Longest day runs: 8 sub-24 runs in 6 parkrun parks

tl;dr - Ran 5k 8 times between 09:00 and 18:30 across 6 different parkrun sites. Every one was done in less than 24 minutes. Also ran over a marathon's distance for the day - 42.6km in 3:26:20


Longest day 1/8. Eastleigh. 23:35 5 km 04:43 pace

My goal was all 7 parkruns in under 24 minutes. Last year I did them all in under 25 minutes and jogged an extra 7.2k to make a marathon distance overall for the day.

The day started thinking we'd do 7. Only later did we think about adding an 8th. And the extra mileage for a daily marathon came for free from the Netley Abbey jog from the car to the start and back

There were about ten of us at Eastleigh. Dave Williams, Mark Pocock and Luke Saker are the people I knew.

http://www.strava.com/activities/156858511

Distance Split pace Elev. chg. Avg. HR Max. HR Avg. cadence
1.00 4:39.62 +4 145 (78%) 158 (86%) 85.3
2.00 4:41.66 -9 158 (86%) 166 (90%) 85.0
3.00 4:52.81 +23 163 (88%) 168 (91%) 84.5
4.00 4:33.82 -16 161 (87%) 165 (89%) 85.1
5.00 4:47.41 -2 164 (89%) 169 (91%) 84.8

Longest day 2/8. Winchester 3-laps. 23:31 5 km 04:42 pace

A touch easier than Eastleigh. Mark Pocock only did the Eastleigh one. Tim and May were there and May ran it. There were 3 or so guys who were doing Eastleigh and Winchester.

Only Luke, Dave and another guy named Ulen Neale went on to Queen Elizabeth Country Park.

http://www.strava.com/activities/156858501

Distance Split pace Elev. chg. Avg. HR Max. HR Avg. cadence
1.00 4:38.02 0 144 (78%) 152 (82%) 85.5
2.00 4:37.72 +0 156 (84%) 160 (87%) 85.8
3.00 4:50.93 -1 159 (86%) 160 (87%) 85.2
4.00 4:42.46 0 161 (87%) 163 (88%) 85.0
5.00 4:42.20 -1 162 (88%) 166 (90%) 86.0

Longest day 3/8. QECP. 23:51 5.01 km 04:46 pace

Kieron (Race Director) and another guy also ran with us (not alongside, behind).

A 12:10 start and it was getting warm, although the sun was mostly behind clouds.

By the top of the big hill on the 2nd lap I was 44 seconds behind where I need to be but I made it all back in the next downhill kilometre. My Gradient-adjusted pace as quicker for the climb than the descent though - 4:24/km for the main climb (km 3), 4:54/km for the descent (km 4)

I worked fairly hard on this run but I wasn't fatigued so it was overall fine.

http://www.strava.com/activities/156858496

Distance Split pace Elev. chg. Avg. HR Max. HR Avg. cadence
1.00 4:32.94 -30 152 (82%) 163 (88%) 88.1
2.00 5:27.60 +32 165 (89%) 174 (94%) 85.4
3.00 5:13.11 +33 172 (93%) 175 (94%) 84.7
4.00 3:51.01 -72 163 (88%) 172 (93%) 88.7
5.00 4:46.84 +22 168 (91%) 172 (93%) 86.6

Longest day 4/8. Havant. 23:49 5.01 km 04:45 pace

The sun was properly out by now and it was 23.5C I wore my peaked cap to keep from burning too much.

Dave lead the way and we had a slow start so that Ulen who hadn't done it before could find the route. The first km is also downhill, so a slow km that includes the only downhill is a Bad Thing.

For the last 4km I was working pretty hard to catch up the deficit. The last 3km features an average heart rate of 172bpm. Not clever. And this is on twisty stony tracks so this was really quite tough.

Also the watch tracks poorly in the woods so I over-ran the finish by 200m - else my time was more like 23:07 (according to the segment http://www.strava.com/activities/156858482/segments/3628982173 )

http://www.strava.com/activities/156858482

Distance Split pace Elev. chg. Avg. HR Max. HR Avg. cadence
1.00 5:10.01 -18 143 (77%) 154 (83%) 86.2
2.00 4:49.40 +9 162 (87%) 166 (90%) 85.0
3.00 4:35.35 +2 170 (92%) 172 (93%) 86.1
4.00 4:38.43 -3 173 (94%) 175 (95%) 85.1
5.00 4:35.69 +9 174 (94%) 177 (96%) 85.6

Longest day 5/8. Netley Abbey. 23:52 5.01 km 04:46 pace

Paula Wilson's friend and family were at this one. They also did the next 2. Well, the kids did a lap, the husband did the full distance. Sun still out and hotter if anything. A bit of a breeze from Southampton Water perhaps but toasty. Loads of people at the park.

We parked 1.1km away in the free car park near the Co-op. Luke and I shared 6 icecream "split" lollies on the jog to the start.

On the first lap we took a path too early for the real "triangle" and so did a bit of extra distance at slow speed. We got it right the next 2 laps though.

The tracking under the woods was again poor with the watch showing us losing time even though I don't think we ran any slower in this section.

This meant the final km needed to be quick to catch up - 4:25/km is 7:07/mile

Overall we worked harder than we should have - probably because we ran further than tracked and lost time navigating on lap one. Not too bad though - better than Havant for sure.

http://www.strava.com/activities/156858457

Distance Split pace Elev. chg. Avg. HR Max. HR Avg. cadence
1.00 5:05.05 +10 153 (83%) 159 (86%) 86.2
2.00 4:37.62 -7 162 (88%) 166 (90%) 85.2
3.00 5:03.95 0 164 (89%) 167 (90%) 85.0
4.00 4:40.11 +4 167 (90%) 169 (91%) 85.6
5.00 4:25.43 -2 170 (92%) 172 (93%) 86.1

Longest day 6/8. Soton Course C. 23:46 5.01 km 04:44 pace

We saw Tim at the start, plus Paula's friends again. No Race Director, and given that Luke and I had decided to do a "bonus" parkrun here, we ran Course C for the first one while the others did Course A.

Luke let me set the pace, although he pulled away on the main hill by 5-10m or so. Strava agrees our gradient adjusted pace was too fast on the climbs and too slow on the descents but never-the-less I'm happy with the pacing.

Average heart rate of 158bpm was pleasing given the 164, 164, 163 of the previous courses. I was in my racing shoes, plus the ground is concrete so an easy course overall even with the hill.

Felt pretty good on this one but when we finished we walked to the car for a drink and legs felt heavy/tired. Still, only 2 more to go!

http://www.strava.com/activities/156858434

Distance Split pace Elev. chg. Avg. HR Max. HR Avg. cadence
1.00 4:51.94 +14 150 (81%) 159 (86%) 89.3
2.00 4:39.19 -1 162 (88%) 166 (90%) 87.3
3.00 4:42.34 +4 158 (86%) 162 (87%) 86.8
4.00 4:56.28 -2 161 (87%) 165 (89%) 85.9
5.00 4:36.13 -22 157 (85%) 160 (86%) 86.6

Longest day 7/8. Soton Course A. 23:53 5.02 km 04:46 pace

Tim told us that the bit past the paddling pool was no problem so our "bonus" parkrun was to be Course A.

We'd finished Course C quicker than needed and our legs were tired so we paced this one to over-achieve by less. Luke particularly found it tough for the last 2km or so. I wasn't too bad but my legs were just getting "flatter" and heavier all the time.

http://www.strava.com/activities/156858428

Distance Split pace Elev. chg. Avg. HR Max. HR Avg. cadence
1.00 4:55.21 +11 146 (79%) 155 (84%) 89.4
2.00 4:49.52 +4 159 (86%) 163 (88%) 87.1
3.00 4:30.65 -14 158 (86%) 161 (87%) 87.0
4.00 4:49.52 +5 162 (88%) 165 (89%) 85.8
5.00 4:48.44 -6 159 (86%) 162 (87%) 85.9

Longest day 8/8. Eastleigh 23:45 5.01 km 04:44 pace

The final event. Or the one after the final event if you're doing the standard 7 parkruns in one day.

Because we'd done 2 at Soton, we had a quick dash to get to Eastleigh. Waiting for us were Paula's friends and Ulen (doing his 7th of 7).

Luke and I were mashed by this point, but "just one more" I figured. Luke wasn't so sure, and dropped out after one lap (I think, will find out later).

My average heart rate of 163bpm is 6 higher than the previous parkrun, but it felt *much* harder. I wanted to quit but didn't really ever think I would - I just knew it was going to hurt.

I got to the start of each lap "on the money" so I was quietly confident. I got to the top of the hill on the last lap with 10 or so seconds to make up but with the final part being 400m of gently downhill I knew I could do it.

I was pretty wrecked by the end, with pain in my quads, breathing heavily, and wanting to lean against things.

Stats then:
8 parkruns all sub 24 minute
Average parkrun tracked 5.0km time 23:45
Average time to the official finish probably 23:20
Average parkrun tracked 5.0km pace 4:45/km - 7:38/mile)
42.61km in 3:26:24 (marathon in about 3:21)
Fastest tracked 5.0km 23:31
Slowest tracked 5.0km 23:53
Most painful: final Eastleigh
Toughest course: QECP (with Havant on the day being a close second)
Easiest course: Winchester

http://www.strava.com/activities/156858406

Distance Split pace Elev. chg. Avg. HR Max. HR Avg. cadence
1.00 4:47.67 +5 151 (82%) 159 (86%)
2.00 4:47.66 -13 162 (87%) 165 (89%)
3.00 4:57.71 +15 166 (90%) 169 (92%)
4.00 4:38.90 -5 165 (89%) 168 (91%)
5.00 4:33.07 -2 169 (91%) 172 (93%)

Overall - a great day out. Shame there weren't the 20 or so people who did all 7 last year, but still a very enjoyable way to spend the longest Sunday of the year.