This relatively new global phenomenon may have existed for a long time, but it is completely new to me as I had never heard of it until an online fitness pal suggested I give it a go. I am normally a gym guy as I normally choose to work out with weights rather than doing cardio, which is still something I highly recommend to most people since you generally will see better results. However, I was starting to be a bit concerned about my lack of overall cardio fitness and wanted to change that. The problem was that I was having a tough time getting the motivation to continue doing it since running is an activity that I consider to be extremely boring.
I was never much of a cardio guy, so I knew this was going to be a massive challenge for me, but I started doing it because I was getting frustrated with all the rules at my gym in regards to Covid and it turns out people all over the world are feeling the same way and altered their workouts to be gym-free (sorry gyms! I know you are struggling financially!)
In my FB group alone there are 30,000 members from all over the planet and basically you just promise that you are going to run / walk / jog at least a mile for every day for 15, 30, 100 days. There are some people on there that have succeeded in making it over 1000 days and well, i don't know if i have it in me to never get sick but we'll see.
It might seem daunting to promise to run at least a mile every day but here's the thing: A mile is not very far guys and yes you can do it. Even if you simply walked it we are talking about 20-30 minutes. I do my measurements in km so this is a bit confusing when we start talking about higher numbers but whatever! They have apps for this. At the start of my streak I was really struggling to get the 5k that I initially aimed for in properly. I also stopped for breaks on a regular basis to drink water or to rest (I kept walking quickly and never stopped moving completely) but in just 20 days using the Strava app I have seen real improvement in my per km time and i don't even look at the stats while i am running.
gonna plug Strava again because it is F**king awesome and it's free
In just 20 days of running between 3 and 5 km a day my per km time has gone from near 7 minutes per km to just over 6 minutes. This is still not world-class by any means and would put me near the back of a 5 or 10k race but it is still a dramatic improvement when you consider the time frame involved. It is really rewarding to see these sorts of gains after just one month.
I didn't always do well, and some of my times have been pretty poor and I returned one night to near 7 minute per km time. It is important to recognize that on that particular night I was also drunk and barely remember even going. So I suppose when you factor in that I had 10-12 beers in my belly while i was running, it is kind of impressive.
For those of you out there that don't feel compelled to go to a gym or actually aren't allowed to go to one, this might be a great system for you to implement into your own life. At the start I struggled to even make it a mile, but a mere 20 days later I quite easily complete a 5k and will normally stop not because I am exhausted, but because I am too hot. I am looking forward to how my endurance improves once it is not a million degrees outside.
If you want more information, you can join the free group on FB HERE
