While there’s nothing wrong with taking your parkrun nice and easy if you’re looking for a new PB you’re going to need to observe a few key strategies. Here are our top tips to staying ahead of the pack…
Select your start spot
Don’t get stuck behind the buggy brigade. Line up at the start to give yourself the best chance of a PB – find runners who are aiming for a similar target time and stick to them.
Know the route
Are there any killer hills, tight bends or low-hanging branches? Make sure you know the course and the difficulty of each section.
Run evenly
Aim to start strongly for the first 1K and quickly reach your target 5K pace within that distance. Then, settle and hold this pace for 3K, before digging in and hanging on for the final stretch to parkrun glory.
Choose wisely
If it’s a ‘time’ rather than a course PB you’re after, choose your parkrun event carefully. Some courses are significantly faster than others, so a little parkrun tourism might be called for.
Embrace the pain
The final 500m is supposed to hurt! If you’ve got your pacing right, and are in with a shout of your parkrun PB within the final 1K, then remember that slowing down at this point is not an option!
