PB or not PB that is my question

Like plenty of people who enter races I am motivated not by winning or finishing but by beating my own PBs in each distance. To date I've been pretty successful in this personal duel with my former self but I'm beginning to sense that some of my PBs are about to become unbeatable - in other words, I'm not getting any younger. Anyway I was wondering if not PBs what other system of motivation people use. Is there some kind of age ratio I can use so as I continue to better myself but on some kind of sliding scale of decrepitude? If not time then what other targets do people aim for?
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Comments

  • JeremyGJeremyG ✭✭✭

    Yes there is its called age grading so you can still have targets. quite a few races these days include age grading in the results.

  • Getting satisfaction by beating hundreds of bloated 20 somethings and fat thirty somethings.
  • Johnny2323Johnny2323 ✭✭✭
    Thanks Michael, that calculator seems very generous.



    Yes Sussex Runner I enjoy a similar pursuit. If I see anyone in a football shirt I have to beat them. There's also the old counting people you pass in the final mile game.



    I'm also on the look out for odd distance races just so I can get an immediate 7.24 mile PB. I'm so shallow.
  • As well as the WAVA age grading thing, there is always just the pure competition. There's always someone just in front and/or just behind you. If you enter quite a lot of local races, you begin to recognise some familiar faces and vests of people doing similar times to you. Joining a club also give some competition with people who you know are a similar standard. Odd distances or off-road races are great fun as well, so you are not just chasing pb's, but can focus on the racing (it's not just for the guys at the front!)

    Having said that, depending on quite what age you are, you probably don't have to give up on pb's just yet - loads of people keep running fast and improving during advancing years. I've just set pb's at 10k and half marathon aged 41, beating times I did in my late 20's.

  • Johnny2323Johnny2323 ✭✭✭
    Good stuff exiled claret



    I'm in my late - cough - 40s.



    I love the idea of a 20 year gap between PBs. I've deliberately kept my marathon time low so I can beat it in my 50s (he lied).



    I suppose this is the attraction of super hilly races - you know there's no PB chance but you get the glory from just finishing. I did a Hell Runner race a few years back and couldn't give a monkeys about my time.
  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    There is a handicapping system on RunBritain (which automatically gets details of your UKA-licenced races).

    You can work to improve your handicap, compare it to other people's, etc,.

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    There's no reason to give up on PBs, though.

    I achieved several in my late 40s, getting older does not necessarily mean getting slower - unless you were VERY fast in your youth!

    I found that training in a more focussed way, using a good schudule, made a lot of difference.

  • Since I started doing parkrun, what, nearly four years ago, I've done a new PB at least once a year, and I'm ancient, so it is possible. I feel I've reached the peak, however, and am now facing a long downhill.

  • How about concentrating on your PB for the age category you're in? 

  • Johnny join a local running club that gets involved in XC's they are always odd no's and VERY fun! image

  • Johnny2323Johnny2323 ✭✭✭
    Thanks everyone, top tips. I'm feeling younger by the second!
  • Johnny2323 wrote (see)
    If not time then what other targets do people aim for?

     

    Some people try new distances (e.g. Ultramarathons) or triathlon (or duathlon, etc). I'm currently working towards getting my parkrun 50 t-shirt. For the overachievers there's the 100 marathon club.

  • Joe VolcanoJoe Volcano ✭✭✭

    M40pbs, M50pbs, wava ratings, fastest time this year, heart beats/km, maximum cadence/stride this year, most different parkruns, furthest parkrun from home...the possibilities are endless. image

  • I'm led to believe, by someone who's actually in the 100 marathon club, that you can join as an associate member when you've done 50. You can wear the club colours, however, only when you've achieved three figures. 

  • Johnny2323Johnny2323 ✭✭✭
    @Tom77

    I must say I do covet a 50 Parkruns T-shirt - if only I could get myself out of bed on a Saturday morning. I love em too.

    @Joe Volcano

    heart beat/cadence PBs - love it and I thought I was being nerdy with my PBs for different shoe brands!

    @Peter Collins

    Is there a club for people who have done three?



    I used to like Nikeplus when it was full of challenges - this team against that team. Sadly no longer a feature which is nuts imo. Someone really should set up a running challenge site or maybe one exists already?
  • Johnny, I've done three and am quite satisfied with that. I'm happy to set up a Three Marathon Club and make us the only members...

    I AM, however, only 22 away from 200 parkruns. I find it easy to get up in the morning for those.

  • MuttleyMuttley ✭✭✭

    My pbs are all from 2004 and 2005. Managing decline, that's what I'm doing.

    But I can still chase my season pb, my relative position in my age group and as others have said, my age grading.

    Sometimes, just sometimes, I can pull out a time that is not a pb but the fastest I've done in a while. Like last week's Bracknell Half Marathon - sub 1:44, for the first time in three years, back when I was on the right side of 50 ... So there's life in the old dog yet. Don't give up!

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭
    Peter Collins wrote (see)

    Johnny, I've done three and am quite satisfied with that. I'm happy to set up a Three Marathon Club and make us the only members...

    I AM, however, only 22 away from 200 parkruns. I find it easy to get up in the morning for those.

    What's the idea behind this dedicated routine parkrun business? Hundreds!  Why?

    🙂

  • Good question Jonny.

     

    My pbs were set in late 19980s !

    I am realistically not going to set new ones over those distances. 10K, 5K, Half Marathon

  • Johnny2323 wrote (see)
    I used to like Nikeplus when it was full of challenges - this team against that team. Sadly no longer a feature which is nuts imo. Someone really should set up a running challenge site or maybe one exists already?

     

    Some of the guys in my running club are using Strava, might be worth having a look at. Haven't used it myself.

  • Johnny2323Johnny2323 ✭✭✭
    @Tom77



    Nice one. I like the look of that.



    About a year ago Nike promised their challenge feature was being redesigned. It never seems to have happened. I'd say there's a big gap in the market for something that lets people set their own challenges and contests.
  • carterusmcarterusm ✭✭✭

    Johnny - as Tom said, try Strava. They have whats called segments which is a section of a run e.g. 0.6 miles. Those people that then run that segment go into a leadboard for said segment. I had a spell of searching for all the segments in my area and running them to try and get to the top of the leaderboard. They also, kindly, send you an email when someone has beaten your time ! I've beaten some people in segments before only to find that they must go out 2 hours later and beat my time again. It can get quite addictive. It can appear though, that some people may use other methods just so they can get top of a leaderboard e.g. ride a bike on a segment that is for runners. You just need your Garmin (not sure what other devices you can use) and download your runs directly into Strava

  • Yes, strava is quite fun.

    I like some of the stuff on fetcheveryone too - grabbing control of different zones in training & racing makes you explore new areas. The whole coin-collecting and gorilla hunting of "fetchpoint" is great and again gets you exploring your surroundings. The UTMOST comp gets you focusing on racing different distances too, and when you record races it works out your WAVA for you!

  • Johnny2323Johnny2323 ✭✭✭
    @carterusm

    re: Strava. I think I'm being a bit thick. I find how you explore segments and see the ones in your area, but don't get how you compete. I've just run the one nearest to me and uploaded the results but it doesn't show up on the segment leaderboard or anything. Is all this a Premium account feature maybe?
  • No you just do it. It may take a while to come up as there's a fair bit of number crunching.

    If you have set your privacy settings to blank out the area immediately around you (good idea for security) it won't record any segments you run within that zone.

  • Johnny2323Johnny2323 ✭✭✭
    Cheers. I think my issue was I didn't start and end in same place as the segment. Anyway, looks like fun - and possibly addictive.



    I was thinking some kind of mass handicap race would be fun based on people's PBs. Anyone ever heard of such a race? Parkrun could do it with all their data.
  • Yes, could have been that - you have to run the whole segment. I just make sure I incorporate segments into my normal runs, so if I have got the start & finish a bit wrong, I'll still cover the whole thing.

    Not a mass handicap race, but my old running club used to have a monthly handicap race for its members.

    I guess the problem with parkrun doing it is that they have about 250,000 registered runners, but only about 38,000 run each week.

  • Johnny2323 wrote (see)
    Cheers. I think my issue was I didn't start and end in same place as the segment. Anyway, looks like fun - and possibly addictive.
    .

    Any run that includes that segment should pick it up when you upload the run, but sometimes sometimes they get missed if your GPS has 'wandered' off your actual course (runs through woods are prone to this).  As EC says, you don't need to worry about where the actual start and finish are, as long as you run through them at some point on your run.

    If there are a few local ones, you can run some strava interval sessions: jog between them, then go for your best time.  Addictive, but also good training.

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