What do you get from the 1000 Mile Challenge

comer_97

I was wondering what people get from the 1000 mile challenge and why they take part?

• Is it for the competition
• To compare yourselves with others?
• A place to store your data
• In my case trying to keep up with my boss (I've never been close MisterDrak!)
• Something else

I'm asking because I'm finishing a masters in web technology. My thesis is looking at the affect of real time feedback on running behaviour, hence the questions and hence the lack of miles this year!!!

I'm looking to create a phone app like Runkeeper / Endomondo that allows you to compete with others in real-time and get audio feedback as you do. I was thinking audio feedback when out running might push you on even in the 1000 mile challenge.

MisterDrak

For me it’s about the combination of the first 2, competition and ranking against other runners of similar ability and capacity. No better feeling that posting a big weekend mileage and skipping 5-6 places up the chart.

Regard to storing data, I think most of the runners here would keep detailed running logs also, rather than just the 1000mile posts.

Anyway no excuses for next year comer!!! You will be finished the Masters and my Achilles will be mended… Bring on Jan 2012… Extra big effort in Olympic year…

comer_97

I'm the same, I have barely run this year but there is someone 2 miles ahead of me on the list and every time I see that I just want to go out and do a couple of miles to move up!

robinph

I do like the seeing where you are in the table, and the jumping a few places to get ahead of people.

Can't stand the tables for that thread though so have steered clear of the thread more 'cos it's a pain in the hole to update it. Come up with a web app that lets us just put in our own number and see where that puts us in the new updated table without the need to faff about with BBCode tables and scrolling though pages of identical tables and you'll be onto a winner, with me at least.

Pisco Sour

robinph wrote: »

I do like the seeing where you are in the table, and the jumping a few places to get ahead of people.

Can't stand the tables for that thread though so have steered clear of the thread more 'cos it's a pain in the hole to update it. Come up with a web app that lets us just put in our own number and see where that puts us in the new updated table without the need to faff about with BBCode tables and scrolling though pages of identical tables and you'll be onto a winner, with me at least.

Agreed.

I find it the most boring thread on A/R/T. All it is is a load of almost identical tables. Hardly makes for interesting reading.

comer_97

so we all use it for the little bit of competition and motivation it provides us?

RoyMcC

I used it for a couple of years simply for the challenge of completing 1,000 miles. It worked for me as a motivational tool, just as the present Winter Strength Challenge does.

The danger, and the reason I didn't participate this year, is that concentration on mileage only might be to the detriment of a rounded programme.

Agree with Robin though that these 'Challenges' would be less tedious if there was one editable stickied chart.

comer_97

to make it more rounded would you make it more like the run / bike /swim challenge? Or would you stick to running and compare different things? Like the number of times you went running or your average speed?

Editing it is a pain and I hate when someone overwrites your entry and you have to go back in and redo it.

earlyevening

I just fill it in because its there.

RacoonQueen

I don't 'use' it anymore. Like the SBR challenge I update it every few weeks, just because the tables annoy me. The SBR challenge has the incentive of it being a 'competition'. Pages and pages of tables is rather annoying, like the DCM thread in events which is just pages and pages of a list of times...

Woddle

We're introducing leagues for next year, promotion and relegation

comer_97

I'm in a relegation dog fight so!

So you like the idea of the competition and we get motivated by it but we don't like the hassle of filling it in and trying to read through it?

So if it was a single league table for distance / frequency / average pace etc that was automatically updated by our watch / phone at the end of the run we would be happier?

what about being notified on your position while you are still out running (audio update at splits maybe), do you think it would make you run further / faster / differently

Woddle

Whe I came up with the idea it was about logging consistency but I was doing pretty well in it and really wanted a top 20 finish, I had some great battles with the likes of JLang and DP both of who beat me in the end. The challenge definitely got me out at times when I really didn't want to.
Last year I went AWOL and didn't hit the 1000 but this year I'm aiming to take belcarra down.
For next year I'll start removing users who are down the bottom and not updating as they've more than likely given up.
The plan is also to keep the challenge in it's original format but have a seperate thread with 4 divisions and there will be monthly promotions and relegations. This is to add to the fun element which I must confess has been lost slightly this year.
On the topic of updating the table, it takes me less than a minute so no idea what you's are doing

tHE vAGGABOND

I have never actually looked at who was around me, or what runners of similar ability where doing. For me this was my first year and it was about completing 1000 as a personal goal it's a nice big number to achieve for somone who had only started running late last year.

comer_97

Woddle wrote: »

Whe I came up with the idea it was about logging consistency but I was doing pretty well in it and really wanted a top 20 finish, I had some great battles with the likes of JLang and DP both of who beat me in the end. The challenge definitely got me out at times when I really didn't want to.
Last year I went AWOL and didn't hit the 1000 but this year I'm aiming to take belcarra down.
For next year I'll start removing users who are down the bottom and not updating as they've more than likely given up.
The plan is also to keep the challenge in it's original format but have a seperate thread with 4 divisions and there will be monthly promotions and relegations. This is to add to the fun element which I must confess has been lost slightly this year.
On the topic of updating the table, it takes me less than a minute so no idea what you's are doing

I like the idea of promotions, I don't like the idea of removing people, because i am right down the bottom because i've not been able to get out running.

It's easy to update on your computer but on your phone it's a nightmare!

rainbow kirby

A round of depression, because it's a solid reminder of how much running I've missed this year :mad:

robinph

@Woddle: Don't think for a moment that the 1000 mile thread is any thing other than a fantastic idea. I love the updating the numbers and seeing where I go in the new table, and yes it's not a big effort to update the table.

It is a big effort to go through the thread though and utterly pointless. If there are two new pages of posts since I last made an update yesterday then it is just a lot of wasted effort by the Boards.ie hamsters for them to be displaying all that data again to me. Th only post that is relavent is the last one, and for that reason the table should not be in a "post" it should be in a seperate page somewhere that gets updated by other means.

The 1000 mile thing is great, the method of working it is not...and that is not the fault of anyone here, other than I guess Woddle does occasionally come up with weird ideas.

A suggestion I tried last year was a Google Docs spreadsheet that people could update, then the 1000 mile thread can be for discussing whatever it was that you did that day on your X mile run. But without the masses of tables which just make me go cross eyed.

It doesn't need to be made more complicated, with stats for loads of other things, just keep it simple.

donothoponpop

Woddle wrote: »

Whe I came up with the idea it was about logging consistency but I was doing pretty well in it and really wanted a top 20 finish, I had some great battles with the likes of JLang and DP both of who beat me in the end. The challenge definitely got me out at times when I really didn't want to.

Heady days, Woddle! I can remember a few times lying awake at 4am and wondering if your good self was out pounding the streets adding on more miles:D

Woddle wrote: »

For next year I'll start removing users who are down the bottom and not updating as they've more than likely given up.

Door policy might be a 50 mile minimum or so? Although its simplicity is part of its charm.

jprender

I started running this year and so have not been involved in the 1000 mile challenge. I have had a look though, and really do want to give it a go in 2012.

Just the challenge of getting to 1000 miles is what attracts me. I don't think I'd be bothered seeing where everyone else is, but that could change as I tend to be a bit competitive at times :rolleyes:

I think with a mileage goal like that, it certainly will make me get out on the road when it would be easier to stay inside and think of all the reasons why I shouldn't run.

kwalshe

comer_97 wrote: »

I like the idea of promotions, I don't like the idea of removing people, because i am right down the bottom because i've not been able to get out running.

It's easy to update on your computer but on your phone it's a nightmare!

I agree that relegating the low numbers would'nt be a good idea. I suffered from a few injurys and a few personal things that prevented me from doing anything like what I wanted to achieve this year.
I was motivated to get back on the long road just to post in the thread. If I had of been booted out in my absense, I would have been gutted

RayCun

robinph wrote: »

A suggestion I tried last year was a Google Docs spreadsheet that people could update, then the 1000 mile thread can be for discussing whatever it was that you did that day on your X mile run. But without the masses of tables which just make me go cross eyed.

That sounds great, but... when someone breaks the table in the current thread, you can go back a couple of posts and pick up the right version again. There's no way back with Google docs

shels4ever

RayCun wrote: »

That sounds great, but... when someone breaks the table in the current thread, you can go back a couple of posts and pick up the right version again. There's no way back with Google docs

or is there ...revision history

RayCun

Cool, I didn't know Docs supported that
how about we try that then, with a snapshot once a month like the S/B/R challenge?

shels4ever

RayCun wrote: »

Cool, I didn't know Docs supported that
how about we try that then, with a snapshot once a month like the S/B/R challenge?

Only found out myself htis week when I made a mess of my own log there.

comer_97

monthly snapshots lose the motivation of moving ahead of the person on the list don't they? or am i missing something?

RayCun

There'd be a spreadsheet on Google docs that everyone updates daily (or whenever, so you'd see the changes immediately. A monthly snapshot would just be a way of bringing it back to boards.

comer_97

thanks for all the replies!

Ruu_Old

Just wanted to compare to last year when I was mainly a 5k runner with the occasional trail run, think I recorded around 500 miles at most.
This year has been wonderful so far and really delighted with putting in 2 half marathons and a full among many other races, injury free as well aside from the odd niggle.

Pisco Sour

The 1000 mile thread has 92,000 views, and just 5,000 posts. So 87,000 views were "views-only".

Who in their right mind would go onto that cluttered mess of a thread for any other reason than to update their mileage? 87,000 times people have gone into that thread for a read?? WTF!! Why?!

RayCun

Depends on the method boards uses to count thread views.

If I
open first unread page
click forward a page
click forward a page
quote the last message and post an updated table
view the new last page

is that one thread view or four?

I'm sure there are a few hundred views that are people checking if they are still ahead/how far behind someone they're competing with, but probably not 80,000.

hardCopy

I was going to suggest using the boards wiki to make editing easier, but it is dead, google docs could be a way to do it alright.

robinph

Here is the link to the Google Docs spreadsheet that I was trying to tout at the beginning of this year as a replacement method:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApYKSUtVQ4OodDZaQWlzVFlBaGFzcGhoN2dlbU9xdmc

Play with that doc, break it, fix it, think of problems with the idea...then we can be ready to go with a new/ alternative system come 1am on the 1st January when the new thread starts and the first idiots have been for their early morning runs. If 12345 is still in Oz then he may get a head start and start the thread from about midday on the 31st though.

Woddle

Sounds good, I've never used google docs before so this might seem silly but how do you save it, that option doesn't appear to be there.
There is the option share and publish to the web, is it one of them you click once you make your changes.
We could start using it noww as robinph says and get used to it. I think we should still have a 1000 mile thread but use it for smack talk and stuff which we used to do but due to the popularit of the challenge it all got lost.
Well done robinph

robinph

It automatically saves itself after any edit.
After a bit of playing with it last year the beginning of this year. I think I set that doc to be editable by anyone which leaves it open for vandalism, but that is recoverable. It could be set so that you can only edit it if you have the link (we'd need to publish it on the thread anyway so that is basically the same thing), or you can set it so that only people with invited Google accounts can edit it.

Someone would have to "own" it though and if it was to be done with being set for only invited Google accounts being able to edit then that might be more trouble for someone, initially anyway. Or leaving it wide ope for editing might cause more trouble with vandalism edits. No way of knowing, but I guess boards is open to the similar kinds of issues anyway.

The publish to web option generates a page like this:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ApYKSUtVQ4OodDZaQWlzVFlBaGFzcGhoN2dlbU9xdmc&output=html

I think that link will always be the current version of the spreadsheet, at least that is what the setting suggest.

robinph

Just had a quick check and following the link to the spreadsheet and you can edit using Google Docs for Android on your phones as well. I don't know, or care, about those fruit based phone users but I expect it would work for them as well.

The first iteration of the 1000 mile thread back in the day worked great, but it was all new and shiny back then. I would prefer if it became more of a chat thread as Woddle suggested a couple of posts ago, where you can tell the world about encounters with a vicious dog as you completed your 156th mile of the year, which moved you five places up the leader board, and ahead of that ART mod that you had been trying to catch for months etc.

RayCun

robinph wrote: »

Here is the link to the Google Docs spreadsheet that I was trying to tout at the beginning of this year as a replacement method:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApYKSUtVQ4OodDZaQWlzVFlBaGFzcGhoN2dlbU9xdmc

Play with that doc, break it, fix it, think of problems with the idea...then we can be ready to go with a new/ alternative system come 1am on the 1st January when the new thread starts and the first idiots have been for their early morning runs. If 12345 is still in Oz then he may get a head start and start the thread from about midday on the 31st though.

Had a thought this morning...
I've added some new columns to that spreadsheet. As well as Running Miles, there is a Running KM column, so people (like me) who use a modern system of measurement can track their progress without converting back to an obsolete standard. I've also added Miles>KM and KM>Miles columns, which will automatically convert your distances, so you can compare with other people.

And three columns, for 1000 mile, 2000 mile, and 3000 mile completion.

jprender

Just another thought in relation to this ...

What would you guys/gals think about having a team competition for 2012 to mix it up a bit ?

Maybe the top 10 mileage guys from this year could be team captains, and each captain takes turns in selecting the next member of their team ? Each team could have 4 or 5 members.

Personally, if I thought that my team was counting on me, I'd certainly make more of an effort to get out there and increase my distances.

Anyway, I was just wondering....

robinph

RayCun wrote: »

Had a thought this morning...
I've added some new columns to that spreadsheet. As well as Running Miles, there is a Running KM column, so people (like me) who use a modern system of measurement can track their progress without converting back to an obsolete standard. I've also added Miles>KM and KM>Miles columns, which will automatically convert your distances, so you can compare with other people.

And three columns, for 1000 mile, 2000 mile, and 3000 mile completion.

Good stuff. I like that.

We should do some more trying to break that version of the spreadsheet, people will get confused by the multiple columns. Then create a blank version ready for the end of the month to unleash on the new thread.

Izoard

jprender wrote: »

Just another thought in relation to this ...

What would you guys/gals think about having a team competition for 2012 to mix it up a bit ?

Maybe the top 10 mileage guys from this year could be team captains, and each captain takes turns in selecting the next member of their team ? Each team could have 4 or 5 members.

Personally, if I thought that my team was counting on me, I'd certainly make more of an effort to get out there and increase my distances.

Anyway, I was just wondering....

Ahhh, brings me back to primary school days - only this time, the skinny guy with glasses gets picked first:)

eyeball kid

comer_97 wrote: »

I was wondering what people get from the 1000 mile challenge and why they take part?

• To compare yourselves with others?
• A place to store your data
  

These reasons mostly.

I know I'm not likely to break the 1000 mile barrier any day soon but I like to use it as a motivation to get out there as well. I've increased my milage by 20% this year compared to last year and there's still a few weeks left.

shotgunmcos

Definitely worth a thread to bash around some ideas on how to make it more interesting or appealing. Back in the day of its inception it was a grand novelty idea out of Woddle but the same flaw of mondane pages of updates exists in the SBR thread and all others of the like.

The green and gold has worked well on the SBR as there are interim targets to chase as well as each other. It depends on intervention though to outline the competition 'situation' which is one aspect that could be improved (or delegated :pac:)

Hats off to the savvy SBR folk as that table is a pain to update

Also a 3,000 mile column in the 1,000 thread?! Honestly, how many people run an average of 60 miles a week all year round?

TFBubendorfer

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Also a 3,000 mile column in the 1,000 thread?! Honestly, how many people run an average of 60 miles a week all year round?

*cough* *cough*
tomorrow ....

shotgunmcos

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

*cough* *cough*
tomorrow ....

Thought as much, but its an empty column for 11 months of the year

Well done in advance btw

RayCun

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Thought as much, but its an empty column for 11 months of the year

No harm either way. maybe we could start with a 1000 mile column, then as soon as someone hits that they add the 2000 mile column, and then...

TFBubendorfer

RayCun wrote: »

No harm either way. maybe we could start with a 1000 mile column, then as soon as someone hits that they add the 2000 mile column, and then...

Funnily enough, that's exactly how the 2000 mile column got added to the table this year.

robinph

I've added another column to the end to show allow for sorting based on mileage, even for those that use the funneh French system. Need to tweak the decimals that get displayed, but I can't find that function at the moment.

We can then just have a column to enter either miles or KM's, then the overall sort can be done on the calculated column.

RayCun

robinph wrote: »

I've added another column to the end to show allow for sorting based on mileage, even for those that use the funneh French system. Need to tweak the decimals that get displayed, but I can't find that function at the moment.

The 123 button

robinph

I've just copied the previous table that we were messing with to a new Google Doc and called it the 2012 one. I've changed the permissions so that it is editable by anyone with the link. I've added comments to the headers to hopefully explain how to fill it in. I've deleted the 2000 and 3000 columns (they will only confuse people to start with).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApYKSUtVQ4OodEtydGQ4bG5RY0tXeWNaMHU5QW5YdEE

Is there anything else that can be done to make it simpler before the first entry for 2012 appears, that potentially being midday on the 31st if 1273123 goes for a run in Oz at midnight. Just need to delete Woddle and mcos from the table but left them there for now to show the sums are working.

Someone else can make the call as to if we go with this or not.

RayCun

Looks great. Maybe add a comment to the category column, "enter sex/age group or leave blank"?

robinph

Done.

An unfortunate limitation of Google Docs is that we can only have 100 rows per sheet. :eek:

Now there is probably not 100 people actively using the 1000 mile threads, but could easily get that many people adding their name to the list at some point.

Edit: Seems to can add extra rows on the bottom, but that probably does have a limit eventually.

TFBubendorfer

robinph wrote: »

Edit: Seems to can add extra rows on the bottom, but that probably does have a limit eventually.

A spreadsheet in Google Docs can have up to 200000 cells. I don't think we have anything to worry about.