The Running Thread (formerly How fast can you run a 5k?)

[Tommy G]

14 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Had a silly target of training to do a sub 1hr 40 half marathon in the remainder of 2026. I feel that 5 weeks out from Leicester Half thst remains somewhat ambitious. 

 

Last week got taught a severe lesson at the required pace but having eased it off to just going sub 5 min per km for a 12km block of a half marathon distance today that it felt hard but achievable to maintain that so I think i'll carry on training as I am and see what happens. A PB of sub 1hr 43 would do me.

I'm pretty sure I passed you this morning around Hinckleh, tried to drive through a puddle to make you even more miserable than you looked in the pissing rain 

[Ric Flair]

6 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

I'm pretty sure I passed you this morning around Hinckleh, tried to drive through a puddle to make you even more miserable than you looked in the pissing rain 

Hahahahaaaa if you can't do it on a wet Tuesday in the arsehole of Britain when and where can you eh?

[VLC86]

30 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Had a silly target of training to do a sub 1hr 40 half marathon in the remainder of 2026. I feel that 5 weeks out from Leicester Half thst remains somewhat ambitious. 

 

Last week got taught a severe lesson at the required pace but having eased it off to just going sub 5 min per km for a 12km block of a half marathon distance today that it felt hard but achievable to maintain that so I think i'll carry on training as I am and see what happens. A PB of sub 1hr 43 would do me.

I think if you keep running at the 1:43 pace in the lead up to Leicester, with the crowd and route you could do it to be fair. I was in a similar boat 2 years ago and on the day thought 1:45 would be more realistic, due to the crowd and the conditions on the day I came in at 1:40:15 or something painful 😂. I’ve been thinking the same in the last couple of weeks.

Take it KM by KM, know the time for each you need to do it in, get in front of the pacers for that time and you never know.

[VLC86]

Great North Run on Sunday. I’ll be pacing/dragging the other half round who hasn’t trained nearly enough so at least I’ll be able to enjoy the atmosphere more than last year when I went for it.

 

Its a weird feeling to look forward to it.

[BristolBasedFox]

Ran Budapest half marathon at the weekend ... can fully recommend as a lovely route, pretty flat and scenic, and obviously a lovely city for a few days

 

[Ric Flair]

5 hours ago, VLC86 said:

I think if you keep running at the 1:43 pace in the lead up to Leicester, with the crowd and route you could do it to be fair. I was in a similar boat 2 years ago and on the day thought 1:45 would be more realistic, due to the crowd and the conditions on the day I came in at 1:40:15 or something painful 😂. I’ve been thinking the same in the last couple of weeks.

Take it KM by KM, know the time for each you need to do it in, get in front of the pacers for that time and you never know.

I remember you zipping past me early doors and I came in a good 10 mins after you.

[Ric Flair]

2 hours ago, BristolBasedFox said:

Ran Budapest half marathon at the weekend ... can fully recommend as a lovely route, pretty flat and scenic, and obviously a lovely city for a few days

 

Really want to do a few overseas events, think i'll invariably do a full marathon abroad but I suspect a half would be much more enjoyable and less disruptive to the overall stay 😂

[VLC86]

2 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I remember you zipping past me early doors and I came in a good 10 mins after you.

Haha yeah, that was my first ever race and I got in the back of the pen to run it in 1.50 I think and quickly had to sort it.

 

Ended up being a good tactic other than the early weaving, as barely anyone overtook me which increased my confidence.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Was feeling confident ahead of my first half in October but I've hit a real mental wall in the last couple of days. Pretty sure I've made myself ill from it as well so double whammy. 

 

Very strange as I hit a parkrun PB at the weekend and was making decent progress on my long runs.

[VLC86]

3 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Was feeling confident ahead of my first half in October but I've hit a real mental wall in the last couple of days. Pretty sure I've made myself ill from it as well so double whammy. 

 

Very strange as I hit a parkrun PB at the weekend and was making decent progress on my long runs.

I’ve been there many times mate. Not sure what sort of training you’ve done for it but if you’ve put the miles and work in then you are probably ready for it or close to it.

 

I’ve run well below the distance I had passed in my training and had plenty of doubts as to whether I could do that. Even stupid stuff, like the night before a race deciding I had put on way too much weight when I’d lost a few KGs overall.

 

Which half you doing?

[09bballer]

8 hours ago, VLC86 said:

Great North Run on Sunday. I’ll be pacing/dragging the other half round who hasn’t trained nearly enough so at least I’ll be able to enjoy the atmosphere more than last year when I went for it.

 

Its a weird feeling to look forward to it.

I'll see you there, I'm looking for a time between 1.40 and 1.45. Does the number of people seriously slow you down at the start or is it wide enough to cope?

[VLC86]

9 minutes ago, 09bballer said:

I'll see you there, I'm looking for a time between 1.40 and 1.45. Does the number of people seriously slow you down at the start or is it wide enough to cope?

You are all good at this one. When you start, they zig zag you through bollards and it properly disperses the crowd and then the roads are very wide.

[CosbehFox]

4 hours ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Was feeling confident ahead of my first half in October but I've hit a real mental wall in the last couple of days. Pretty sure I've made myself ill from it as well so double whammy. 

 

Very strange as I hit a parkrun PB at the weekend and was making decent progress on my long runs.

The ol’ runners flu. I went hard at 19k this weekend and I’ve felt a bit off since. Glands swollen as well and legs a bit achy, so I’ve picked something up but hopefully pass with three weeks to go for me. 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

1km warming up the tyres then a 19:02 5km tonight, just got to keep chipping away

[BristolBasedFox]

20 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Really want to do a few overseas events, think i'll invariably do a full marathon abroad but I suspect a half would be much more enjoyable and less disruptive to the overall stay 😂

20 done abroad now, started with taking the family now just with mates. Great experience and way to see a city. Took in Ferencvaros v Ujpest - local Budapest derby on Sunday - amazing atmosphere. How I miss those European nights

[VLC86]

1 hour ago, BristolBasedFox said:

20 done abroad now, started with taking the family now just with mates. Great experience and way to see a city. Took in Ferencvaros v Ujpest - local Budapest derby on Sunday - amazing atmosphere. How I miss those European nights

When I went to Budapest I was there when Ferencvaros played a champions league qualifier against Dinamo Zagreb, probably the best atmosphere I’ve experienced.

[David Guiza II]

Great North Run on Sunday for me too. I've done a really solid 12 week training block and my Garmin predicted times have gone right down; so obviously I'm feeling totally unprepared.  

[Sol thewall Bamba]

On 08/09/2026 at 17:04, VLC86 said:

I’ve been there many times mate. Not sure what sort of training you’ve done for it but if you’ve put the miles and work in then you are probably ready for it or close to it.

 

I’ve run well below the distance I had passed in my training and had plenty of doubts as to whether I could do that. Even stupid stuff, like the night before a race deciding I had put on way too much weight when I’d lost a few KGs overall.

 

Which half you doing?

Thanks mate, this week has been ok, this morning I felt was a bit make or break, 16k at goal pace which I managed so feeling a bit more confident now. Hopefully I'll get the tail end of whatever I've picked up gone over the weekend and I have a few strong weeks before I taper. 

 

Doing Bournemouth half, basically up and down the seafront. Flat enough but with an absolute travelator up the cliff about 9 miles in which from experience is brutal.

[waddadamadda]

GNR here as well! Going to be my slowest half in a very long time as I’ve not felt this training block at all. My days of winging a 2hr half are long gone 

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

On 08/09/2026 at 23:39, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

1km warming up the tyres then a 19:02 5km tonight, just got to keep chipping away

That’s a great time for 5k I’m a good 3 minutes slower than that and at 59 I thought it was a good time 🤣 

[09bballer]

Good luck to all doing the GNR today. The weather looks perfect for it.

[VLC86]

Hope everyone got on alright, it was a warm one.

 

Spoke to a couple of other city fans on the way round/at the end. Anyone on here in the LCFC vest of the FPS season shirt?

[waddadamadda]

I only saw one city shirt and that was on the walk back to the car.

 

Had the best time ever at GNR today. As expected my time was nowhere near my best however the experience and atmosphere was something else 

[09bballer]

4 hours ago, waddadamadda said:

I only saw one city shirt and that was on the walk back to the car.

 

Had the best time ever at GNR today. As expected my time was nowhere near my best however the experience and atmosphere was something else 

Yeah, the atmosphere was buzzing, helped a lot by the fantastic weather. I've done the London Marathon twice and that's the closest atmosphere to London at a running event. I'd recommend for anyone to do it if they get the chance. Dead well organised I thought. I managed 1 hour 42 mins, quite happy with that time in the heat.

Edited Sunday at 19:41 by 09bballer

[VLC86]

27 minutes ago, 09bballer said:

Yeah, the atmosphere was buzzing, helped a lot by the fantastic weather. I've done the London Marathon twice and that's the closest atmosphere to London at a running event. I'd recommend for anyone to do it if they get the chance. Dead well organised I thought. I managed 1 hour 42 mins, quite happy with that time in the heat.

2nd year I’ve done and the atmosphere is insane.

I started really far back this year as I was running with someone else and bloody hell it was busy, I ran an extra .3km just weaving all over the place.

 

Some event though, every runner should enter.