Two Challenges Begin Today

Timing is everything. The Slowtwitch 100/100 Run Challenge began on the 15th of November, and as of today there are more Challenge days behind us than in front of us. A fair number of Slowtwitchers weren’t ready, for one reason or another, but maybe you’re ready now.

Accordingly, day-51 of the 100/100 Challenge is also day-1 of the 50/50. If you’re in the 100/100 you are also able to enter the 50/50. If you weren't ready for the 100/100, here's your second bite at the apple.

Challenges – if you’re not aware – have been a function of our training log for 15 or so years. They are simply a way to aggregate what’s already on your training log into data constructs. This assumes you use the Slowtwitch Training Log. You may manually enter your data, or you may sync your data down from your STRAVA account. Here is a primer on how to enter workouts into our Training Log.

Just as with the 100/100 Run Challenge, the goal in the 50/50 is to run 50 times in 50 days, or as close as you can soberly, safely, come to it. Me, for example, I’m entered in the 100/100, and I ran 36 times in the first 50 days. That’s as much as I felt I could safely, comfortably do, which puts me in bronze medal territory. (If you’re also swimming and cycling, it can be pretty hard to run every day as well.)

We’ve also got the 2021 Big Kahuna Challenge up on the Training Log, and this is the 11th annual version of the event. This Challenge honors training consistency for the year. We (well, I) have never promoted this Challenge. It’s been entirely grassroots and, while not as large as the 100/100, it’s been growing at a steep upward clip. Last year there were 203 entrants, versus 148 in 2019, 112 in 2018, and 60 in 2017.

The Big Kahuna Challenge is scored by aerobic points, and it’s really amazing to see how the volumes have increased, where the most prolific trainers have peaked at not-quite-20,000 aerobic points in a year, a few years ago, to almost 30,000 over the last couple of years. Aerobic points are a Slowtwitch metric, and you can read more about them here. You get 4 points for every mile run, 1 point for every mile cycled, and 1 point for every 100 meters in the water.

Entering these challenges is possible either by going to the Challenges page on our Training Log, or just by going to your own Training Log Home. You need to have a Reader Forum account, which, if you do, makes you one of 96,573 as of this writing.