Finally, here is the Spring Free Speed Challenge results post, better late than never πππ
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! π
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!
So I have decided that the best way to summarise your amazing work is to show each β best runβ , 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 β€οΈ 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
β€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈ
"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
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"I just ran my 1k segment in ... wait for it .... honest, the evidence exists in strava .... 4:36 π₯π₯π₯. [...] I'm blown away." - linda9389
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"I love this challenge as itβs made me run faster than I ever thought I could - BrianUK
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"my fastest 1k ever!!!" - Yogamaz
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"Iβm very pleased with my progress, knocking 1:03 off my 1km time over 5 weeks" - David_G
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"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
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.βοΈ
One day I hope to match your pace over one km.Hey ho I can dream.
Very well done everyone! Youβre all amazing speedsters and should be very proud of your achievements! Keep running and keep being awesome gazelles. πππππππππ
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!
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 timesππ
I loved the challenge and Iβm using it as a springboard to moving back up to HM distance. My personal target is to run a solo HMπββοΈ by my birthday in Augustπ€ I think that will be very different from my previous efforts where there was lots of support from spectatorsπ³
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
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.
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!!
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. π Thank you Roseabi for organising this and all the hard work that went into it and to everyone else who took part. Awesome stuff! π
Thanks roseabi for arranging this itβs kept me sane having something to aim for in these crazy times with no parkrun or run events to train forπππ
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!
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