In the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, virtual races have been popping up at a rate of knots. It’s not surprising – race directors have been left out of pocket by the cancellation of events, and runners have been left without races to run.

I’ve taken part in a couple of shorter virtual events myself, but the announcement of Centurion Running’s ‘One Community‘ virtual event really caught my eye as an opportunity to be a part of something transformative.

For those not in the know, Centurion are the grandaddies of ultrarunning in the southeast of England. They have a glistening reputation as providers of quality 100-mile and 50-mile events, and the community support for their organisation reflects this.

I haven’t actually run a Centurion event myself yet, but I am signed up to attempt my first 50 miler with them in July along the North Downs Way, as well as the intriguing Wendover Woods Night 50k, now postponed to November. The ‘One Community’ virtual race, then, will actually be my first Centurion event!

The event is to be run over the course of a week, starting on Monday the 25th of May and ending at midnight on Sunday the 31st. Participants have the option of completing one of a number of distances, either in one go or across the seven days. The distances range from 5km to 100 miles, and whilst the results will be ranked by age and gender, the goal really is to participate in a mass virtual gathering and celebrate the running community.

Lighting the Spark

I’ve been toying with the idea of running a 100 mile week for some time now, but in truth I am just not sure if I’m up to it. I’m only averaging around 40 miles a week at the moment – but is that just because I’m playing it safe? I know I could do more – but how much more?

In order to find out, I’m just going to have to bite the bullet. The only way to know is to try, so I’ll be signing up to the full 100 mile sch-bang. If I don’t succeed, I know I’ll be able to cover the 50 miles and still be recognised for my efforts. The beauty of this event is that it’s an opportunity to find out, on your own terms, what you’re capable of.

In order to give myself every chance of success, I’ll have to make sure a number of factors are lined up perfectly.

Tapering

I don’t know if it’s necessary to perform a classic taper for a 100 mile week, the way one does for a race. But I’ll certainly be cautious in the coming weeks to avoid over-exerting myself and give my body a chance to absorb all the training that I’ve been putting in over the past couple of months.

The coming week (starting May 4th) will be a 70km week, followed by a cut-back week that I had already scheduled of around 50km. Then, in the week before the virtual event, I’ll focus on running steady and strong for around 60km, ensuring my legs stay engaged but not overworked.

In the past, I’ve noticed that the week immediately after a cut-back week I feel a bit stale; it’s during the week after that that I experience tangible gains. If I’ve done my maths right, my plan for the coming weeks should lead to a noticeable ‘bounce’ in my fitness during the week of the race. Note: should.

Double Run Days

For me, I don’t see how it would be possible to run 100 miles in 7 days without doing a couple of double run days. A 16 mile run is somehow a very different beast from a 10 mile morning run followed by a 6 mile evening run, and doubling up my runs (providing the lockdown is no longer as strict) will help boost my mileage.

Terrain

I’m still unsure if it’s best to do more trail miles or road miles, but I’m leaning towards road. I’ll be avoiding vert as much as possible in order to keep on top of the mileage, and my local trails are frankly too hilly and/or muddy to be worth expending much energy on during the week.

That said, I do know of many trail systems slightly further afield that are both flatter and easier underfoot, so I expect I’ll be paying them a visit on some of my longer runs. Which is all of my runs. They’re all longer. Damn.

Stick to a Schedule

I haven’t got my exact schedule for the week figured out just yet, but once I do, I’ll be sticking to it. I want to avoid letting the goal slip early in the week, and being forced to make up the distance later on. In fact, I’ll likely aim towards the opposite scenario – ‘banking’ miles early on and avoiding having to play catch up.

No Hard Runs

Every run will be run at a gentle pace. For me, this translates to around 5:30 kilometres (8:52 miles) on the flats. I don’t expect I’ll be feeling fresh enough beyond the first day or two to run any miles at a pace other than ‘easy’, anyway.

I don’t usually display ‘Current Pace’ on my GPS watch as I prefer to run by perceived effort, but for the purposes of this challenge I’ll switch it on and treat 5:30/km as a strict upper limit on my pace. No faster, except perhaps for the occasional downhill where braking may cause more harm than good.

By day three or four I think 5:30 kilometres will seem a distant memory, about as achievable as a 2 hour marathon!

Prioritise Recovery

Making sure I am as recovered as possible throughout the week is going to be of prime concern. I don’t anticipate my legs ever feeling ‘fresh’ but I want to avoid them feeling like hunks of dead meat. As such, I’ll be prioritising recovery in three distinct ways:

• Food
  I’ll obviously need to eat more, emphasising protein and healthy fats. But I’ll also be cutting out the crap in the weeks leading up to the challenge – biscuits, cakes, etc. – to give me every advantage.
• Sleep
  Possibly the most important factor. I’ll be aiming for 9 hours a night at minimum, with 10 being ideal. And no phones or screens past 9pm.
• Active Recovery
  Whilst I shan’t be cycling or going for long walks during the week, I’ll try and make sure I don’t spend all day hunched over my laptop or lying in bed. So plenty of stretching and tootling about the house. I’ll also be spending a lot of time awakening my inner masochist with the help of my foam roller. Gulp.

Roll With It

As Laz Lake says:

If you’re going to face a real challenge, it has to be a challenge; you can’t accomplish anything without the possibility of failure.

The 100 mile week represents a huge unknown for me. If I had to call it, I’d say I’m about 40% confident that I can do it. In other words, 60% unconfident.

But therein lies the appeal: I don’t know. I have taken up other challenges in the past that I wasn’t sure about – I summited Mount Eden every day for a month (almost); I cycled the length of the UK despite never having ridden serious mileage. I think I’m someone who thrives on a little bit of uncertainty – why else would I be so drawn to a sport like ultrarunning?

Either way, it’s sure to be an interesting week; I’ll report back here with updates once it’s slain. Sorry – done. Or not done, as the case may be.

🙂