

Why the sudden surge in popularity? ‘5K training entails working on speed, power, and endurance: all the things that you would get out of even a marathon training plan, but in much more bite-sized chunks,’ says Jes Woods, certified coach for Nike Running, Brooklyn Track Club, and Chaski Endurance. More than one million athletes joined Strava’s 2020 May and June 5K virtual running challenges each month (about double the number of January 5K challenge runners pre-pandemic). There were 8.9 million 5K race registrations in 2019, and it’s the only distance recording an increase year-over-year (the second most popular distance, the half marathon, racked up just 1.79 million registrations).īut even with many races cancelled or postponed for the foreseeable future, 5K challenges are surging in popularity. The 5K is by far the most popular distance race, according to Running USA’s 2019 U.S.
#Month long running challenge full
Other half or full marathon organizers also offer shorter races during their race weekends, so there are lots of similar opportunities across the country. Multi-race challenges such as The Dopey Challenge (at Walt Disney World’s Marathon Weekend in January) have you doing a 5K, 10K, half marathon, and full marathon in one long weekend! Yes, that’s a total of 48.6 miles over four consecutive days. Some really ambitious runners take it up a notch by attempting to run a half or full marathon in every state. This challenge could take many years to accomplish, but each time you run another state, you’ll feel like you’re making progress and working toward an incredible goal. If you run at least a mile every day for a full year, you can be included on the USRSA’s Official USA Active Running Streak List. This running challenge is extremely ambitious, but it’ll also give you major bragging rights. And you’ll still need to make sure you recover properly, especially from the full marathons. Do some of the races at your easy training pace. Just keep in mind that you shouldn’t be “racing” long distances every month. Running a half marathon or marathon every month will require some traveling, but you’ll get some great trips out of it. Run a Half or Full Marathon Every Month for a Year If you’ve been running for many years and are looking for some serious running challenges, here are a few challenges that are geared towards experienced runners. Create a Bucket List of Racesĭo you have a list of races in your head that you’ve been dreaming about running? Write them all down and start working on a plan to run them by a certain date, whether it be within a year, for a milestone birthday, or on a special anniversary. If you’re traveling to another state for work or pleasure, see if there’s a race that coincides with your travel dates. You’ll be able to add a race to your calendar without having to making a special trip. Running local races is cheap and convenient, but it can be exciting to run in different parts of the country. Look for races in nearby states, so you can drive to the race and save on transportation costs. Run a Race in Every State in your Time Zone

You could also fit in 5K and 10K races as easy-paced runs during the final build-up to your marathon. For example, if the marathon is your target race, you can do a half marathon 2 or 3 weeks before as a long training run.

Treat some of them as training runs for the event that’s your goal race. Of course, keep in mind, you shouldn’t be “racing” all of the distances, as back-to-back racing can lead to injury and burn-out. You may need to do at least one of the races virtually, if you can’t find a local race that works for you. First, pick a marathon you want to run and then work back from there. The planning for this type of challenge can be tough because it’s difficult to line up all the races four weekends in a row. Related: Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day Running Challenge Run a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, and Marathon in a Month You could end up making your injury or illness worse or causing a new injury. And don’t push yourself through an injury or illness just to keep the streak going. When you’re attempting a running streak, make sure that some of your runs are very short and easy. Running every day can lead to injuries, since rest days are important for recovery. Your runs in a streak can be done on roads, tracks, trails, or treadmills.Ī running streak is a fun way to stay motivated to run, but streakers should be careful. In fact, the United States Running Streak Association defines a running streak as “running at least one continuous mile within each calendar day under one’s own body power (without the utilization of any type of health or mechanical aid other than prosthetic devices)”. Start your own running streak by challenging yourself to run every day for a month.
