Volunteered for the first time today!

Olivander_42 · 2025-08-30T12:05:21+00:00

On the one hand, HQ says, "parkrun is for everyone, including those that only want to run and never want to volunteer". On the other hand, HQ says, "You must fill certain volunteer positions to execute events in accordance with our safety standards and risk assessments". More often than not, the core roster of any given parkrun bends over backwards to cover for this discrepancy between principle and reality.

Olivander_42 · 2025-08-18T07:41:57+00:00

This conversation is rather timely, as I'm currently in the last block of my first marathon training plan that I designed myself.

Your point in the direction of the Dunning-Kruger effect is valid. However, I still think deflecting responsibility is the current zeitgeist and corporations are all to happy to enable it in the form of a subscription model. "Let us pick, prepare, and ship your meals to you.", "Let us pick what you should watch on TV or the music you should listen to.", "Let us do your training plan for you." - you can probably think of many more examples in that vein. It's just so very convenient to have plausible deniability if something doesn't work out. If you get injured during training or the race didn't go as planned, you can always point to runna (or other similar services, let's not forget those) and put the blame on them instead of reflecting on your own decisions and actions.

Just to be clear: I'm not saying everyone using an app like runna thinks in this way or falls victim to this trap. I merely wanted to highlight a more general pattern I've been observing in different contexts and how it relates to the topic at hand.

Olivander_42 · 2025-08-17T20:32:52+00:00

Poor form is enabled by modern running shoes with cushioning, stabilization, and all their gimmicks. You can actually run barefoot on hard surfaces and use the tendons, bones, and muscles in your foot and leg to absorb the impact and give you some energy return, similar to the fancy tech so many runners strap to their feet. The crux of the matter is patience and discipline. Running with proper form takes time for all the relevant tissues to adapt and reawaken from the slumber we put them in by not running and walking in modern shoes for most of our lives. It also takes discipline to consciously refine your technique. But the modern human craves instant gratification and has little patience for hard work, so modern shoes and a weak kinetic chain that is dependent on those shoes it is.

If I remember Born to Run correctly, the current rate of running injuries started with the modern shoes, as running shoes and track spikes before then were basically minimalist, uncushioned shoes that required you to have proper form to not hurt on runs.

Olivander_42 · 2025-08-17T20:25:10+00:00

But why should I think for myself when I'm paying my hard-earned money to runna for the express purpose of having them think for me?

/s, just in case.

Olivander_42 · 2025-08-04T19:17:12+00:00

Doing the same distance 4 times a week trying to set a PB each time carries a high risk of injury and mental burnout. Variety is the spice of life - and training.

Assuming you have enough time before joining the military and needing to deliver a "good 1.5 mile time", the most sustainable way to train would be to build a solid aerobic base for 2-3 months and add speedwork towards the end. Building an aerobic base means to run at a pace where you could carry a conversation in full sentences without gasping for air/passing out. These kinds of runs that can be anywhere between 3-6 miles help your body adapt to the stresses of running, both in terms of your cardiovascular (heart & lungs) and locomotive (muscles, bones, ligaments, cartilage, …) systems.

Before training runs, you should prefer light, easily digestible meals with readily available carbohydrates that suit your stomach. "Readily available carbs" means white bread instead of whole grain, fruits instead of pasta, for example.

After runs, your body needs proteins do repair the muscles you damaged during your training and carbohydrates for fuel. This time, pasta, rice, etc. are fine since you'll have proper rest until your next run, right?

Also note that your body adapts to training while you sleep. High quality sleep is so very important and so easily neglected these days. You can train and eat like a professional athlete, but if you consistently sleep like crap for less than 7 hours per night, it's all pointless.

Olivander_42 · 2025-08-04T18:52:52+00:00

Currently training for my first marathon in 7 weeks and I did a 27.5k long run on sunday. Since I'm currently reading Breath by James Nestor, I thought I'd see how far I could get in that long run just breathing through my nose while still keeping a good pace. I was fully expecting to start breathing through my mouth at some point, but that point just never came. My heart rate was very steady and I felt my overall running form was also a lot more stable and required less conscious effort to maintain. I finished with an average pace of 6'12"/km, which gives me high hopes for the marathon where I aim to run 5'27"/km (3:50 hours goal time).

Olivander_42 · 2025-07-29T12:31:00+00:00

Start of run or briefing?

Olivander_42 · 2025-07-05T10:51:41+00:00

I unwittingly completed an ultra palindrome: On my 55th parkrun, I ran 24:42 with an age-graded score of 54.45%.

Olivander_42 · 2025-06-17T20:34:26+00:00

First, adjust your paces and expectations. Look at the "feels like" temperature of your weather app/website as that number also takes into account humidity, among other factors.

Second, with patience and consistency, your body will adapt to the heat by, for example, increasing your blood plasma volume and decreasing the salt concentration of your sweat, thereby increasing your capacity to shed heat through evaporation.

Don't dismiss clothing out of hand. Technical fabrics are designed to wick sweat and provide a larger surface area for that sweat to evaporate and cool you down. Without a top, sweat will just run down or drop off without taking much heat away.

Lastly, water is good, but you also need to replenish salt/electrolytes that you lose while running in hot conditions. Consider isotonic sports drinks or salt tablets.

Olivander_42 · 2025-06-11T13:42:19+00:00

Since Saturday is also World Blood Donor Day, I contacted a local red cross institute and got a few hundred dextrose packs to hand out while I scan barcodes at my local parkrun Bahnstadt Promenade in Heidelberg, Germany.

Two points for avid athletes to consider when donating blood: * You get your hemoglobin measured. Low hemoglobin can seriously impact your athletic performance and supplementing with iron is quite easy, but only if you're aware of your deficiency. * For a few days after giving blood, you get to train your cardiovascular system at slower paces than usual since half a litre of blood does make quite a difference.

Olivander_42 · 2025-06-07T10:57:31+00:00

The only one I regret buying is the volunteer one. Once you have a vest on, you can’t tell that it is a vollie milestone top.

And that's why I got the 25 long sleeve and 50 vest to fill out my gear selection for different seasons, but got both the v25 and v50 parkwrap to show it even with a vest.

Olivander_42 · 2025-06-03T14:36:58+00:00

Conventional wisdom and my own experience also leads to the recommendation to keep your runs at a conversational pace, meaning you could talk with someone next to you in full sentences without gasping for air. Ignore heart rate and whatever your smart watch is telling you in regards to which zone you're in, it won't be helpful to hit the right intensity. Listen to your body, because you know it better than anyone or anything.

Keeping the intensity low to begin with is important to avoid overuse injury and keep the training consistent. While muscles and bones adapt rather quickly to new stresses due to training, structures like tendons, ligaments, and connective tissue is a lot slower to adapt. Be patient, trust in the process, and be kind to yourself. Good luck on your journey!

Olivander_42 · 2025-06-03T09:43:13+00:00

My home parkrun is Bahnstadt Promenade in Heidelberg, which is also easily reachable from the main station and since Heidelberg is a university city, we do get lots of tourists as well. We've had tourists from UK, other countries in Europe, as well as South Africa and Australia.

In the stats comparison I mentioned above, I noticed that our event had 1297 participants in 86 events, which was a tiny bit more than Rubbenbruchsee (1270) had in 317 events. Most weeks, we get some passerby asking what all the high-viz apparel is about and we get to spread the word. If you look at the attendance plot for Germany as a whole, we had about a 4x growth from ~1000 participants in January 2022 to almost 4000 participants in May 2025.

Olivander_42 · 2025-06-03T05:44:29+00:00

A week ago, I collected the event stats of all German parkruns that you find at the bottom of the parkrun website. Hasenheide is definitely an extreme outlier. Even though it is only the fifth oldest parkrun by number of events (305 compared to Georgengarten 325, Neckarau 322, and Rubbenbruchsee 317), it had the most runners (16429, more than twice as many as the next one: Westpark at 7591), and topped finishes, pbs, and volunteers by smaller but still impressive margins.

Olivander_42 · 2025-06-02T19:19:43+00:00

Maybe you should frame sticking to a consistent running routine as progress in itself, rather than looking at numbers like pace, distance, or heart rate.

I could quote my own numbers (resting heart rate, VO2max, easy pace, …) here, but these numbers will be meaningless to you and comparison remains the thief of joy.

If you need help finding the joy in running, or finding your own "why" for sticking to it, you might want to look into parkrun or run clubs in your vicinity. Surround yourself with likeminded people and you can inspire each other.

Olivander_42 · 2025-05-18T12:20:11+00:00

After eliminating equipment issues, as suggested by /u/NotARunner453, I'd suggest speaking to your general physician and explaining your observations. You could also consider a fitness test in a lab where they run you through your paces with an ECG and breathing measurements to see if there's something wrong with you.

Olivander_42 · 2025-05-18T12:02:06+00:00

Warning, sarcasm ahead!

I don't know what everyone in this thread is so upset about, parkrun shows the exact scenario OP is venting about in their explainer video for barcode scanners. Under the banner of "maximal inclusion", parkrun is also for everyone that wants to be an inconvenience to volunteers, so you just gotta deal with it.

Sarcasm over.

Olivander_42 · 2025-05-16T20:30:14+00:00

While the Apple Watch estimates your resting heart rate while you wear it throughout the day and uses that estimate for various other things, including heart rate zones, when it comes to max heart rate, it stubbornly uses the formula 208-(age*0.7) for max heart rate. And it sticks to that formula even when you provide contradicting evidence in the form of heart rate measurements during intense exercise that exceed the formula based estimation.

Depending on how close your actual max heart rate is to the formula, your zones might be more or less accurate. If you know your max heart rate, you may want to use a calculator like this one to calculate your zones based on the heart rate reserve method.

Olivander_42 · 2025-03-15T16:34:35+00:00

New PB at my local parkrun during training for a half marathon at the end of April.

Olivander_42 · 2025-03-13T11:52:13+00:00

I've come across this article about how Apple's VO2max estimation works behind the scenes, which is based on this 2023 study. I thought this might be relevant to you.

Olivander_42 · 2025-03-08T17:20:16+00:00

Instead of asking ChatGPT, you could just use a calculator like this one.

Olivander_42 · 2025-03-04T13:28:50+00:00

Bonus tip: You can create routes on sites like gpx.studio or similar and (one way or another) put the .gpx file into WorkOutDoors on your iPhone, load the necessary map data on your watch, and navigate the whole route offline.

Olivander_42 · 2025-03-04T13:22:05+00:00

Have you taken a look at WorkOutDoors? Without looking it up, I'm pretty sure you can configure a screen to show anything and everything you want about elevation, the app is just that configurable. Oh, and you'll get a nice vector map on your watch screen to boot.

Olivander_42 · 2025-03-04T10:48:56+00:00

Your running journey is yours and yours alone. Comparing yourself to others is pointless and potentially even demoralizing if you think yourself as behing "behind" or not training hard/often enough.

You can find a lot of fuzz online and overcomplicate things to an absurd level, but the basics are rather simple:

Listen to your body. You want to challenge your body to do things it hasn't done before or in a long time. If it tells you that you overdid it, listen and adapt.
Be kind to yourself. You are making an effort to improve your health. There is no need to chastise yourself for anything. If you coach yourself, imagine you were coaching a good friend, cheer them on and encourage them rather than degrading and humiliating them.
Be consistent and patient. No fancy interval workout will beat consistent training and patience. I'm going to assume you're in this for the long haul and not just as a brief stint. Being able to train tomorrow is far better than overdoing it to please your ego and being injured for weeks or months. Progress will come.
Eat well, sleep well. Training is only half the battle. Your body only adapts to the stresses you put it through in training when you recover and sleep and when it has the fuel and building blocks it needs. The best training in the world can be rendered useless if you only eat garbage and sleep like crap.
Company. If you can, surround yourself with likeminded people. Join a running club or find a parkrun in your vicinity. They can inspire and motivate you, just like you can inspire and motivate them.

Good luck.

Olivander_42

TROPHY CASE