Racing The Machine

[sTrongFuse]

Those of you who follow me on Strava (or other social media) may have noticed the hashtag #RaceTheMachine on a few of my recent posts. This is in reference to a challenge I signed up for in May (if you want details, go to: racethemachine.co.uk/ ).

The challenge comes in two flavours, a four race version and a six race version. The four race option is: 1,500m, 3k, 5 miles and 10k.

The six race option is the above four runs plus 10 miles and HM.

The runs can be done in any order.

The concept is simple, you sign up, tell "The Machine" how fast you can run 5k, and the distance you want to tackle first and you will be sent a time to beat. Once you've completed that run, simply upload evidence of the run you've completed, tell it the next distance you want to do, and you will be sent a target time based on your previous result. If you beat your previous target, the next one will be slightly harder, if you missed it, the next one will be a bit easier.

Because your next target time is always calculated from your last result, it's probably good, as I discovered, to to them in some sort of "logical" order. Because of my event schedule over May, I did them in a somewhat random and higgledy-piggledy way which, with hindsight, wasn't the best approach. My 10k, 5 mile, 3k HM, 1500m all went fine; with 4 PBs collected along the way. But, having stormed to a massive PB on my 1500m in my penultimate run, I was given an impossible target for my 10 mile. Still, 5/6 is a good result.

My results were:

- 1500m - 6:30 (PB)

- 3k - 15:15 (PB)

- 5 miles - 46:54 (PB)

- 10k - 57:28

- 10 miles - 1:35:01

- HM - 1:59:06 (PB)

If you're training for a 10k or HM, possibly this autumn, this is a great little challenge to help you along the way that you can build in. Alternatively, if like me, you have a series of events, you can use their buzz to help beat your machine targets.

There's no medal, but you do get a natty red "Race The Machine" buff when you sign up and a coveted black one when you complete the 6 races.

Now, I just need to find myself a new challenge...

[SueAppleRun 10 Miles]

There’s always a challenge and that one sounds like you’ve enjoyed it. Something to think about when I’ve finished the HM plan maybe

[sTrongFuse Half Marathon 10 Miles in reply to SueAppleRun]

I definitely enjoyed it. I don't really do shorter distances, so it made me think about pace in a totally different way, and I was surprised at what I was able to manage, particularly in the 3k and 1500m runs.

[SueAppleRun 10 Miles in reply to sTrongFuse]

Shorter runs can be fun, I like them mainly because I am so slow but if I know I’m only running for a short time I can speed up a bit, i do love longer distances but don’t have the time for more than one a week but just plodding along going a long way is the best for me,

[sTrongFuse Half Marathon 10 Miles in reply to SueAppleRun]

I'm much the same, albeit my "shorter" distance is typically around 10k with my long run being up around 10 miles. It's all relative though and we do what works best for us. The main thing is the benefits and enjoyment we get out of it. If we were under an obligation to do a certain distance a certain number of times a week, I suspect it would become a chore to be endured, and eventually discarded. Doing what we can, when we can, and that we're happy doing is the key to our own personal successes.

[SueAppleRun 10 Miles in reply to sTrongFuse]

Very true and I’m just happy that we can run 🏃‍♀️

[nowster Metric Marathon]

What strange combinations of distances! The first two are obviously 1 mile and 2 miles rounded to the nearest 500m. Why they didn't do that for the 5 mile one is a mystery.

Well done!

[sTrongFuse Half Marathon 10 Miles in reply to nowster]

I think, possibly, 1500m and 3000m are recognised racing distances; 8k and 16k aren't, so doing them as 5 and 10 mile kind of makes sense. Even on here, the moderators give people a 10 mile badge, not a 16.1k one. When you think about it, HM being 13.1/21.1 and marathon being 26.2/42.2 is kind of bizarre too, even if there are historic reasons. We don't question it, we just run them...🤣

It's something I've always wondered at though; why, when 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m are recognised race distances, did the mile get rounded down to 1500m when 1600m is much closer to an actual mile?

[nowster Metric Marathon in reply to sTrongFuse]

The current marathon distance is a historical quirk, fixed at the 1908 Olympics: Windsor Castle to White City plus a part lap of the stadium.

I've no idea why 1500m is the standard, especially as 1600m is exactly four laps of a 400m track.

Curiously, 3000m was the original Olympic middle distance for women.

[sTrongFuse Half Marathon 10 Miles in reply to nowster]

Yeah, that was the Yvonne Murray, Zola Budd, Mary Decker distance.

[nowster Metric Marathon in reply to sTrongFuse]

I remember barefoot runner Zola Budd and the newspaper headline after the race, "It's a long way to trip a Mary."