What counts as a PB?

I've seen a lot of people saying "my race time was this but my watch says this" in terms of a PB in a race. Some people say a PB is how fast your GPS has ever recorded that distance, some say it's what the official race time says. I'll be honest this is a subject that I have massively changed my opinion on in the last year or so. I recently ran a 10K PB at Silverstone. Watch said 10K was in 48 mins, official time from race was 48:35. I was all for the theory that your PB is what your watch says your PB is. However, I no longer subscribe to that way of thinking and here's why:

1. Courses are measured. Sounds simple but courses are measured accurately and watches have a slight deviation. It is frustrating when you run further than the distance of the race but I've also had some where my watch says it's just short so it goes both ways. A course should be officially measured and based on that, your PB should be taken as your official race time.
   
2. 
   Watches/phones can be wrong. Shock horror! But yes they can be wrong as you can see below. My mile record is world record level. So I can believe my watch or I can use common sense! A course doesn't deviate, have mini drop outs or get your starting position slightly wrong.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. It's what Mo would say! I'd imagine anyway. I can't think if you asked Mo Farah what his 10K PB would be he would say "well I did X time in training once". It would be his racing PB.
   
4. It's a level playing field. Chip timing or officially timed races are the only accurate way to measure one athlete against another. Even within watches there's variation. I do lots of long runs with my brother who has a different Garmin to me and despite running side by side my watch always seems to be slightly behind distance wise. Chip timing and officially timed races take away all those variables.

It's frustrating as most of my "records" in races are quicker on my watch than my official race time but all things considered, the only open and fully honest way in my opinion to say what your PB is is to go by what your official race time is.

Why you should ignore most marathon plans

I'm now a "veteran" of 5 marathons and 1  ultra marathon. They have all been bog standard times (PB is 4:35) and I've trained for all of them slightly differently. It's really confusing when you first start out as there's a million different plans which will help you run your perfect marathon. Except they can't all be right because most of them contradict each other! There's assumptions made about your fitness, lifestyle and your body that can't be correct across the board. So, what is the answer? Honestly, I still don't feel like I've found the "perfect" plan for me but I'm closer than I've been before so here's my tips to help you figure out what sort of plan might help you:

1. Know your own body. I do a lot of my long runs with my brother. He's faster than me but not by so much that we can't enjoy a long run together. He runs 5 miles every single day, a long run on a Saturday and rests only 1 day a week. He's been doing that for years and it's got him a sub 4 hour marathon. My body doesn't take more than 2 days consecutive running particularly well so I put a rest day in on every 3rd day. That's my issue with these online plans. What works for my brother would not work for me and vice versa yet we've run 4 marathons and an ultra together.
2. Know your schedule. Some of the plans I see online are for those who have 10 hours free per day! My lifestyle doesn't work with that. I've got to get up at 5.30 as it is to fit my runs in and due to evening commitments, kids and actually siting down at some point in the day, I've got a limit on how much time I actually have. I can fit 5-6 miles in on a morning but if I get up earlier I won't have had enough rest so these plans telling me I should be doing 8 miles twice a week on top of my long run simply don't work with my schedule and I can't move things to make it work. So I do what will work for me and stretch me as much as I can without killing myself.
3. Write it out. Writing out how far you're going to run each day ahead of time keeps you on track, accountable and motivated.
4. Experiment. Four of my last 5 marathons have been within a 7 minute difference of each other. I've tried different things for each one and I'm still learning what's best for me to try and get the right formula. There's lots of options so don't be afraid to try a few things out.
5. It WILL hurt. Regardless of what plan you follow or devise, a marathon will hurt. A lot. You forget how much that part between 18-22 miles (for me anyway) is a physical and mental battle and no training plan will make that disappear.

Having said all that, I found www.marathonrookie.com a really good place to start!

Regents Park 10K - How I ran my "worst" 10K and still had fun

Today I took on the Regents Park 10K. It was a no pressure race as this years goal was always a PB at Silverstone which was achieved. This was purely a "I'm in London so why not" sign up. With that in mind I had no real strategy other than go off too quickly and see if I can last. In short, I couldn't. After lap one I was well on course for a PB but the heat had knocked every ounce of energy out of me and I knew I couldn't sustain it. At that point, I made a decision to not try for the PB but to slow down, take the odd walk break and enjoy the scenery and a sprint finish. It was really hard going in the sun and I'm not great in the heat anyway. I used to not care if I completed a 10K unless it was a PB but you have to respect the distance and the conditions. No shame in accepting early on it won't be your day and enjoying the run rather than killing yourself getting a time you're not happy with anyway so a time which is over 5 minutes slower than Silverstone had to do - 53:53. Considering that got me 280th place out of 760 I think I wasn't the only one that wilted in the heat!

While I'm here I might as well give a quick review of the actual race...

Positives:

1. Really scenic route
2. The guy doing a warm up with everyone who was also the race announcer was an absolute legend!
3. Great PB potential (on a cooler day)
4. Marshaling was superb and course easy to follow
5. Good bling and nice selection of goodies at the end

Negatives:

1. Only one working toilet cubical. Had to hope there would be no "bear in the woods" incident!
2. Probably the least 'friendly' race I've run in. Usually there's someone you end up running with who helps get you through when you're struggling or likewise someone you can drag along. Everyone had headphones in and there was very little support around the track so no one encouraging you in the tough moments.

“Definitive” guide to running your best 10K

Welcome to one of a thousand or more blogs telling you how to run your best 10K. I’ll be honest, there’s so much contradictory advice from”experts” that some of them must be wrong. My conclusion is that all are wrong! We all have different bodies, schedules and different things work for different people. If you read my last blog you will have seen how I ran the imperfect race to a miserable 10K. However, I had one more chance...Silverstone 10K.

I was determined not to let that race become a failure but to become a launchpad for a new PB. I wrote out my training plan and went for it. If only it was as simple as that. My training plan was one I downloaded and it made me miserable! It all came to a head for me at a parkrun at Great Linford. Determined to run a PB I flagged badly and ran my worst 5k of the year. Something had to change so with the help of a wise and experienced friend I decided that I’d do 10 miles every Saturday to build some stamina into my legs and then vary some speed work in the week between pyramids, fartleks and tempo runs.

I wasn’t in 100% top condition due to a slight adductor strain from a race a few days before (more about that another time!) but I was taped up and ready to go. This time I stuck to my plan and ran 6 individual splits which had 5 seconds between fastest and slowest and then a sprint for the end. I finished in a bog standard time of 48:35 which was nearly 30 seconds quicker than my PB. Bog standard in general terms but you’re only ever out to beat yourself (and the person directly in front of you!) so I was chuffed. Do I believe I can go quicker? Absolutely. But the difference between Silverstone 10K and Festival of Running 10K was simple. I stuck to MY plan. Reading 10K guides are great and take lots of tips but find out what works for you and what motivates you.

For me:

1. 10 miles every Saturday to build stamina into your legs
2. 1x speed workout per week varying between pyramids, fartleks and temp runs

How not to run a 10K race

As I’ve said before, and I’ll say again (!) I am no expert but this year I learnt (again!) how NOT to run a 10k. Having spent the last few years focusing on long runs I spent the first half of this year determined to improve on my 5k and 10k PBs. I had a clear training plan and a clear goal. Then the day came...March 11th...The Milton Keynes Festival of Running. I was confident and training had gone largely according to plan. If you could ask me “what advice would you give to someone doing a race?” My advice would be simple. Run your own race, don’t get swept up with the crowd and most importantly enjoy it. So me being me I decided to completely ignore my own advice. Rather than doing what I had trained to do which was 6 even mile splits followed by going as hard as you can for the finale I just went off at the start. Mile 1 was too quick, mile 2 was even quicker, mile 3 was still too quick, mile 4 was spot on, mile 5 I was dying, mile 6 I was walking and the “sprint finish” felt like wading through treacle. As if it wasn’t already bad enough, I finished 1 second outside of my PB. Complete train wreck of a race. Ignored all my own advice and paid for it. BUT you either succeed or you learn. Next time I’ll tell you how I put this right at Silverstone. But if you want to run a terrible 10k here’s how:

1. Follow the crowd and ignore your own plan.
2. Do the opposite of what you trained to do.
3. Kill yourself in the first 4 miles so the last 2 are hideous and leave you never wanting to run again!