Spring Speed Challenge 2019: THE RESULTS!!! 💥

[roseabi]

Hey hey, all my speedy heroes!!!

It falls upon me finally to wrap up the Spring Speed Challenge - and I am delighted to see that it has become known as the SSC on here and Strava, I believe I have Mr Tbae to thank for that! xxx

Once again, the majority of runners chose 5 km as their distance, but it was nice to see more of the shorter distances this time, with a 1-miler, a few 1Ks, and even a 200 metre entry! And it was wonderful to have the lovely Langley-Loper tackling a 10K with style once again 😊😊😊

All the results can be seen in more detail here:

docs.google.com/spreadsheet...

As ever, I have simply plotted the data in terms of s/km increase or decrease per week. I have omitted any non-running weeks and included lines between the data points, for ease of viewing. This time I changed the x-axis to show "Runs" rather than "Weeks" to account for people who may not have started in the first week of the Challenge. But it's essentially the same thing 😊

We had some troubles and triumphs this time, some runners didn't quite make it, but I hope you'll be back for another try! Others peaked earlier in the Challenge, then faded a little - but I hope you guys all could see how much you were able to achieve in that moment and celebrate it!!!

We also, once again, had some pretty stunning and consistent work! Although of course we can't compare these results competitively - the distances and conditions are far too different. But here are my highlights:

💥 Honourable mentions!

★ Maddee_6333 I love the way you have surprised yourself! Well done!!!

★ Tbae you suffered a horrid disappointment and rose above it!!!

★ pianoteacher you worked really hard and seemed to gain an awful lot of insight!!!

💥 Superstars!

★ C3PO "I haven't seen times like that in a long time" - amazing work!!!

★ Oldfloss - just wow!!! And I wish you a speedy recovery xxx

★ Katnap it's always great to see a new face, and a new distance - and goodness me did you push yourself?!!! Awesome!!!!

BUT OF COURSE a massive well-done to everybody, and many thanks to SkiMonday for your helpful rain strategy: "get wet" 😄 Solid performance there btw, and you too, MadDave !

Hope to see you all back in August for a Summer Speed Challenge! We can recycle the nickname 😊😊😊

And I'll leave you with this interesting motivational quote that Floss found:

"Whatever distance you believe you can run, is the exact distance you will end up running"

Happy running!

Sqkr & roseabi xx

[Maddee_6333 Half Marathon]

Next time I’ll try a longer distance

[Langley-Loper Half Marathon in reply to Maddee_6333]

Next time I'll try a shorter distance!

[Maddee_6333 Half Marathon in reply to Langley-Loper]

Oh, and here I was expecting you to do Half Marathon distance next time.

Seriously, you did a great job 👍

[Langley-Loper Half Marathon in reply to Maddee_6333]

Weekly half marathon...now there's a thought....

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Langley-Loper]

Interesting!! I might be up for that...

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Langley-Loper]

😂😂😂

[Bluebirdrunner]

Another brilliant speed challenge Abi..

Congratulations to everyone, some really stunning results there! 🔥💪🙆

I hope you all feel very proud of yourselves and what you achieved these last few weeks. 😎xxx

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Bluebirdrunner]

Thanks BB! xxxx

[Tbae Metric Marathon]

Magic Abi.Lovely comments.

Well done to Katnap, Floss and C3PO.Of course everyone and Marie did work her socks off.Look out next time if pianoteacher is around, we will certainly get a run for our money.

Cannot believe how much I have learned from SSC and everyone on here and the magic forum.

It’s a myth that you cannot increase your pace with age.I am sure Floss will forgive me, but she has dispelled that one.I am determined to follow her there.

Thank you so much Abi, hope the field increases even more next time.I loved your inclusion of shorter distances this time.Just gives another option to allow participation if you are returning into your training for example.

Just brillant Abi.❤️

👊💥🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️⭐️⭐️👏👏.

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to Tbae]

Follow me with pleasure..and yes.. I too, loved having the shorter distance option...

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Oldfloss]

Absolutely it is a myth!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

Ahh. I wondered what SSC was .... 😀

Well done everyone

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to linda9389]

😊😊😊

[Whatsapp Half Marathon]

Well done everyone. I hope to take a part in the next one and focus on a shorter distance.

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Whatsapp]

Awesome!

[C3PO Marathon]

Congratulations, everyone!

One of the best things about the challenge was that I actually managed to do a 1k warmup each time. I’m usually too impatient to bother with them!

Thanks for helping me get in gear.

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to C3PO]

It was fabulous to have you! xxx

[Oldfloss Administrator]

Yeayyyyyyy! I have never ever been a Super Star!!!

Thanks Abi for organising this...it was great fun...

Huge well done to all you awesome runners...you are amazing!!! Just shows what we are capable of!

Hooray for us all 🎶🍾🚀🏃‍♀️🐌🐌🐌

[Tbae Metric Marathon in reply to Oldfloss]

No more super snail , fabulous Floss, sub 5 here you come.💪👊💥🏃‍♀️⭐️👏👏☄️💫

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to Tbae]

Ha ha!!! Watch this space! X

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Oldfloss]

And fabulous to have you, too!!! xxxx

[Biddy62 Half Marathon]

Thank you Abi. And well done everyone !!! 👍🏻😊

As you can see I dropped out at week 4 - pressure of work etc prevented me from getting out and then for week 5 I was in the Lake District so very different terrain 😬

I’ll be back in the summer and hope to complete the challenge this time.

Thanks again this was a great idea!

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Biddy62]

Fantastic! See you in the summer 💗

[Langley-Loper Half Marathon]

Those 10ks were a killer but this challenge made me go out every Monday whatever the weather. Then week 5 the club ran the route backwards which totally floored me. Oh well, 4/5 ain't bad.

Next time I think I will pick a shorter Strava segment, although a short distance does make it difficult to achieve big improvements.

Thanks for organising and for everyone valiantly taking part.

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Langley-Loper]

You are amazing!!!!! xxx

I remember when I went along to my second-ever parkrun, feeling confident that I knew the route this time, and they were running it the other way round - I was devastated!! 😂

[Windoze Half Marathon]

Yay! Really enjoy the speed challenge! Even if I cant fit one in each week. Long may it continue 😎

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Windoze]

Yay! 😊😊😊

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon]

Thanks for the honourable mention and for organising this Abi.

Although I didn't see any improvement on my first attempt I did learn an awful lot from giving it a go - mainly to

1. Stop obsessively looking at pace during a run - just run!!

2. Run fast but not so fast you fear you might empty the contents of your stomach over the pavement 😂

3. Don't create arbitrary time goals. I desperately wanted to go under 10 mins on each attempt but actually infantry are only required to run sub 10:15 at Selection (faster in basic training dependant on role) and I managed this three times during the challenge (including the sub 10 first attempt) as a 43 year old woman who's only been running for a year. I'm pretty proud of that 😁

Edited because I forgot I'm actually 44 😂🤣😂

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to pianoteacher]

LOL! Well done 😊😊😊

[Sqkr Half Marathon]

Excellent work speedsters! Bit sad I couldn't take part this time, I do love a speed challenge 😔 but you all did a cracking job so I can live the triumph through you 😁

[Katnap Marathon]

Hey! Late to the party... again.

Thanks roseabi. I've been leading a real world C25K group and we're now in Week 5. I find my recovery time is longer after speed work but using the early C25K intervals helped as a useful and easy warm up.

Looking forward to improving my 1k distance for the next challenge!

😸 Katnap 😸

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Katnap]

Good tip!

[Tbae Metric Marathon in reply to roseabi]

Hi Abi,

Do you have a date in your diary for the SSC, Summer Speed Challenge.🙈🤣

👊💥🏃‍♀️⭐️👏👏

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Tbae]

Most likely July 29th 😊😊😊

[Tbae Metric Marathon]

Nice one.👍👏👏⭐️