To run throughout February an increasing number of miles each day. That is the challenge. On February 1st - 1 mile, February 2nd - 2 miles...through to February 28th - 28 miles.
The event, created by 'proper' ultrarunners James Adams and Paul Ali, has a few hundred participants from all corners of the world (including me and possibly you?) through the medium of social media. Search 'RUYD' in Facebook, Twitter or Fetch Everyone for details.
Should you finish you will have covered 406 miles in 28 days. Divided into biblical weeks (Sunday to Saturday) the mileage builds up as follows:
Week 1 (February 1st-7th) = 28 miles.
This represents a very comfortable weeks' training for me. Given the mileage is spread over 7 days, I'll be chomping at the bit to run further but keen to finish the week with fresh legs. This will most definitely be the only week in February where I'll manage to get some swimming and light cycling in. I might also suggest an earlier celebration of romance with the girlfriend whilst I have my energy.
Week 2 (February 8th-14th) = 77 miles.
Oh how quickly the mileage doth rise. I'd never run such a distance in one week for training. Come the end of week 2 I'll be running back-to-back half marathon distance, though with a slower pace I should still feel relatively ok. Running home from work will allow me to fit this in each day with little disruption to my life. Note to self: Acquaint yourself with the foam-roller!
Week 3 (February 15th-21st) = 126 miles.
Hmm...yeah. Mileage aside, I'll need to fit in upwards of 17 hours of running. My social life (aka hanging out with my girlfriend) will be put on hold that's for certain. To tackle the third week, I'll be running twice a day to spread out the effort. Technically, this mileage is equivalent to 'that last long pre-marathon run', seven days in a row.
Week 4 (February 22nd-28th) = 175 miles.
My minimum goal is to still be here in week 4. The mileage and time requirements at this stage will get a tad ridiculous. I reckon 30 hours will be needed to cover this distance, given the state my legs will be in. It will also be important to remain (or rather to return to being) 'sensible', not wishing to risk future races in sustaining an injury.
Whilst one really does hope to complete this event, running what is more-or-less a marathon a day is still foreign to me and possibly beyond my current abilities. Regardless, it will be a great test and tracking the progress and hearing the stories of fellow participants should prove fun.
I'll be blogging my progress each and every day (as I lay in bed) so do check in to see how I'm fairing and be sure to leave a comment if you too are participating.
Image: pixgood.com
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