Annual 100/100 starts today

Don’t get scared by the name, you can participate without running 100 times in 100 days. You do the best you can. The desire to be a better runner in the Spring and having something to motivate you over the Winter, that’s what the 100/100 is all about.

The point of this Challenge is to accumulate overall mileage and enhance your fitness in preparation for the 2017 racing season. Frequency of run sessions, not bulk miles, is the metric in which we’re interested.

It's not a training plan, It is a Challenge. Use it to motivate you, but step away from it when you really need rest. The runs are logged over on the Slowtwitch training log which, with some luck, will be receiving a big upgrade soon.

You sign up by clicking the Join Challenge link and then when you “log a workout” every run automatically appends to the 100/100 Challenge (the ongoing Guppy Challenge, for swimmers, works the same way).

Chase the training log when you need a spark, don't even open it when you're overtired. Listen to your body, your coaches, perhaps even your spouse when you need a break.

Adhering to tradition, on December 15th we commence this long virtual camp with all the rules described on our Reader Forum. And you must be a member of our Reader Forum to participate. There is one common login for everything; once you have established a Forum account, you can post there, log workouts on the Training Log, and join the Challenges.

Why do we start on Dec 15th? To get you into a routine before all the holiday eating and partying so that you start the year at a disadvantage.

You must run 30-minutes in a day to generate one accomplished run. You can run longer than that but it's still just one run. Shorter than 30-minutes does not technically count as a session. More rules are in the thread linked to above as there is some fine print and some exceptions that you should read up on that can work in your favor.

While some athletes will actually run 100 times in 100 days, most of us will run fewer. There are levels for 90, 80 and 70 runs. There is no cost other than some miles on your legs. Participate on the reader forum thread and share your experiences, like any training camp; this adds to the value for everyone.

We'll also host a few coaches and vets on the Slowtwitch forum who’ll answer your questions. Stories, pictures, smack talk and friendly competition are also welcome. Happy and safe training, and welcome aboard.

[Devashish Paul is Slowtwitch.com lifestyle contributor based in Ottawa Canada and founder of the 100/100 “freeware” challenge dating back to 2006-07. Dev is a 31-time Ironman finisher with multiple finishes at Kona and 70.3 Worlds and a former Canadian Armed Forces Triathlon Champion. He coaches athletes in his hometown, but for his day job he does some cool stuff with connectivity chips, so you can surf Slowtwitch faster through wireless networks and data centers worldwide.]