OK, it is that time of year again. My American friends will be packing on a few pound this weekend, knowing that there will be 100 days starting on Dec 15th to clamp down and do some running and burn it off. In the mean times, let’s get all the complaints out of the way. I might ask Jensw to decorate the festivus tree too so that it can seem a bit more like the show about nothing.
Here is the link to last year’s thread with rules etc:
Also don’t forget the 200 miles and 200 beers (I forget the number of beers) challenge that Andypants has every year on Dec 1 - Dec 31. There are some legend that she may have run a marathon Dec 31st and finished off the evening with the equivalent number of beers but that might be some time of an ST legend that gets more colorful every year.
OK, the Festivus pole is over there in that corner across the room, so let’s get the moaning and complaining done now and start the running on Dec 15th.
I’ll start, my left leg still does not work from an accident 2 years ago. Maybe the challenge or Santa will give me a new set of nerves in it and a repaired hamstring, or maybe the challenge will get my butt out the door.
OK, it is that time of year again. My American friends will be packing on a few pound this weekend, knowing that there will be 100 days starting on Dec 15th to clamp down and do some running and burn it off. In the mean times, let’s get all the complaints out of the way. I might ask Jensw to decorate the festivus tree too so that it can seem a bit more like the show about nothing.
Here is the link to last year’s thread with rules etc:
Also don’t forget the 200 miles and 200 beers (I forget the number of beers) challenge that Andypants has every year on Dec 1 - Dec 31. There are some legend that she may have run a marathon Dec 31st and finished off the evening with the equivalent number of beers but that might be some time of an ST legend that gets more colorful every year.
OK, the Festivus pole is over there in that corner across the room, so let’s get the moaning and complaining done now and start the running on Dec 15th.
I’ll start, my left leg still does not work from an accident 2 years ago. Maybe the challenge or Santa will give me a new set of nerves in it and a repaired hamstring, or maybe the challenge will get my butt out the door.
My knees still don’t work and I’ve enough craft beer sine IMMT for me to have to loosen the belt one knotch. Refuse to look at a scale. My 67 yro father runs faster and I’ve been on my bike 3 times since August. My floor pump exploded last nite before my comeback requiring me to buy on and I have no money as my wife took the yr off. My youngest of 3 hid my little yellow computer and I didn’t find it until after my 2nd beer so my comeback may have to start today.
I heard that some Russian spy hacked into the US GPS system and just to mess with the challenge he reset all the lat-long coordinates and every Garmin is going to be off by 60%. I suggest that we measure in kilometer and take credit for miles.
After a 22 year career in the Marine Corps that required me to remain clean shaven everyday, I’ve decided to go native for the winter and haven’t shaved my face since Oct 31st. The unprecedented growth is sweet when running in sub-freezing temps, but damn, it drives me insane when swimming, it feels like my face is covered in a thick snot and seaweed face pack.
I heard that some Russian spy hacked into the US GPS system and just to mess with the challenge he reset all the lat-long coordinates and every Garmin is going to be off by 60%. I suggest that we measure in kilometer and take credit for miles.
Genius. See, this is why I’m only a PE teacher, I can’t think of these schemes!!!
Wind chill is in the teens today. I signed up for IM Chatt. I need to get with it!
Woohoo! Welcome back to IM racing! Now make sure you put some real bitching and moaning in this thread. Let’s get it out of the way before Dec 15th! Maybe we can get Empfield to get on this and complain that someone took his Hokas away?
I don’t even know why you do the annual airing of grievances. Many people, including multiple people who have much more knowledge training and coaching athletes, have pointed out ways to make the challenge better. Yet much like a dictator, you refuse to listen to them.
OK, it is that time of year again. My American friends will be packing on a few pound this weekend, knowing that there will be 100 days starting on Dec 15th to clamp down and do some running and burn it off. In the mean times, let’s get all the complaints out of the way. I might ask Jensw to decorate the festivus tree too so that it can seem a bit more like the show about nothing.
Here is the link to last year’s thread with rules etc:
Also don’t forget the 200 miles and 200 beers (I forget the number of beers) challenge that Andypants has every year on Dec 1 - Dec 31. There are some legend that she may have run a marathon Dec 31st and finished off the evening with the equivalent number of beers but that might be some time of an ST legend that gets more colorful every year.
OK, the Festivus pole is over there in that corner across the room, so let’s get the moaning and complaining done now and start the running on Dec 15th.
I’ll start, my left leg still does not work from an accident 2 years ago. Maybe the challenge or Santa will give me a new set of nerves in it and a repaired hamstring, or maybe the challenge will get my butt out the door.
My knees still don’t work and I’ve enough craft beer sine IMMT for me to have to loosen the belt one knotch. Refuse to look at a scale. My 67 yro father runs faster and I’ve been on my bike 3 times since August. My floor pump exploded last nite before my comeback requiring me to buy on and I have no money as my wife took the yr off. My youngest of 3 hid my little yellow computer and I didn’t find it until after my 2nd beer so my comeback may have to start today.
I’ve broken my back twice, had my right knee reconstructed twice and have sciatica in my right hip and down through to my calf. I refuse to even have a scale in the house. I’ve been chicked, duded, grand-whatevered, people pushing strollers-ed, dog-walkered, and beaten by a 9 year old. We’re still paying the immigration lawyer from the temporary green card application, and will have to buck up for another round to get my 10 year green card in about a month. I think I need to get in on this if for no other reason than to try and keep some semblance of sanity, which is very tenuous at this point…
I don’t even know why you do the annual airing of grievances. Many people, including multiple people who have much more knowledge training and coaching athletes, have pointed out ways to make the challenge better. Yet much like a dictator, you refuse to listen to them.
I don’t even know why you do the annual airing of grievances. Many people, including multiple people who have much more knowledge training and coaching athletes, have pointed out ways to make the challenge better and yet, like a dictator, you refuse to listen to them.
Perfect timing of the annual grievance from you! No one is forcing anyone to do anything stupid. They are supposed to do what their coach tells them and do what they want in the framework of the challenge. If they want to disregard their coach in name of chasing a spreadsheet, that’s the choice of smart guys to do stupid things. It’s like chasing some guy at 120% FTP surges early in an Ironman ride. Of course the coach tells them to stick to the plan, but athletes can’t control themselves…if anything the challenge will allow them to practice restraint and stick to the coaches plan!
The challenge works because it is part fitness gain, part stupidity, part group momentum. Everyone needs to find their sweet spot. Blindly running x number of times in y number of days…well, chances are they will break. >3 months is a long time.
No one is forcing anyone to do anything stupid…The challenge works because it is part fitness gain, part stupidity, part group momentum.
Well you summed it up there pretty good though with the quotes I pulled.
Look I think it’s on the whole a pretty good idea. I’m not trying to bust your balls on the challenge, just the way it’s implemented and that you refuse to change for the betterment of those that participate.
Looking at it from a coaching standpoint, there are some things that you could change to help people come out on the other side of it fitter and less stupid.
But if you’re chasing more stupid and less fitter, the way it’s written now is fine.
It’s your party, stupid and less fit. If it were my party people would be smarter and more fit.
But here’s an idea for you. Let’s bet, say $1,000, or choose a number, I don’t really care what the number is.
We’ll divide the groups into more stupid and less fit which can do it your way and smarter & fitter which can be done by making 1 or 2 small changes. We test them up front, then again at the back end. Greatest group improvement wins the bet AND forever changes the rules.
Here’s my grievance: I just submitted my name for the Chesapeake Bay swim lottery and this is a run challenge. Sigh!!
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Dev, thank you for organizing this challenge. I do need the running motivation.
No one is forcing anyone to do anything stupid…The challenge works because it is part fitness gain, part stupidity, part group momentum.
Well you summed it up there pretty good though with the quotes I pulled.
Look I think it’s on the whole a pretty good idea. I’m not trying to bust your balls on the challenge, just the way it’s implemented and that you refuse to change for the betterment of those that participate.
Looking at it from a coaching standpoint, there are some things that you could change to help people come out on the other side of it fitter and less stupid.
But if you’re chasing more stupid and less fitter, the way it’s written now is fine.
It’s your party, stupid and less fit. If it were my party people would be smarter and more fit.
But here’s an idea for you. Let’s bet, say $1,000, or choose a number, I don’t really care what the number is.
We’ll divide the groups into more stupid and less fit which can do it your way and smarter & fitter which can be done by making 1 or 2 small changes. We test them up front, then again at the back end. Greatest group improvement wins the bet AND forever changes the rules.
You game for a game?
Care to elaborate on what you would do to make it better? I am always looking for ways to be train smarter.
You are widely recognized as one of the smarter/better coaches on here so your thoughts on this might help a lot of people out.
I’m not planning on participating but my currrent swim/run focus (as assigned by my coach) would be pretty amenable to doing well with the challenge this year.
Hey Brian, I don’t want to get into a dick swinging contest about who is smarter and which smart guys get better race results etc.
The first goal of the challenge is about building community and having people get motivation from each other.
The second goal is to get people into the concept of training consistency, and overcoming mental barriers to getting to the “start line” of each day’s training which is one of the biggest barriers for most age groupers
The third goal is fitness, but really we should all be using the motivational elements of the challenge to overlay on top of smart, well thought out plans either self generated or through our coaches.
It’s a challenge that does a great job in building community, while we build fitness in our own way in the framework of the challenge. There are a lot of smart coaches that you can go to for getting better fitness. What we are providing with the challenge is the motivation, excitement, feeling of belonging, and some good competition between friends of similar ability or on similar plans to keep us honest. A lot of folks are training solo in cold dark winter months. The challenge makes us feel like we are training in a group…because it is virtual group.
Could some things be improved…absolutely, but for everything we change, there will be a outcry about wussifying it, or dumbing things down and making it easier for this year, when previous “finishers” had it harder! To some degree, guys take just as much pride in what they achieve in the challenge as they might in any event…it becomes an event in its own right.
So for every request to improve from one angle, others may see this is a loss from an entirely different view point. Personally I’d love to reduce the short run threshold to 15 minutes or even 10 minutes, because that is often the right amount of minimum run, but we’re all welcome to do a ton of short runs that don’t count in the challenge, but do count towards building fitness in a smarter way. So it comes down how one uses the challenge while not reducing its “draw” as a sort of event that creates a lot of excellent group momentum and sense of community.