As we here in the northern hemisphere prepare for the sixty days of darkness, we also typically start preparing for indoor training season. Treadmills stop becoming laundry hangers and begin seeing use. Bikes transition from race wheels to sitting on a trainer of choice (and usually connected to Zwift). And pool schedules get clogged, jammed with lessons, Masters swims, and school team practices.
Through it all, though, we're all trying to do the same thing: build consistency and look to the future season. It's why we've typically hosted our annual challenges during the shoulder or off-seasons, with our Guppy Challenge usually in the spring, following our traditional winter (or summer, depending on hemisphere) challenge -- the 100/100. And we're here to tell you: the 100/100 is upon us.
What is the 100/100 Run Challenge?
It's a relatively simple proposition: starting on November 15th, the hopeful outcome is to run 100 times in 100 days. It's a rough equivalent of a run streak, although we allow for "make-up" or "banking" of sessions so you do not have to run every single day of the challenge. (You may find the details of the rules here, such as how banking or make-up sessions work, because there's limits on how many runs per day you can do and the required time between them).
The big change this year is that we've changed what counts as a run. Our old standard for a run was 3 miles, or 30 minutes, whichever came first. For this year, the new standard for a run is 2 miles, or 20 minutes, whichever comes first. Why the change? It's two-fold. First, we're finding the middle ground between our old standard and the general consensus of what is required for a recognizable run streak (one mile). Second, we've also taken direct feedback from coaches that 20 minutes / 2 miles is a better standard for triathletes who might also be working on another aspect of their training.
Quoting our own Dan Empfield: "This Challenge honors frequency. Not distance. Not speed. Not effort. It honors regularity. Routine. To prevail in this Challenge you don't see how much you can do; rather how little. Not how hard you can run, but how easy."
We award digital trophies to those who complete 100 or more runs in the 100 day span, and then down to 90, 80, and 70 runs, respectively. Life happens. Our goal here is to inject more running into your season, and not dejection if you don't complete all 100 runs.
How Do I Sign Up? How Do I Track Mileage?
Enrolling is pretty straightforward. First, if you haven't already, you need to be signed up for a Slowtwitch Reader Forum account. That forum account also unlocks our Training Log. Once you've headed to the Training Log, click on Challenges at the top. The 100/100 Challenge will appear midway down the page, and you just need to hit enroll. Voila! You're in.
Once you're set there, you can sync your Strava account to be able to pull your run data over to the Training Log. Otherwise, you may manually log your runs, if you're doing them on a treadmill or using a dumb watch. The leaderboard auto sorts off of run count -- remember, we're concerned with frequency, not speed here.
100/100 Run Support
There are two primary support mechanisms that Slowtwitch offers. First, there's our annual thread on the 100/100 Challenge. There you'll find our Airing of the Grievances (as is traditional before performing Feats of Strength), as well as general discussion of how the challenge is going for your fellow members.
Secondly, for the third year running, we're offering four runs per week on Zwift. These group runs occur on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7 AM Eastern / 4 AM Pacific and 7 PM Eastern / 4 PM Pacific. These group runs offer another opportunity to connect with fellow Slowtwitchers and Zwifters as you make your way through the 100 days of running.
Happy running, everyone.
