In November 2019, I’m committed to swimming more than 100,000 meters to raise money for Men’s Health Awareness Month and the Movember Foundation!
The 100k Swim Challenge is an exciting way to push your limits by taking on a new challenge while supporting a great cause.
Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful!
Here’s how the 100k Swim Challenge works:
- Step 1: Swim every single day for an entire month.
- Step 2: Log over 100,000 meters (pool or open water) in the MySwimPro App.
- Step 3: Raise funds for a worthy cause.
These three steps are easier said than done! You can do one of the three steps, but to truly accomplish the challenge, push yourself to do all three. Be consistent (swim everyday), hit a distance, and raise funds. I’m committing to 100,000 meters and swimming every day.
Men’s Health Awareness Month
November is Men’s Health Awareness Month and the Movember Foundation uses the month to bring awareness to and support of those tackling prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide.
The scary truth is that men’s cancers are far too common. For example: 1 in 9 men will develop prostate cancer. Let’s change that!
Please visit my MoBro page on the Movember Foundation website to donate. If you donate $100, that’s $1 for every 1,000 meters I’m pledging to swim. Please visit my page and support this great cause! I’ll do my best to groom a proper goatee as well!
Please Donate here.
If you don’t challenge yourself, you will never realize what you can become.
100,000 Meter Swim
Swimming every day can be a big challenge for most because everyone has demanding schedules. The level of consistency that’s required for this virtual challenge makes it particularly difficult and interesting.
The distance goal can be adjusted to meet your swimming ability. For myself, as an active masters swimmer and former collegiate swimmer, the 100k distance is ambitious, yet attainable. This is about 3-4x more distance I’m used to swimming in a month! You should adjust this so it’s realistic for you based on how much you regularly swim.
Let’s say you can swim 1,000 meters per day, then a 30,000 Meter monthly goal would be awesome! Set your distance goal to what makes sense, but don’t be afraid to challenge yourself!
You can follow my journey to 100k meters in the MySwimPro App!
Don’t limit your challenges. Challenge your limits!
If 100,000 Meters sounds like a lot, that’s because it is a lot of swimming! 100 Kilometers is about 62 Miles. To illustrate just how far that is in water, here’s a breakdown in relative swimming distance. Swimming 100,000 meters is the same distance as swimming:
- Around Manhattan Island in New York City (45.9km) 2.1 times
- The English Channel (32km) 3.1 times
- From Asia to Europe (6.5km) Bosphorus Race 15.3 times
- An open water race (5km) 20 times
Swimming 100km in a pool is different (and arguably easier) than swimming this distance in straight open water, but it’s still no joke. I’ve swum from Asia to Europe in the Bosphorus Cross Continental Swim. It was an amazing experience and you can read more about that here. But swimming this grand distance in the pool is way different.
Keep in mind, if you swim in a short course (25yd) pool like in the United States, you’ll need to swim closer to 110,000 Yards (109,361 yards) to hit the equivalent 100km mark.
Here’s a breakdown of what it takes to log 100,000 Meters in 30 Days:
- Distance: Average 3,350 Meters/Day (3,700 Yards/Day)
- Time: 75-90 Minutes/Day (could take longer depending on your speed)
- Effort: Variable based on experience
100k Swim Challenge Tips
I highly recommend structured workouts. It can be pretty boring swimming back and forth for 4,000 meters every single day. Sometimes that can be a mental break from the world, other times it will be a monotonous chore. Structured workouts like the ones found in the MySwimPro training plans are a fantastic way to mix it up.
Swimming 10-15 hours per week is a big time commitment. If you have the opportunity to break up workouts into multiple swims per day, then it will make the distance much more manageable for your body. For example instead of swimming a 5,000 meter workout, you could swim a 3,000 meter workout in the morning and a 2,000 meter workout in the afternoon.
If you are ramping up your swimming distance you want to make sure you stay focused on swimming with proper technique to prevent injury. I also recommend either adding or re-focusing your attention to a strength and conditioning program out of the water to help maintain good posture and reduce your risk of injury. Checkout these great strength training programs linked below:
See Also: 20 Exercises With A Medicine Ball
See Also: 30 Exercises With TRX Bands
Support A Great Cause!
November is Men’s Health Awareness Month and the Movember Foundation uses the month to bring awareness to and support of those tackling prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide.
I started the month with a clean shaven face. From there, it will gradually groom into a goatee and be used as a conversation starter to talk about men’s health and raise donations.
By encouraging men (whom the charity refers to as “Mo Bros”) to get involved, Movember aims to increase early cancer detection, diagnosis and effective treatments, and ultimately reduce the number of preventable deaths. Besides annual check-ups, the Movember Foundation encourages men to be aware of family history of cancer and to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
If you are participating in Movember or another challenge, please reach out directly so we can collaborate! Email me at: fares@myswimpro.com!