The Spring Free Speed Challenge: The RESULTS!!! 🤩

[roseabi]

Hi superstars!!!

Finally, here is the Spring Free Speed Challenge results post, better late than never 😊😊😊

First off, an enormous thank you to everyone who took part!!! I think this has been the best Speed Challenge yet. There was the biggest turnout so far, and we've seen a fabulous number of personal bests achieved this time - many of them on the very first run of the challenge which speaks volumes about how much work you have put into this.

I think that focusing the Challenge on shorter runs has really added a lot - would you agree?

And of course there was all the talk of beards and cinnamon buns - not to be forgotten anytime soon! 😂

Actually, and as mentioned previously, I've been struggling a bit with getting this together. As you can see on the spreadsheet, the usual graph got a bit crazy!

★ Spreadsheet: docs.google.com/spreadsheet...

So I have decided that the best way to summarise your amazing work is to show each ★best run★, expressed as the percentage increase/decrease in seconds over your baseline run (Run 1). In the bar chart shown here, I have organised your best runs in order of size (for ease of viewing), and have colour-coded them to show in which run you each achieved your best result. Run 2 is dark blue, Run 3 light blue, Run 4 light orange, and Run 5 dark orange. The majority of people ran their best time in Run 4 - for some this was their final run, others (myself included) didn't quite manage to beat themselves next time in Run 5. But whenever your best run was, you did YOUR best and it was AMAZING!!! A few of you had problems or just weren't feeling it - but you'll get there ❤️ Quite a number of people really surprised themselves I think!

In the past challenges I have given 'honourable mention' to a couple of runners, and picked out my 'superstars' of the challenge. But this time I have just found it too hard to choose!!!! There have been some truly wonderful results this time, and well... you know what you did!!!!!!!!!

So I'm just going to share again a few of the lovely comments I have enjoyed. And hope you all will join us again for the next one!!

But in the meantime, enjoy your running!

The Marathon Team xx

❤️❤️❤️

"it's been really interesting, a different kind of challenge and I've enjoyed it. I didn't realise I could run faster as I've always been pacing myself to finish at least 5K." - Run46

--

"I just ran my 1k segment in ... wait for it .... honest, the evidence exists in strava .... 4:36 🔥🔥🔥. [...] I'm blown away." - linda9389

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"I love this challenge as it’s made me run faster than I ever thought I could - BrianUK

--

"my fastest 1k ever!!!" - Yogamaz

--

"I’m very pleased with my progress, knocking 1:03 off my 1km time over 5 weeks" - David_G

--

"I managed to take a further 4 seconds off my segment time [...] Will continue to monitor that segment and see if I can reduce the time going forward" - Fran6500

❤️❤️❤️

Week 1 post: healthunlocked.com/marathon...

Week 2 post: healthunlocked.com/marathon...

Week 3 post: healthunlocked.com/marathon...

Week 4 post: healthunlocked.com/marathon...

Week 5 post: healthunlocked.com/marathon...

Thanks all!: healthunlocked.com/marathon...

[Katnap Marathon]

Thanks for organising roseabi!

I think the lockdown and cancelled events helped boost the numbers and give some focus to this virtual challenge.

Oddly, I'm enjoying slower easy runs at the mo!

🐱 Katnap 🐱

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to Katnap]

Are you sure???!

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to Katnap]

Me too,,,it has been great watching everyone's progress!

[Katnap Marathon in reply to Oldfloss]

A great success! 👏👏👏

[Windoze Half Marathon in reply to Katnap]

We need to have words 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Katnap Marathon in reply to Windoze]

I miss my C25K 'training' groups! Running with Alex is now the only excuse for Japanese jogging.

[Windoze Half Marathon in reply to Katnap]

I'm tying your laces together next park run 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Katnap Marathon in reply to Windoze]

🤣🤣🤣

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to Windoze]

I think I might have to do it before then 😂

[Fran6500 Half Marathon]

Great challenge. Thank you for organising so well. So much work must go into it!

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to Fran6500]

She is awesome..

[Fran6500 Half Marathon in reply to Oldfloss]

Definitely (dont know how to do emoji on my mac otherwise would have been a thumbs up and smiley faces) xxx

[TailChaser Marathon]

It was a toughie roseabi, but really good! Thanks for organising.

Btw, I've made those cinnamon rolls and we now have to run twice as far and twice as fast to burn them off 😁

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to TailChaser]

Oh my goodness.. watch out Usain!

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to Oldfloss]

🤣🤣🤣 I daren’t eat them Floss but Katnap and the kittens will be storming through!

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to TailChaser]

Ha ha.. well, I really loved those cheese and garlic scones... !

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to Oldfloss]

They were gorgeous weren’t they? We still have a few in the freezer 😋

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to TailChaser]

I am making another batch tomorrow and cheese and chives ones too!

[TailChaser Marathon in reply to Oldfloss]

Yes, Katnap just reminded me that we have lots of chives in the back garden so I might have to make another batch too 😊

[Tbae Metric Marathon]

Hi Abi,

Your results report and summary is just a work of Art.

Thank you so much for all you do.

🏃‍♀️⭐️👏👏❤️💪🙏💥

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to Tbae]

She is brilliant..I do not know how she does it!

[Tbae Metric Marathon in reply to Oldfloss]

Yes she is Floss.❤️

But what a Brillant performance from you Floss, I do not know how you find it either.I know you have plenty on your plate and progressively you still continued to pull out the improved performances.⭐️

One day I hope to match your pace over one km.Hey ho I can dream.

Stay safe 👩‍❤️‍👨💪🙏and so well done Floss.

I know you can handle those dizzy heights at the top of the podium, after a lifetime of climbing.

🏃‍♀️👏👏❤️💪🙏💥

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to Tbae]

Lovely,lovely man..thank you...xxx

[Tbae Metric Marathon in reply to Oldfloss]

⭐️❤️💥

[cheekychipmunks Half Marathon]

Very well done everyone! You’re all amazing speedsters and should be very proud of your achievements! Keep running and keep being awesome gazelles. 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to cheekychipmunks]

My hair is getting really close to pony tail swisher now

[AllezLeChef Half Marathon]

Thanks for organising. I guess someone has to prop up the table

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to AllezLeChef]

❤️❤️❤️ xxx

[Beachcomber66 Administrator Half Marathon]

Thanks for doing this roseabi. The final result is a bit kind to me. Fantastic to see to see Oldfloss in pole position 👏👏👏👏👏

[Bluebirdrunner in reply to Beachcomber66]

I agree...she is a star!⭐🔥🏃‍♀️xxx

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

What a fabulous feel-good read. I hated every minute of the running, not to mention the anticipation of the last 100 metres of each run - but the sense of achievement (and the will to do the very best I could) were amazing. I honestly had no idea, not even a dream, that I could run that fast if I tried. I would probably never have found out without this challenge and all the lovely people involved. Big thanks Roseabi and congratulations to everyone!

[David_G Metric Marathon]

Thanks roseabi for all your time and effort in putting this together. It was great to have something to aim at and maintain focus in this troubled times🙂👍

I loved the challenge and I’m using it as a springboard to moving back up to HM distance. My personal target is to run a solo HM🏃‍♂️ by my birthday in August🤞 I think that will be very different from my previous efforts where there was lots of support from spectators😳

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to David_G]

Definitely different, but I found some positives in doing it solo as well as the disadvantages I'd thought of beforehand. Good luck!

[David_G Metric Marathon in reply to linda9389]

Thanks Linda, I’ll record it on Strava and hopefully on here to for posterity!😊👍

[Bluebirdrunner]

Well done everyone...all superstars!🤩

Great to see Floss out of her shell and speeding away ❤🏃‍♀️xxx

[Oldfloss Administrator]

Thank so much for this ...you know how much this meant to me and my running in the current situation..without you and the support of each other on here, I may never have got outside.

Fabulous fabulous runs and jumps and squats and whatevers, every single on of you.. I am proud to be part of such an amazing team of folk x

Stay safe and stay happy all of you!

[Katnap Marathon in reply to Oldfloss]

It doesn't need to be a long run to get some benefit from it!

🐱 Katnap 🐱

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to Katnap]

So true!!

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

Ha, I forgot to mention the jumping jacks! 😄😄😄

[Yogamaz]

Fantastic and thanks for organising this.

It really kept me motivated to try harder each week and made me get out and run even if I wasn't feeling it. Even though my fastest is still slow compared to most people I still felt a massive amount of achievement with the improvement I made.

[Oldfloss Administrator in reply to Yogamaz]

Go you..so right and I feel so much better physically and mentally!! It has been such fun x

[Yogamaz in reply to Oldfloss]

Well done to you. It's amazing what we can achieve when we put our minds to it.

[Langley-Loper Half Marathon]

Lesson learnt - start off slow!

Well done everyone and thanks for the admin roseabi x

[Decker Ultramarathon]

A great event all round. Thank you Abi for organizing such a complex affair. Congratulations to everyone! Floss I think you may need to trade your snail for a cheetah soon!!

[RunBrianRun Half Marathon]

I loved this challenge. Awesome stuff! The upshot of it is I am now focusing on including speed work in my training with a view to improving my 5k time. I did my first trial run since starting the speed work and ended up with a whole brand new PB. 😀 Thank you Roseabi for organising this and all the hard work that went into it and to everyone else who took part. Awesome stuff! 👏

[Windoze Half Marathon]

Thank you for organising Roseabi and awesome stuff from the peeps that took part 😃

[Runsome Marathon]

Thanks roseabi for arranging this it’s kept me sane having something to aim for in these crazy times with no parkrun or run events to train for👏👍😀

[Windoze Half Marathon]

Last place near enough 🤣🤣🤣 🤬🤬🤬 hahaha

Well done everyone!! X

[Run46 Half Marathon]

Goodness Roseabi, that must have taken you forever...well done, looks very professional!

Thanks again, it has got me interested in improving my 5K pace which was one of my New Years aims.

I have done a couple where I've run as usual for 4K then taken the last one faster as I now know I can...not like the times above but a good 30 seconds faster than my usual final km.

Maybe one day I can get to that sub 30 5K...we'll see!

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to Run46]

Thank you xxx

You can do it!!!