David Matthews interview-Main goal of NIALive to get recreational runners onto track

ariana`

Testosterscone wrote: »

+1 I think the non competitive things is a bit of a fallacy to be honest.

- The two biggest running facebook groups in Ireland have approximately 14,000 combined members. Most of these would consider this to be the mass participation element i.e non competitive yet I would say 60% of posts are pictures of Garmins and times etc and people pushing themselves to new PB's. to put them numbers into perspective that would represent approximately 1/3 of all registered eligible runners (not including juvenile members as they would not be representative of the demographic on these face book pages)

- Parkrun which is the largest grass route mass participation organization in this country and the world. This lists finishing position, age grading and even lists new PB's. It has to be advertised differently but it is ultimately competition and attracts people as a result of what they offer.

- Garmin, Strava etc all include personal record functionality

- Biggest thing that has driven prices in mass participation is chip timing. This has become the norm in races and most people wont touch a race without them now because times matter to them. Chip timing is a recent development to enable those who are not vying for top positions to still be able to competitively evaluate their performance.

Ultrapercy's comments about competitiveness are valid and the fact is that it's the only sport where the competitiveness has to be hidden to be acceptable to the general public just because they think that they can't seen to be competitive unless they hit a certain time but truth is that striving for the improvement is the big defining point between competing and completing, not time.

Great post as usual. What are these facebook groups out of interest - cos i need further sources of distraction :pac:

And for the record i'm a 7:3x miler so it seems that makes me a fun runner. But am i competitive? Absolutely! I want PBs. I want to achieve new distances. I'm not cut throat and I'll never win anything (i did get a prize once for most improved over a series that was sweet ) but i can still improve and that's what keeps it interesting and that's what gets me out running on the crappy nights like last night in hailstones and gale force winds with no company except me, myself & I :cool:

average_runner

99.9% runners are competitive. Otherwise why do they run with watches, do laps on a track, run parkruns etc.

S.L.F.

skyblue46 wrote: »

The quotation marks were simply to quote you.

The relevance of the training logs are that they indicate that most people have goals and targets to improve. This could be seen as an indication of competitiveness even if it is only against the clock or themselves.

I don't see why anyone who can run a seven minute mile or better suddenly disqualifies themselves from having fun when they run or that they are not genuine fun runners or hobbyists.

If people took the view that Parkrun would only be populated by club runners it would never have reached the levels it has now. It's the people who attend who decide the standard. People of all levels show up so it makes it a convivial event for everyone. Similarly if everyone of different abilities showed up at NIA live there would be races for each standard. The challenge for the organisers is to get that message across. How they go about it will decide the success or otherwise of the venture.

I understand not everybody is competitive but my experiences are that most people are. I've seen so many people try to raise a sprint at the end of a Parkrun, 5k, 10k etc no matter how far down the field they finish. This is a little competitive streak.

Chivito550 wrote: »

You seem to have a chip on your shoulder about faster runners. In my experience most people who run do so because they enjoy it. Whether that’s fast runners (a relative term) or slow runners, it makes no difference. Most people choose a sport because they like it. Nobody at NIA Live will be making Olympic finals. Everybody has their own goals, but it’s the enjoyment of the sport that keeps them in it.

Mark my words in a few years its gonna turn into a big rusty building with a couple of boardies running around it trying to prove a point.

skyblue46

S.L.F. wrote: »

Mark my words in a few years its gonna turn into a big rusty building with a couple of boardies running around it trying to prove a point.

Just the two of us? Sure he sprints and I try to run far slowly. We couldn't even have a race

S.L.F.

skyblue46 wrote: »

Just the two of us? Sure he sprints and I try to run far slowly. We couldn't even have a race

Don't worry about that, you can ask Testiscone to pace you

skyblue46

S.L.F. wrote: »

Don't worry about that, you can ask Testiscone to pace you

Ah brilliant, every cloud (or monolithic rusting 38m euro structure) has a silver lining. To share the track with a fast and competitive athlete just the one time.....Priceless

S.L.F.

skyblue46 wrote: »

Ah brilliant, every cloud (or monolithic rusting 38m euro structure) has a silver lining. To share the track with a fast and competitive athlete just the one time.....Priceless

Sure bring some WD40, you can always spray it at Chivito if he starts getting shouty

skyblue46

S.L.F. wrote: »

Sure bring some WD40, you can always spray it at Chivito if he starts getting shouty

Ah now I'd be looking elsewhere for someone who might be more deserving of loosening up

clickerquicklic

average_runner wrote: »

99.9% runners are competitive. Otherwise why do they run with watches, do laps on a track, run parkruns etc.

But they all pretend they aren’t ! I’m noticing runners as a group make a lot of excuses , I’ve rarely metanyone after a run who hadn’t said something along the lines of “it was just a tempo run for me / I’m just back from injury / I have a cold / I was drinking last night / baby kept me up till 4am / it was a recovery run / it’s not close to a pb / I wasn’t racing / I actually ran 10miles before I started this parkrun / I’ve a race next week so I’m taking it handy !!”

I love it id race someone to the bus stop , competing is fun , most of the time Your racing yourself but hey life’s short , live and let live , i was doing timekeeper couple of weeks ago and it’s great to see the sprint finishes and little battles down the field even long after the first people have finished .

Life’s short enjoy it , you’ll never be the best or the worst , everyone that exercises is doing good for the country .

That post is not directed at anyone in particular just a general observation , we all get something from the sport .

ultrapercy

clickerquicklic wrote: »

But they all pretend they aren’t ! I’m noticing runners as a group make a lot of excuses , I’ve rarely metanyone after a run who hadn’t said something along the lines of “it was just a tempo run for me / I’m just back from injury / I have a cold / I was drinking last night / baby kept me up till 4am / it was a recovery run / it’s not close to a pb / I wasn’t racing / I actually ran 10miles before I started this parkrun / I’ve a race next week so I’m taking it handy !!”

I love it id race someone to the bus stop , competing is fun , most of the time Your racing yourself but hey life’s short , live and let live , i was doing timekeeper couple of weeks ago and it’s great to see the sprint finishes and little battles down the field even long after the first people have finished .

Life’s short enjoy it , you’ll never be the best or the worst , everyone that exercises is doing good for the country .

That post is not directed at anyone in particular just a general observation , we all get something from the sport .

You are so right about excuses. Runners as a group are desperate for it and Im as bad as anyone. I dont think its trying to prove to anyone else its rationalising a performance to yourself or easing some of the pressure we put on ourselves.(here I am making excuses for making excuses) I think everyone is competitive to some degree, competition os what got us down from the trees. Competition is a stress though and everyone handles that stress differently some embrace it some deny it but its in almost everyone.

Murph_D

I think this discussion is getting out of hand.

No decent runner races all the time. Sometimes (obviously not always) the runner who says

clickerquicklic wrote: »

“it was just a tempo run for me / I’m just back from injury / I have a cold / I was drinking last night / baby kept me up till 4am / it was a recovery run / it’s not close to a pb / I wasn’t racing / I actually ran 10miles before I started this parkrun / I’ve a race next week so I’m taking it handy !!”.

is just telling the truth.

Sometimes they are not - nothing more frustrating than seeing a scalp you took "dropping out" after you've handed them their ass - it happens to us all.

But good runners only race on race day, not every time they lace up the Gel Kayanos. :rolleyes:

average_runner

clickerquicklic wrote: »

But they all pretend they aren’t ! I’m noticing runners as a group make a lot of excuses , I’ve rarely metanyone after a run who hadn’t said something along the lines of “it was just a tempo run for me / I’m just back from injury / I have a cold / I was drinking last night / baby kept me up till 4am / it was a recovery run / it’s not close to a pb / I wasn’t racing / I actually ran 10miles before I started this parkrun / I’ve a race next week so I’m taking it handy !!”

I love it id race someone to the bus stop , competing is fun , most of the time Your racing yourself but hey life’s short , live and let live , i was doing timekeeper couple of weeks ago and it’s great to see the sprint finishes and little battles down the field even long after the first people have finished .

Life’s short enjoy it , you’ll never be the best or the worst , everyone that exercises is doing good for the country .

That post is not directed at anyone in particular just a general observation , we all get something from the sport .

I would use the park run as a tempo, but that is still competitive as your checking your watch and trying to improve your tempo speed from previous times.

El Caballo

clickerquicklic wrote: »

But they all pretend they aren’t ! I’m noticing runners as a group make a lot of excuses , I’ve rarely metanyone after a run who hadn’t said something along the lines of “it was just a tempo run for me / I’m just back from injury / I have a cold / I was drinking last night / baby kept me up till 4am / it was a recovery run / it’s not close to a pb / I wasn’t racing / I actually ran 10miles before I started this parkrun / I’ve a race next week so I’m taking it handy !!”

I love it id race someone to the bus stop , competing is fun , most of the time Your racing yourself but hey life’s short , live and let live , i was doing timekeeper couple of weeks ago and it’s great to see the sprint finishes and little battles down the field even long after the first people have finished .

Life’s short enjoy it , you’ll never be the best or the worst , everyone that exercises is doing good for the country .

That post is not directed at anyone in particular just a general observation , we all get something from the sport .

If you're talking about training, I disagree as I'm training to have a good race, not to race training as fast times during training mean absolutely nothing and I tend to avoid getting dragged into someone elses pace as much as possible and somedays you are tired so the pace is slower, that's not an excuse but just being smart about training.

As for 'excuses for a bad race', I really don't get it anymore, most people here aren't professional athletes who can afford to have every single aspect of their life directed towards peak performance and outside influences often do get in the way. If you do have a bad race, often there is a reason why you do perform badly and reasons don't have to be looked at as excuses. Many times, those reasons are something you can learn from ( tired= session too close to race etc etc).

It grinds my gears a little bit when I hear people saying others are full of excuses because everyone has reasons from C25k to Profesional athletes, if they didn't, everyone would be out there running 130mpw alongside a full-time job and family commitments but they aren't. If you want to have a no excuses approach, better to look at your training as a whole than a bad race as one says a lot more about your commitment than the other.

skyblue46

Just to get back on topic. I'd be a bit worried if the approach to getting more recreational runners involved is of the "build it and they will come" variety. Comparing the attraction of a new athletics facility to Augusta or St Andrews doesn't stack up. These venues have history and tradition on their side. It's like comparing Tallaght stadium to Monza.. Hopefully there are some initiatives planned to make use of the arena and make the public more aware of its existence.

adrian522

Monza at least has 2:00:25 marathon to it's name!

Coffee Fulled Runner

I'd love for something like this to start in the indoor track in Athlone too for us culchies

TFBubendorfer

skyblue46 wrote: »

Just to get back on topic. I'd be a bit worried if the approach to getting more recreational runners involved is of the "build it and they will come" variety. Comparing the attraction of a new athletics facility to Augusta or St Andrews doesn't stack up. These venues have history and tradition on their side. It's like comparing Tallaght stadium to Monza.. Hopefully there are some initiatives planned to make use of the arena and make the public more aware of its existence.

Better connections using public transport would be my number one priority.

I'd seriously consider going one of those nights but as it is right now I can't face the hassle of getting there and back. It's an hour each way by public transport from work, and almost 2 hours from home - no way!

Wubble Wubble

Just in case anyone was thinking of heading up on spec...apparently tonight's event is sold out. Might see some of you there; I'll be one of the slow milers.

skyblue46

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

Just in case anyone was thinking of heading up on spec...apparently tonight's event is sold out. Might see some of you there; I'll be one of the slow milers.

There goes my debut plans! Ah well I'll just have to get out for more slow miles today. Good luck tonight. I'll keep an eye on the results :cool:

chickey2

I was hoping to go but can't make it now. Glad to see there was so much interest it was sold out. Good luck to everyone running.

adrian522

Bit weird, checked last night and there was loads of tickets left (except for the 800 which had 1 ticket left). Also they seem to have changed the mile from 9:45 to 9:05, that will likely catch some people out..

Chivito550

adrian522 wrote: »

Bit weird, checked last night and there was loads of tickets left (except for the 800 which had 1 ticket left). Also they seem to have changed the mile from 9:45 to 9:05, that will likely catch some people out..

I checked 2 hours ago and there were 14 spots in the mile. I reckon they just closed off entries.

Testosterscone

Chivito550 wrote: »

I checked 2 hours ago and there were 14 spots in the mile. I reckon they just closed off entries.

Not according to David Matthews

https://twitter.com/davidmatthews2/status/956523229014904834

Chivito550

Testosterscone wrote: »

Not according to David Matthews

https://twitter.com/davidmatthews2/status/956523229014904834

Must have been some rush of late entries so.

Murph_D

adrian522 wrote: »

Bit weird, checked last night and there was loads of tickets left (except for the 800 which had 1 ticket left). Also they seem to have changed the mile from 9:45 to 9:05, that will likely catch some people out..

Nearly caught me out! Glad I was early. Must be more rigorous in future about checking website. And boards.

Really glad I went out. What a terrific facility.

adrian522

Is anyone heading along on Thursday? I'd say a few will be holding on till the Leinster Masters on Saturday but I'll be down on Thursday. Not sure if I'll go 1500 or 3K though.

RayCun

Speaking of the thread title, there are three guys from the club running indoors this weekend, after first running indoors in the Thursday races.

Testosterscone

RayCun wrote: »

Speaking of the thread title, there are three guys from the club running indoors this weekend, after first running indoors in the Thursday races.

Similar to that we have a large enough contingent heading over at weekend

3 having never ran an indoor race before
2 having only ever done the last NIA meet
1 having picked it up in Jan and been running majority of these meets

I think the meets themselves while good wont convince people on there own but if clubs use then as a tool to encourage people to try it coukd have a very positive affect

adrian522

Went with the 3000 in the end. Went with the mile the last 2 times so decided to go for the longer distance this time.

Wottle

https://www.nationalsportscampus.ie/nialive

And it's back, really enjoyed these last year