junior parkrun is 2k though, not 5k and that does make a big difference.
Our local PR (maybe its all) has now created a parkwalk as there were so many people showing up for a walk, great idea and maybe gets more people active who would be intimidated by the speedy runners every week
1 Like
Theyāre both around 19 minutes for certain groups. Why is distance the deciding factor and not time?
Who said it was?
If I had to hazard a guess, it might be to do with the inverse square rule which applies to many things in the physical world. For example, as your speed increases, the chance of your car being OK after you drive it into wall decrease sharply, possibly parabolically. So you can drive your car into a wall at 10mph eight times, and cause way less damage than if you drive it into a wall at 80mph just once.
Or letās say I attach two AAA batteries to my - this isnāt Blackpool is it? - left ear lobe for 6 months. The flow of electricity is not going to cause catastrophic burns and who knows, might even create a bit of a nice warm glow. A quick poke with an overhead power line on the other hand is a far more concerning proposition, even though the same amount of energy is delivered and itās over in a millisecond. Actually no idea if the numbers add up in this last example, Iām just playing around with these batteries that are left over after changing the TV remote.
TBH awareness of this risk is the only thing stopping me from running a parkrun sub 18 minutes 
2
3 Likes
Also 19min 2k is walking pace for most, or at least short run burst into walk. El Ninoās school did 2kās weekly from yr 5 and almost all were under 10mins except the slowest who walked a lot of it. 19min 5k is probably bordering on the population group most of this talk doesnāt apply to. The AC, the U15 group (school yr 8/9) are encouraged to do a PR weekly, but not raced very often, maybe as part of a long run. Typically though these kids have a good technical base developed over years and havenāt been sedentary for 30+ years. They are running 20ish minutes at a steadyish pace some weeks and knocking out 16 or 17 others.
The implication that 2km is different to 5km relies on the fact that the time is different doesnāt it?
A year 5 may be quicker, but junior park run starts at 4, and thereās plenty who take 19minutes, just like there are plenty of 5km runners who take 19minutes. I donāt really see why distance is deciding in anything - it depends on the individuals speed.
If itās genuinely like cars driving into walls as @fruit_thief suggests, than that says a 2:10 marathoner will carry more risk running a 17 minute 5km, than I do in my 5km, as they are running it considerably faster than me, but that appears to be not in the slightest bit born out in any evidence at all.
1 Like
thatās not fair, you cherry picked from the examples
Letās try a head to head experiment with the electricity thing. Bagsy the AAA batteries. 
actually though, I wonder what the annual injury risk is in 2h10 marathoners? Pretty high 
.
2 Likes
As i said distance doesnāt decide anything. if a 4 year old is taking 19minutes to do a 2 k, then they are walking most of it, not running a whole 2k .
Think how much more inclusive Couch to 3k or 3k park Run would be? and no less beneficial for self efficacyā¦
1 Like
probably lower than the 4 hour plusā¦
mainly the amount of foot strikeā¦
Hey nowā¦I see where this is going.
1 Like
would make a good research projectā¦
I never get injured running!*
*Except when drunk
2 Likes
Yep, absolutelyā¦
easiest for those that can do itā¦but that excludes so much of the population who fear running, have social issues, cultural barriers, religious barriers, gender barriers and all the associated biomx and injury concernsā¦
i disagreeā¦it is the way sport and running in particular is taught. yes, I would prefer parents to be more enlightened, but they need education tooā¦
Yes, the seed of too much, too soonā¦
We know that the endurance energy system takes time to develop and the running platform likewiseā¦this is āusuallyā developed through lots of fast, short, repeated efforts as you get in gamesā¦
We also know that most top runners serve out an apprenticeship firstā¦racing at 400m and then 800mā¦a 100% increase in distance, and then 1,500m and then 3kā¦etcā¦
To Mo, whose form is not perfect, 5k is 3,000 well placed, well considered, well prepared stepsā¦to Mr and Mrs Average and their son Johnny, itās 6,000 plus really poor stepsā¦run that distance once a fortnight and thatās over 150k steps on as yet ill prepared muscles, ligaments and tendonsā¦and yet, culturally, it is our introductory distanceā¦
2 Likes
i am a superb runner when drunkā¦won many a raceā¦
2 Likes
I take your points but what I meant about parkrun sowing the seeds is actually getting out there. Nobody is going suddenly see the social benefits of a drill or form session. To be interested in moving correctly, a person has to be interested in moving in the first place. Thatās where I think parkrun comes in.
If they were not doing parkrun, in reality a load of them would be doing nothing, so IMO, itās better to have a cohort of runners ādoing it wrongā because at least there is a chance of them improving form.
The alternative is that weāll have an ever growing percentage of the population that donāt have bad running form because they arenāt running at all.
1 Like
Yepā¦but other distances are availableā¦it just required a few people to stop and thinkā¦
1 Like
Itās the same with every human endeavour, not running specifically.
You can get a few people doing some thing well and/or a lot of people doing something badly.
You will never get everyone doing something well.
So the question is whether there is more good in getting more people doing something badly, or in fewer people doing something well.
1 Like
Im focusing on 400m this summer.
Adult Onset Runner.
No runs longer than 5km! 
4 Likes