Run, run, run. That’s what we’ve been doing since the 1st of August. Back then we decided that we should run 100 days to celebrate 100 years of Poland’s independence. We got to that 100 days and it felt wrong to stop, so we decided we should carrying on to a 365 challenge.

It’s amazing the impact running 100 days straight has had. Both on our thought process around building a habit (that feels like a seperate post) and the actual results on our running. Just this last evening both of us broke our PBs on a 5km training run. Gabby has taken over 30 seconds off hers and we think probably could go much faster without any more training. Liam (starting from a much lower base) has taken nearly 4 minutes of his.

We get asked a whole heap of questions about this from friends and family so thought we’d jot a few of them down.

Why would you do this?
For us it started off as a whim, actually it started off because we saw an advert saying “give up drinking for 100 days to celebrate 100 years of Polish independence”. We thought that running 100 days would be much easier… 

Should I do a 100 day running challenge?
I think so, Yes. It’s been a great experiment in habit building, it’s helped our running out a huge amount (nearly 3 minutes off the 5km personal best) and it’s been fun. It’s important to say, starting out with a ‘Why’ is also really important. In our case 100 days for 100 years. Find a cause, it helps make it stick.

When should I start?
We’d highly recommend late summer. That way at the start it’s easy, warm, nice and then it gradually gets harder as you head into and through Autumn. I think that way it tests you as much as encourages you and helps really build that habit. Of course if you want the easiest, probably start in May.

How do I do it?
First up make it easy. We said all that we have to do is 1km a day at a minimum, between 5 and 10 minutes of running. Make it easy as possible to start with. Quite often we found we wanted to go longer so we’d do a bunch of longer runs too. The important thing is, it’s easy enough to make 10 minutes a day for a run, it cuts the excuses out completely

It also has to be said, accountability helps too. We share all our runs on Strava and simply titled it 1/100 on the first day. Seeing that number tick up and having everyone in our networks see that number too gave us a reason to not give up when you didn’t feel like running. 

What gear do I need?
Absolutely nothing special, we’d recommend a pair of running trainers (they don’t need to be special, just comfortable), shorts, t-shirts and a waterproof coat. Of course if the weather starts to turn you might want a pair of jogging trousers or, if you’re feeling like it, a pair of running tights.

If you’re starting out and just want to get some cheap gear, we’re fans of Decathlon (pretty much everything we wear is from there and it is great value for money).

Should I do a 365 day challenge?
Well this one is up for debate. We’ve just gone past the 1/3 mark for the 365 day challenge. It’s tricky to recover from small niggles / injuries (such as an ankle twist) when you’re not taking days to rest. You’ll have to come back at the end of the 365 days to find out!

It’s important to remember though, that for every person on the internet saying how great it is to run every day, there are innumerable more who would definitely not feel that way. If you’re not advantaged with natural extra quick recovery and huge amounts of energy (ie you’re like most people), you’ll struggle. That’s fine.  Just remember that most of what you see online is “curated” to seem a lot more psotivie than the reality. Keep plugging away and just turn up.

What are your thoughts on these kind of running challenges? Let us know in the comments!

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