Yes, it's that time again!! Please sign up in the comments below 😊
This challenge is all about pushing yourself. Pick a route you have run before, and try to run it faster - simple as that!!
The challenge will run for 4 weeks, starting from the week commencing Monday, October 1st. Your run can happen at any time during that week, and I will put up a new post each following Monday to collect your data and show the results when we have some. You can repeat runs if you wish, but please post just the one result per week 😊
I will be publishing the weekly results with a graph and leader boards, so it would be great if, before we start, you could let me know the distance of your route, and your baseline time for running that route.
We don't much care for rules in this forum 😊 but here are a few suggestions:
★ Rather than chasing an all-time PB, choose a reasonable starting pace, based upon your current training. On the other hand if you really want to beat that PB, you go for it!! This is your challenge 😊
★ Last time the majority of challengers ran around 5K. Choosing a flatter route and a shorter distance will give you a better chance of running faster. However, as stated earlier, this is also a personal challenge, and you can go as hilly and as long as you jolly well like!!
★ I'm sure it goes without saying, but please make sure you warm up carefully before running fast.
Looking forward to it 😊 As a reminder, here's a link to the results from the Summer challenge:
I was thinking about my very slow time for this 5k route and the time I have submitted of 49.16 mins.
Yesterday I tested it and I was slower.But if that is OK let things stand until I am able to post a week 1 result.
I think my base load programme, gardening time out,twingy hamstring,new route with a hill finish etc,probably is the difference from the previous speed challenge.
Since returning my previous two weeks is 42k, 49k and my plan over the 4 weeks of the speed challenge will be 56k, 22k, 63k and 63k.
I will see how things go but if I equalled my best time for 5k it would be 500 seconds.🙈😂😂.
Got 2x6.6k today and tomorrow to post my 49k for this week.
Thanks for doing this Abi and all the best to all.💥🏃♀️🏃♂️💥
I'm in I am training for a 5k early November - so it fits in well to work on my speed for a month.
I will run shorter than 5k for the first two weeks (3k cos my training plan tells me to), but if I give you my average pace and extrapolate that to give a 5k time, then when my runs increase to 5k it will flow better - I hope to hell that makes sense!
Assuming that does, my baseline for 5k is: 27:47 (5:27km)
Yes please add me. I’ve been working on my 5k since the last speed challenge and finally smashed the target I set last time - getting it down to 22:18 😊 from 23:00.
For this challenge I’d like to do the 5k on a hilly route with a baseline time of 23:40 and see what I can get that down to.
Okay... I am going to try to build up to a PB and for a faster.......10K....That's it !
Fastest time since I started using Garmin and Strava, so far, is 1 hr 18 minutes 10 seconds...( blooming slow) knowing me I will just lose the 10 seconds! Although..
I think it will prove interesting... I am just enjoying my runs again after the IC... but always listening to my body...which just at the moment... seems very happy
I'm in! I'll do my local 5k park route, I don't know how often I'll be able to do it as I've got some hectic work weeks coming up but I'll definitely manage a couple of times, if not more! Baseline time is tricky, I haven't run it properly since the last speed challenge and I fear I've got slower as I've been concentrating on distance! Can I say 26.30? I've done it faster but not for many many months.
I want to start running faster since my marathon. My last 5k run was 28:41 so I'd like to go with that as a baseline and try to get down to around 25:00.
I’d like to be jn on this one please. My last couple of long 17k runs before the race are coming up and I am trying to up my pace. Trying to better 5:51 (my fastest recent 15k) and move towards a 5:40 pace.
You lost me at: Choosing a flatter route and a shorter distance will give you a better chance of running faster. Fat chance of that round here! I have been pushing faster recently (having spent months working on distance), but I'd like to get the 10k charity run this Sunday out of the way before going back to pushing pace. Having said that, my last 11 runs have all been under 9min/km, 6 of those have been under 8min/km and 3 have been under 7m/km. As I was running at an average of 9.13min/km I think that's an improvement. But I can't avoid hills. Who knows what my pace would be if i lived in the fens! Is it worth me joining this partway through and carrying on pushing?
Hmmm, I think I will leave that "flatter shorter route" part out next time! I already got rid of "pace yourself", because I think this challenge is really about going all out! I'll go on about that a bit more next week.
I apologise, Flick! Of course this is about improving your speed relative to your pace and where you run, so please ignore that "flatter shorter route" rubbish. And please do join in whenever you want. I meant to take part this time, but it doesn't fit in with my training plan 😊
No need to apologise, Abie, I was blaming the stupid chipping Norton hills, not you. The Blenheim race is hilly too, so no relief there! Since I've been working on going faster, i think this challenge would be good for me - and I've just realised it doesn't start yet anyway, so count me in - unless I hit another lethargic, tired phase.
I'm in the same boat Flick! The results compared to others are interesting and fun to look at— roseabi does a cracking graph—but it's not the be all and end all of this challenge. Edinburgh is made of hills so I've no choice really either, but really the challenge is improving your speed compared to your own previous efforts. Last time we did it the graph made me look a bit rubbish because my improvements were mere seconds, others literally had minutes so their percentage improvement was brilliant, but I was super pleased nonetheless! I so nearly smashed my 24.59 target. This time I've got it in my sights, and everyone else's run is lovely to hear about but has no impact on that target 🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻♀️
The challenge is to improve the time you take to run a specific route, so for example you might choose a 5K route that you run regularly. Because you run it regularly, you know roughly how long it takes you to run it at the moment. So for example, it might take you 45 minutes to run that 5K route.
Therefore, your base distance and time is 5K in 45 minutes.
During the challenge you have four attempts (one per week) to try and improve that time of 45 minutes.
Im sticking to 5k's next month and my favourite route baseline is 42.04 recently. It would be great to get sub 38 but I don't want to hurt myself trying😆
I'm up for this, but have a number of regular routes and like to fly by the seat of my pants. Any chance I could work on just bettering the time on whatever run I decide to do that week? I'm not sure it works like that...
I would like to join too It's hard to choose though as have HM on 14th and then another 11th november. Was thinking of Parkrun but definitely wont make it there every week. So this might have to be a strava segment. I will not be PBing it as it will just be on a long easy run (where I accidentally run fast but nobody knows but us) most likely.
2 candidates are:
old triangle route 5k my PB is 22:35 ish
or strava segment "chorlton water park S end" undulating 1.52k in 6:53
Hello! I'm in again, but this time my base data is much faster. I did a new route today and tried to get as little uphill as possible. Although there still are some short steep bits, they are in the first half, and the bits in between seem to be flatter rather than relentless long grinds.
So my base data is 5km in 28:34.
In terms of the challenge, I'm "training" for a fast 8k in November (still not quite decided whether or not to enter), so my fast runs will be over 7k and 8k, but I will take my fastest 5k from them if that's ok.
I'm definitely not expecting any spectacular improvements this time, but would be happy if the challenge helps me run 7 or 8k at my fast 5k pace!
As I’ve just knocked 10 minutes off my 10k personal best at the Blenheim race today, I think that’s enough for one month. I seem to be pushing harder at the moment anyway, so is it ok to give it a miss this month and join the challenge next time?
OK, I’m in! I’m new to this forum having completed C25K last December, progressed to 10km and recently half marathon distance (no race yet at HM).
My main aim lately has been at Parkrun, getting very close to cracking 20 mins. I timed 20:00 on Saturday which was bizarrely frustrating! Maybe next week... I only need to do it once, then I’ll calm it down a bit at that distance, as that’s right at the far edge of my pace.
So I’ll do 10km for this one. I’m usually anywhere between 50-57 mins dependent on mood and hilly-ness but I’ve no real goal in mind.
I'd like to join the challenge too! After a summer of almost constant travel my speed has suffered! Just back from 3 weeks in hot and humid North Carolina and ran my home hilly 5k today for the first time in 6 weeks. Avg pace 10m 29s per mile so let's use this as my base pace. My goal is to get back to (under?) 10min per mile pace for this route by the end of the month (only done that once, just after the last speed challenge! ) I'll be away again for more than half of Oct, but in Yorkshire and Beauly so it will at least be cool. It does mean I won't have many chances to run my home 5k though until the last week of the challenge. I'll try to find roughly equivalent hilly routes on my travels!
Is this the right spot to post progress Abi? If so, then I managed to improve my pace from 5:51 for 17k, to 5:47 for 18.5k on Saturday. Still not sure if 5:40 will happen but we will see.
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It's hard to choose though as have HM on 14th and then another 11th november. Was thinking of Parkrun but definitely wont make it there every week. So this might have to be a strava segment. I will not be PBing it as it will just be on a long easy run (where I accidentally run fast but nobody knows but us) most likely.
