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Walks have been added to running challenges as of January 2024 and as a person who does both run and walk acitvities as separate sports, this has ruined the experience of challenges in the app for me, and in general.

My walks are no counting towards running challenges which rightly used to be separate. They are separate sports.

I found an idea here from last year where somebody requested the opposite and now it has been implemented. From their point of view, they were lesser abled and some walks "felt" like runs to them, which i acknowledge - however, the solution there is ti simply record a running workout on your device, not a walk.

To improve the experience for walkers then more 5k, 10k and monthly mileage challenges can be set up to keep it interesting. 

Last year I really enjoyed tracking my walking challenge and sepaately doing the running challenges. 

Now there are fewer challenges in total which seems like the app is getting worse, not better.

Also importantly need to point out that runs are not included in the walking challenges.... I guess that's the real punchline to this joke.

 

Yes please. If anybody wants to track their activities towards running challenges then they can just mark it as run instead of a walk.

Completely agree - my friends and I set ourselves the challenge over the last few years to run 100km per month for the year - now with walks added we have hit the monthly goal in a week! 

I am so so frustrated that walks are now added to runs - it's going to force me NOT to track any walks in order to be able to keep them separate. *Please* change it back! 

Completely agree with this! Can we at least have the option to not count walks toward running challenges?

Additionally, Strava has some automatic flagging in place for running activities based on the speed.  Although this is far from perfect, it does filter out some of the blatantly bad files that get uploaded, such as people driving down the highway.  These filters are not applied to walks (at least as far as I can tell), so now the running challenges are flooded with people uploading "walks" that are clearly driving.  I used to look at the challenges and would see a few bad uploads, easy enough to clean up with a few flags.  Now, the top end of the leaderboard is flooded with "walks".

I have noticed this as well. I'd prefer the walks to be separate. I also don't understand why there is only one walking challenge and it's been reduced from 50k a month to 30k a month. I don't want my walks to count towards my running digital trophies, it doesn't feel right to me! Please review strava!!

+100500 walk and run should be counted separately for the monthly distance-based activity.

Also, get back run challenges for 200K, and 300K.
Because now you've broken the typical use case completely.

Yes, this is really annoying and has made what was a reasonable challenge (running 100K a month) into a piece of cake - i do both walks and runs and want to keep them separate. 

I have always enjoyed the challenges as one of the most motivational features of Strava, but if they are going to change the goal posts like this it totally removes the consistency.

Typical, I finally subscribe this Jan and then find they've done this! PLEASE RECONSIDER!

Agree with all the comments here - this doesn’t make sense for anybody who walks and runs (especially when also using Garmin). The Trophy changes this January are a significant reduction and v disappointing 

If some walkers insist their walk 'felt like a run' why can't they simply log their walk as a run? Then it wouldn't impact on Strava users who do both activities and like to keep them separate.  The 100k run challenge seems pretty pointless to me now.

Remeber guys if you support this request to remove walks from running challenges, leave a kudos on the idea post @San @MattBrewis @jobrob @yantonov @Kyorke1987 @anchskier @AnnieH @ClaireLambert16 @sanchit3008 Thanks!

@runprime - We are not able to leave them on this idea yet because the admins have not updated the posts status to allow kudos.  @Jane11 @Scout @Bryant 

Another point to somehow report about this ridiculous logic - put 1 star in the App store for the mobile app!

+1. Please change it back, or allow walks to be included or excluded as each person sees fit.

I also totally agree with this. I used to love keeping my walking and running challenges as separate things. Just walking the dog 1-2 times a day alongside my running schedule makes the 100k 'running' challenge far too easy.

Same goes for the run climbing challenge. I live in a hilly place and I used to have to work for 2000m elevation in a month. Now that walks are included I am easily doing double that height.  Please make a separate walking/hiking elevation challenge along with the running distance challenges.

Totally agree. This has ruined the point of the badge and ruins the challenge. 

It's not satisfying to have run part of the 100k and receive my badge early cause walks count. 

I could not agree more. The adding of walks towards the running challenges (all of them) are absolute rubbish and ruins the running challenges completely!! I want the challenge to be Challenging and not having them ruined by my regular lunch walks!

Also bring back the harder challenges, 200km and 300km and add proper walk/hike challenges for the people who want them (why not just the same distances as the running challenges?). The 200km challenge has been my go to challenge for a long time and I'm always happy when I manage that.

PS. I can't vote on this, seems locked

Completely agree.

(Also put the walking challenge back to 50k)

Oh my I could not agree more! Remarkable really how irate this makes me

Stop combining sports and just create challenges at different levels for the most popular activities. Not complicated and since you have been charging for premium the last few years you should have the funds to do so! 

Please separate again. 

Hello @runprime 


Thanks for posting your thoughts on this change.  Thanks also to everyone who has commented and shared their feedback.  We appreciate it.  We will be sharing your feedback with the appropriate Team.  

Bumping the thread as it's now open to vote

I think the addition of walking activities has diluted the achievement of earning the RUN 100k in a month.  why couldn't a Walk 100km challenge be added instead? 

A lot of us totally agree with you.  There are two existing threads on this subject.  Please add your comments to those and your kudos to the one asking to remove walks.  Not like Strava will actually listen to us, but at least it keeps the discussion going for others to see.  

Remove "walks" from running challenges and expand ... - Strava Community Hub
✓ Run Challenges - Allow Walk to count as well - Strava Community Hub

 

They are not seperate sports. Just as cycling slow and cycling fast are not separate sports, I record all of my on foot acitivities, walk or run, or football, all as runs. If you have 1,000 different sport types, your strava profile soon becomes clogged and disorganised. This is also why I record all my rides as just 'rides' instead of using the category gravel or mountain bike ride. 5 sports is already a lot; I have Run, Ride, Swim, Kayak & Weight Training. Any more categories and this would be an absolute mess. 

 

Aim higher, set your goals super high.

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