100Miles / 160Km in March - Raising money for WWF

Hi everyone, slightly different blog post than usual but I'm going to take you along my journey of running 100miles or 160km in March 2021 raising money for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)! Donate here!

Simply put, 160km a month requires more than 5km of running a day for 31 consecutive days.

Coming to almost a full year of working from home has its challenges. This coupled with not being to do anything related to badminton be it play or train or coach has made it really hard. Also, as there have no tournaments for non-elite players, motivation was at an all-time low!

So when I came across this fundraiser, I immediately signed up before realizing it's at least 5.2k a day and I was going to try running the whole thing as much as physically possible. The realization then sets in knowing this was going to be a big challenge.

Date when I last ran? Mid-December! So I've done nothing exercise-wise for 2 months!

So in between signing up and the 1st of March, I managed to do 2 runs and my first 5k ended up being almost 29 minutes and I was completely broken!!

This puts it in perspective compared to when I was doing sub-20 for 5ks not too long ago.

Another run before the 1st of March and my aim was to complete the 100 miles injury-free and that will be a win for me! I was never going to do it for pace, it was more about enjoying the whole process and raising money for a good cause!

I will be running with my Mi Band 5 and record my running data via the MiFit app and Nike Running Club. I've also made a few videos about running with these so I will be including data from my runs here.

Day 1:

Big sense of realization knowing it's going to a long month and surprisingly popped up from sleep earlier than usual and just feeling I wanted to get the run out of the way. Back in normal times, I tend to train after work in the evenings but I felt it would be good to get the run out of the way before starting work so off I go.

5k time was 28.40 and I ended up doing about 5.6k in total for a bit more than half an hour. Felt alright, constantly telling myself not to push it too hard. Back in, quick stretch, shower, a recovery drink, and off to work! Was always munching for the rest of the day but that's ok 😂

The panda T-shirt arrived too so that's a bonus!

Day 2:

Again, wanted to get the run out of the way before work and that also gives the body a steady 24 hours rest from running in between too. Felt a lot smoother and easier compared to Day 1 and ended up with a 5k time of 25.30 and again finished with about 5.6k. The usual routine of stretch, recovery drink, shower and starts work!

Felt a blister developing in the middle toe of my left foot. that'll be taped before running tomorrow. Different socks eh?

Day 3:

I raced a guy on an electric scooter on the opposite side of the road for about 1 kilometre and beat him....... because he stopped to talk to another person. We were neck to neck for the whole kilometre before he stopped but I'm taking the win!

In any case, today was a bigger day because, after some very hardcore thinking, I decided I wanted to have a day's break from running to allow for the legs to have a full 48 hours rest after 6 days straight running. If the pros like Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas are having a day's break in a week of racing at the Grand Tours such as the tour de France, there must be something in that.

So this screwed up my calculations a little bit as I was aiming for 5.3k/day every day and for the first 2 days, I've done around 5.5k each day so I was going to treat myself to a few hundred meters less running on each 7th day. But as I was aiming for a day's break on each 7th day, I now need to do at least 6k/day and for the remainder of this week, at least 6.3k/day for this week. Just casually adding a kilometre. Casually...

So the first 5k was pretty smooth and steady but the final 1.5k felt hard and I had to really dig it out. The legs also felt heavier in the extra 1500m as the miles add up over the last few days. 5k time was 26.01 but it's all done so onto the next day!

Day 4:

Tough day in the office today. :(

Managed to get out slightly earlier than usual compared to the last few days and immediately, I can feel the legs arent happy today. There's significantly less spring from the legs and it felt very laboured. I do warm up inside the house and complete my dynamic stretches before heading out every morning.

To be honest, I had expected days like these and was actually surprised it's only come today, I expected to feel poo on Day 2 but hey-ho, that's why 100miles / 160km a month is a challenge! You just have to will your way through it. Mind over matter.

The good news is after 4k, my legs felt good again so I just went along with it and you can see my pace picked up slightly from the data that was recorded.

Certainly feeling sore now... Time to whip out the foam roller.

Day 5:

Got the Osmo Action out on the run with me.

Had to go earlier because I had an important at the start of the day.

Felt a pull on the right quad after about 1.5k and pushed through it, just tried to go as smooth as I can.

6.5k completed. Couldn't go down the stairs for the first half of the day, foam rolled. Completed 31.1k thus far. Hit £100 so far!

Day 6:

Yep, can't get down the stairs now and it's the quads. It just felt like a pull but I'm sure its because they're tired and overused. So the minute tears in the muscle from workouts become big enough then they're very painful.

I'm struggling to squat and get down the stairs but I did expect this so just gotta deal with it.

Today, I headed to a local park instead of my usual route around the block and it was a nice change. I only needed 5k today as I've been doing a little bit more than I needed every day but I'll just keep racking up the miles and kilometres.

Struggled to set off initially but once again after 4km, things felt smoother and ended pretty well.

Just a touch over 6.5k today so a total of 37k for the week and on course to hit 160k or 100 miles by the end of March!

Really looking forward to the rest day tomorrow and hopefully, the legs will recover enough before Monday comes around!

Day 7: Rest day

Come back next week for more updates!

I will pull this whole experience into a YouTube video by the end of the month but please do donate if you can.

Thank you!