Fraser: Here we are the final 5K Challenge video. Now, over the last two months Heather,
Mark, and many of you guys have been training very hard and attempt to better your 5K PBs.
Today is the day. [music]
Okay, then, a quick recap on what this 5K Challenge is all about. Mark and Heather decided
that without there being any racing for the foreseeable future, they needed a target to
get their teeth stuck into. They opted on trying to better or at least come close to
their existing 5K PBs. However, to make things a little bit more exciting with their training,
they decided to follow polar opposite training methods. Heather decided to follow low-intensity,
high volume, whereas Mark went for high-intensity, low volume.
Now, personally speaking, I have really enjoyed following the guys' journey so far for this
5K Challenge, and so much so that I've been inspired to give it a go myself. Not, only
will Mark and Heather be posting a 5K time today, I thought in the sense of team spirit,
I get involved and give it a crack too. Let's get this show on the road.
[music] Mark: This is it, the big moment. Well, not
quite. I've got a little drive actually first to get to the start point for my 5K, which
probably confuses you, given that I've got the canal path right here that I have been
doing all of my sessions on. Don't get me wrong, it's been awesome, it's amazing. Perfectly
flat terrain to run on on my doorstep and get the sessions done super easily. This is
my issue, it's my shoe, this is the kind of surface I'm running on on the canal.
[crunching sound] Not much traction there and that becomes even
more noticeable as I start to run faster and run harder. Now call me a diva, but I'm off
to find a better surface. [music]
It's like I'm in search of the perfect wave, but it's the perfect tarmac. I do have the
perfect bit in mind, because this bit, well, it's just down the road from my own house,
but it's on the doorstep of my parents. It's an old stomping ground for me. I used to do
loads of sessions along this section of road. Actually, I've ended up in a bit of a Strava
battle with Sam Pitcher on this section road, who has now a professional trophy obviously.
We kind of compromised and settled, for him having the course record one direction, I've
got the other way. Anyway, it's a great section road, super fast,
super flat, and because it's on the doorstep of my parents, my dad has kindly offered to
cycle along with me to pace me and to film. How cool is that? Here's Mr. Threlfall. Say
hi dad. Mr. Threlfall: Hi, hi.
Mark: Represent in GTN and-- Step aside, dad, social distancing. Go on. Then, here's the
bike with GoPro mounted up, so yes, we are ready to go.
Mr. Threlfall: Three, two, one, go. [music]
Mark: A bit of an incline, I thought it was flat.
[music] It's about a kilometer when I started the
first half K, around 250 per kilometer, way too fast. Knocking down a bit, coming in just
under three minutes. I just need to settle down now to get this rhythm until I get there.
[music] About halfway in, feeling good. I've been
holding between 305 to 310 per kilometer. I can keep this going. Oh, I'll be 1K to go.
Spikes, just hang in there now. [music]
Heather: I am very grateful to Mark for doing such a brilliant job and running a faster
time because I have some bad news. I'm afraid I've decided not to run the 5K finale, for
a few reasons. I've been debating, I was supposed to do it this morning. It's been hanging over
me because I do feel like I'm letting everyone down. Yes, it's just disappointing, because
we follow this program, and I wanted to prove that my program at least would make an improvement,
and we can't measure that now. Two weeks ago, in our last update, I've told
you guys, obviously, I was struggling with an injury. I still held hope at that stage
that in two weeks, I could maybe pick up something and retrieve a bit of fitness. Realistically,
I've had four weeks of just going for the odd jog and doing no structured training,
not following that program. I have at last been able to see a physio today, ironically.
I've got a very small micro tear in my calf, so it's probably a good thing that I haven't
pushed it. I just realized that by going and running the 5K, I wasn't going to prove anything
to myself and probably not to you guys either. Disappointed to say that my 5K Challenge has
ended on a bit of a downer, but great to see that Mark's done well for the team.
[music] Watching those guys get it done over the last
eight weeks, really has inspired me to give it a go. Although, I'm in no shape to run
fast, I've done no specific training, I just want to go out and have a bit of fun, while
as fun as 5K hard can be, see what I can do, and join in. I suppose I better get going,
and I guess this could be the start of my eight weeks. Three, two, one.
[music] Guys, that brings to a close the 5K Challenge,
eight weeks of hard work done and dusted. There are some mixed emotions here, but I
guess that is real life, isn't it? I guess first up Mark, do you want to talk us through
how your 5K went? Mark: Really happy with my final time. I didn't
get a PB, I'm very sad to say, but I think in all honesty, I did go into this challenge
knowing that wasn't ever going to happen, but I was very motivated to get as close as
I possibly could to it. I've shaved off well over a minute from my starting time, my benchmark
time when me and Heather first set out eight weeks ago. Yes, I posted 15:05 minutes, that
would be fast. 15:41, so I can't really argue with that. That's not bad going, so yes, really
happy. Fraser: I'm incredibly impressed with that,
I think it's a fantastic time. Hopefully, you're not feeling too sore after that effort.
On that note, I suppose injuries aside Heather, what were your feelings and how that high
volume, low-intensity program was starting to feel when you were getting into in the
first few weeks? Heather: I always knew it was going to take
up a lot of time, and I think that was the hardest part was the motivation to know that
I had set aside such a large block at a time. I really had to plan my day around those.
That took quite a lot of getting used to, and working through, and getting the right
nutrition, and trying to fit the runs into the week as well, because if I missed one
day, then it would suddenly be a big build-up. I think fatigue did catch up as well, because
especially, the start with doing lockdown, we were working even more intensely because
everything took us a bit longer. I think my biggest challenge was the time management
and the actual, just the tiredness that came with your body adapting to doing such an amount
of running, so many hours of running a week. Fraser: On the other side of the coi, Mark,
you didn't have a huge amount of time you had to devote to it, but your sessions were
really intense. How did you find that program? Mark: I think that was quite a big surprise
actually, it started out, and I thought, "You have definitely picked the good option here."
I certainly did in terms of the hours, but as it went on, [blows raspberry] I was really
tired. Actually, I have gone back through and had a look at some of the stress scores
to the training sessions. It's actually crazy how high those numbers are day in, day out.
I can understand why I had a bit of a blip a few weeks ago, where I really felt quite
tired. It's been great, it's kept me motivated, and
I've been quite excited for each session because there's so much going on in each of them,
rather than just plodding along, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't fancy a bit of a
break every so often. [laughs] Fraser: I bet. It's a really interesting take
from that. What do you think, Heather, is that something that you might want to take
away and change next time, or would you just quite happily carry on with the high volume?
Heather: Definitely, I think it's always grass is greener, and I was looking at Mark, I was
probably going, "Oh, I'd love to do some fast running," and I think Mark, was probably like,
"Oh, I'd love to do some easier running." That's what it's about, isn't it? That tells
the story that the perfect run program is an amalgamation of both. I think part of my
getting injured, actually came as a result of getting really tired, and having poor running
form, and doing no hard runs or no quality running. I think it's actually quite dangerous,
and I just got into especially at that volume, and I just forgot about form, I was just trying
to get the mileage done. I'm looking forward to going back to finding the love for running,
because I definitely I got really tired and then I got injured, so it all kind of just
went down the pattern. I'm looking forward being able to run pain-free and just go for
a run, and get that enjoyment back, and then actually maybe make myself a new target and
maybe do something off my embarking. Mark: Come on, it's been great. Actually,
it's inspired Fraser to do his own 5K, which has been awesome, so we've got the team back
in. How was it for you, Fraser? Fraser: Yes, exactly. Obviously, you guys
were getting stuck into an actual program, but it just made me think, "You know what?
I wouldn't mind just giving a go and see-- Well, reminding myself how hard 5K is." Yes,
it was really good. I posted a time, I've got myself a marker in the sand, and I guess
that means that I'm eight weeks behind you guys or certainly behind you, Mark. Why not
keep it going, a bit like you were thinking, just seeing if I can move forward and maybe
follow a bit of pick both of your brains and see what I can get from both plans and see
if I can actually structure a reasonable plan going forward. Who knows what's the space.
Mark: Well, you've learned from our mistakes now and you can now take that forward, and
you've got the perfect plan, but likewise, I'm very motivated. I think actually given
that this I went from pretty much zero training to trying to do a 5K PB in eight weeks, I'm
very motivated. I'm going to keep going with my training and see where I can actually go
with this. I hope you guys out there who have got stuck into this training have thoroughly
enjoyed it. Let us know in the conversation below how you get on with your 5K Challenge
and the time that you post. Hope you have enjoyed this challenge. If so, give it a like
and make sure that you're subscribed to GTN. [00:11:37] [END OF AUDIO]