Last one I did was about 38:30 – as I said, that was with no intervals at all (but on the back of many years of training, including some fairly recent orienteering, which kind of works as fartlek). Winner did 34 something. That Swinley Forest race is quite clearly rather slower than a normal one.

aracer, yeh I know Swinley this year was a slower race, the heat and humidity that day was pretty intense, in the photos everyone looks really knackered.

Here's the results for the one I did last year at Highclere, a mixture of off road and on, but still quite a demanding route. I ran 41:52 and came 28th/418 runners – top 7%. The winner runs 35:41 and the first 40min is position 18, two seconds in front of the first woman.

You are a very quick runner, all Im saying is that not many people are as quick, 40mins is a blimmin' damn good achievement for anyone – it doesn't happen easily.

highclere 2008 10k
http://www.geocities.com/newburyac/Highclere_overall_2008.htm

Kev

Just thought: here's a great way to improve your times – lose weight. Some good articles on optimum weight/height for different distances by Frank Shorter on the Serpies website:

http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/advice_frank01.html

and here

http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/advice_frank02.html

I'll take a look at those… for the record at the moment I weigh about 57kg and Im 5'4"…. if I get any smaller no one will be able to see me.

Kev

…so according to that I should weigh 59kg… I can't get any lighter.

even if my scales are inaccurate which I think they might be, I certainly don't weigh any more than 59-60kg which puts me right on the mark.

I'm the healthy amount for a non-active person (5'6", 65 kg) 🙁

My last 10 km was 36min and change so i might be able to run something respectable if i laid off the pies.

I expect my weight will drop a bit when I start training for a half marathon which I've got in mind but I'm not really happy about it – losing weight that is, but I want to up my running distance more so it's bound to happen.

Kev