nonsuch the week before so the 38 second difference was largely down to the course in my opinion. 

So, in summary, I was wrong about this one being easier than Hove and if you look at my previous blog entry, I even rank it as slightly harder than Banstead Woods. However, what I was right about was it is a beautiful place to do a 5k run so if you like a bit of scenery, this one and Banstead Woods are definitely the ones to go to….they just might not get you a 5k PB.

The Stats - 19th April 2014

This is the first of many updates I'll do on some of the stats from the races I've tried. This includes a bit of ranking them in order of difficulty along with a lot of other uninteresting info! I'll update this when I have done 2 or 3 more different ones, but here is my list for the first 6.

It's worth noting that it is all my personal opinion and based on the fact I am pretty poor at running up a hill! I love bombing down one though, but if you are better at hills than me you might not rank them in this order.

So, in order of difficulty, the easiest (in my opinion) first:

1) Nonsuch Park Course B, Cheam - total ascent: 33m - PB: 20.24

2) Hove Park - total ascent: 52m - PB: 19.57 - compensation vs Cheam: +1%

3) Banstead Woods - total ascent: 76m - PB: 21.36 - compensation vs Cheam: + 2.5%

4) Tilgate Park, Crawley - total ascent: 63m - PB: 21.02 - compensation vs Cheam: + 3.5%

5) Clair Park, Haywards Heath - total ascent: 89m - PB: 21.09 - compensation vs Cheam: + 5%

6) Lloyd Park, Croydon - total ascent: 63m - PB: 21.22 - compensation vs Cheam: +6.5%

The compensation vs Cheam (the one I deem easiest) is based on all conditions being the same. Obviously my PBs don't back up these figures, but this is because they were all run at different times and in different states of mind! I reckon that for each of these runs, if you ran them at your peak fitness with no illnesses in the same weather conditions etc, the figures I have added in red will be a fairly accurate indicator of how much additional time you can expect to add to your 5k for each of the ones on the list. Make sense? I thought not! But I enjoyed typing it!

Nonsuch Park (Cheam) - Course B

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/nonsuch/

On Saturday the 12th, Hannah and I took a little visit to Nonsuch Park (turns out there is such park) in Cheam. This one was a little more familiar to us as we’d both run 10k races there, albeit not on the bit of the park that the parkrun took place on.

This parkrun was probably the biggest I’d run in (no, I don’t mean we had to run 6km). I believe there were 466 entrants at this one and you could tell. I’d had a little look at some of their past results before we went and seen that they often had 20-30 runners clocking sub-20 so I knew there’d be some fast runners out for this one. For that reason I stood a bit back from the fast folk when we lined up at the start!

It was a nice flat Parkrun this time, largely on paths with a small stretch across the grass which was nice and dry. The guy starting the race announced it was ‘course B’ which presumably is their Winter course as he also stated there’d only be two more before they reverted to ‘course A’ (another one we’ll have to sample, cheeky!). He also proclaimed that this was the one to get a PB on so we were running the easier option. I have to admit, it felt pretty easy too. Although my final time was 20:24 (27 seconds slower than my time at Hove a week before) it was most certainly an easier Parkrun due to the lack of incline and therefore moves into my 1st place in terms of PB potential. I was in my off-road shoes anticipating the ground to be a bit muddier in the grassy portion. It didn’t really slow me down, but in hindsight there was no need to wear them, road would’ve been more suitable. I found that I was running at quite a fast pace for a lot of the route without feeling like I was exerting myself, so a sub-20 time would definitely be achievable on course B. 

The scenery was quite nice too. Nonsuch Park is a massive park that could probably accommodate a one lap parkrun, but due to their selection of route, this one was three laps. But, three laps round a nice pretty park quite free of other park users and dog walkers. 

The square nature of the laps meant that they didn’t need a huge number of staff around the course, but the large number of entrants meant that they had a lot of scanners and admin people at the finish. The only minor criticism of this one was that when Hannah finished, in quite a large group, she had to queue to cross the finish line which added a few seconds to the time (they didn’t appear to click the watch until she was literally over the line). For a race with so many people they really need a wider finish line which funnels down afterwards if they are concerned about managing the order of finishers. 

I can see myself wanting to do this one a couple more times. Once to sample their Summer route and again to have a stab at a sub-20 Winter route.

Banstead Woods

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/banstead/

This Saturday (29th of March 2014) Hannah and I went to possibly our most exotic parkrun to date. Well, it seemed exotic to me as it was the first one I have run in an unfamiliar park. Not to Hannah though as this one is right on her doorstep and takes place in a park she used to frequent in her youth.

The first thing that struck me about this one was the long climb from the car-park to where the race began. I think we were both a little worried that this was going to be part of the course because it was tiring just doing that bit! Luckily, it later transpired that it wasn't. Phew!

The course for this one turned out to be about 1.8 laps around the woods all on trail. There was a gentle incline at the beginning and a bit of a steeper hill leading up to that, which thanks to some sensible planning, you only have to run up once, as you begin the second lap. The downhill stretch leading up to the '200m to go' sign was nice and long allowing a runner to really open up some pace without any real risk of a tumble. I imagine in the winter during the rainy season this course could be quite slippy, but we were lucky enough to only have a few puddles to contend with.

I am going to post some boring stats now because, after all, I wear glasses therefore I am an annoying stats boffin! Banstead has a total ascent of 76m according to my watch (vs a descent of 90m). This compares to 89m (vs 94m) at Clair Park, 74m (vs 74m) at Lloyd Park Croydon, 63m (vs 64m) at Tilgate Park Crawley and 52m (vs 54m) at Hove. These stats sort of back up my current thoughts that Banstead belongs in the middle somewhere in terms of difficulty with Hove & Tilgate both easier and Clair (marginally) & Croydon both harder. 

My time for this was 21:36 which may contradict my recommendation that this one is slightly easier than Haywards Heath, but (just like a proper British athlete) I did have a couple of excuses. Namely I felt like I was getting a bit of a cold when I woke up in the morning and secondly I was very achey indeed from the long run I did on Thursday night. I don't actually say this to excuse myself, I was happy with the time, I just say it to assert my comparison with the other events I have reviewed. Hannah got a PB though (she's told me off for not originally mentioning it!) which goes to show that it is a potential PB course.

There was a fairly decent turnout at this one of 166 and as you'd expect with a crowd that size it was fairly diverse in terms of ability and with the assistance of the medium difficulty route, there were 14 sub-20 runners which was impressive. I gathered from the marshals and runners that there was probably quite a 'close knit' vibe to this one, just like with Clair parkrun in Haywards Heath. The marshals and runners seemed to know a lot of each other's names, but a couple of people did make an effort to speak to us including one chap who talked to us all the way to the car so it did ultimately feel welcoming and I reckon anyone pitching up 2 or 3 times would quickly integrate.

On the whole this was a very nice parkrun set in some lovely scenery. The majority of my current readership are probably unlikely to want to travel so far to sample this one, but I'd be happy to attend this one again if I'm in the area.

Pictured above: Me stood by a tree!

Hannah took this for me in the car-park before the race. I look a bit miserable, but we both felt a bit silly taking a photo in the car-park so far from the start line!

Clair Park (Haywards Heath)

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/clair/

This one is my home parkrun and is organised by the club I belong to (Burgess Hill Runners) and our local allies, Haywards Heath Harriers. I'll probably sound really biased about this one, especially as I think Neil will read this and I can't say anything bad! But I assure you, I will be honest in my review (hopefully I'll be allowed back after this).

This parkrun is a pretty new one compared to many of them out there but it's one that took off pretty quickly. I think both clubs did a pretty good job of advertising it to their members and, being in Mid Sussex with no other parkruns directly on our doorstep, it already has a big core turnout. I know Neil was pleased to hear that by the time he was on event 2 or 3, the following it had was significantly bigger than the one I'd experienced in Croydon who were quite a bit further down the line (no disrespect intended to Croydon when mentioning this by the way!). 

The course for this one is quite tricky. It's all on paths (apart from a short mudslide to the finish during the winter months!) and comprises of 4 and a bit laps. Hilly laps. There are some pros and cons to the laps, but it's still a really nice park that I used to live overlooking and also enjoyed sitting in during my lunchbreaks when I went to Haywards Heath College.

My PB for this course is 21:09 at the moment and I set this at a time where I feel at the peak of my short distance running, so I think you could easily take at least a minute off that when run on a flatter course. I have also found that due to tree coverage the pace and distance on a satellite watch is rarely accurate so it makes it quite hard to rely on this sort of technology to get your pace right.

Obviously, it might just be because I know a lot of people in the Burgess Hill running club, and starting to get to know a few Haywards Heath Harriers too, but this one feels like the friendliest parkrun I have been to so far. The volunteers each week are extremely encouraging with an almost endless amount of energy for cheering and clapping the runners of all ability. The runners taking part always have time for other runners and nearly everyone seems to finish this one with a smile on their face. The regular set of core runners I mentioned mean that nearly everyone knows each other's names (it's a bit like the 'Cheers bar' of parkruns). Don't let this put you off if you're new though, you instantly feel one of the gang and will be welcomed at this Parkrun (they'll learn your name quickly if you attend a few times and want to be known!). 

Getting to this one is nice and easy too, with a short walk to Haywards Heath station and the use of the free car park at Clair Hall. 

As you'd expect, I thoroughly recommend this one and I fully intend to frequent it. I also recommend volunteering a few times (not just here, but at any Parkrun) which really is a rewarding thing to do. If you go to Clair Parkrun, go and say hello to the organisers such as Neil, Nick, Marion, John and Caz (she's often there to advise first timers)....if I missed anyone important there let me know! They will make you feel welcome I promise!

Lloyd Park (Croydon) - Part 1

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/lloyd/

This is another one that needs a more up to date review. I did this one a little while back and I think it was a fairly new parkrun at the time.

The course was all on trail and grass around Lloyd Park (which is right by the Lloyd Park tram stop, a short ride away from East Croydon station if you're a public transport user or you want to park up in one of Croydon's many public car-parks). This one I found particularly tricky at the time (although I managed 21:22) and at time of writing I would say this is the hardest parkrun I've done. 

It starts out letting you think all is fine and dandy, but the two lap course has an absolutely killer hill in it which totally takes all of your pace! It was muddy when I did it which made the hill even harder to climb.

The field was small but had some real quality runners, supported by the wealth of decent running clubs in the local area. There were a few youngsters that shot off at the start, but these weren't the kind of kids that burn out after the first km. They were fast for the full 5k and there were some genuinely impressive performances from them. I assume these kids were under the careful coaching of one of the local running/athletic clubs.

It's a pretty good parkrun, but a long way away from me so I won't make many more visits to it. Definitely one to add to your list though if you want to experience a bit of Parkrun variety!