A 2011 Finisher’s Guide to Challenge: Prologue 11/25/12
Turkey settled in stomach. Some Black Friday shopping got done. New Year’s card design was picked and 50 of them got printed. Holiday season is in full swing. What does that mean to me? It is another year of Spinervals Challenge!
Coach Troy re-posted his 2011 Challenge blog the other day and he is still taking sweet time tweaking and keeping this year’s version still secret for us. We still get good ideas from last year’s blog, but as an official finisher, ahem, from last year, I wanted to share some thoughts for people who are interested and curious about the Challenge.
During last year’s Challenge, keeping a daily blog was part of my Challenge experience. I would like to get back into that. This entry serves as a prologue, like opening Time Trial at the Grand Tour!
1) If your main sport is not cycling, you are in the right place. If your main sport is cycling, you are in the perfect place. If you are triathlete, you are in haven!
I am an overweight kid who didn’t really exercise turned 46 from Japan. How did I end up being in Spinervals community and half-way act like I belong here and hanging out with elite athletes, you can read my confession blog.
Cycling is my only sport that I can call my own and that is why I could keep up. I don’t know much else, but I know cycling fairly well. After all, Spinervals is cycling focus and in Challenge you get on the bike everyday! Therefore I may not be the perfect person to be saying this, but I have seen and heard immense improvement whose main sport is not even cycling. And if your main sport is cycling like me, you get most out of your winter off-season, if not summer on-season, riding maximum. People say indoor cycling is boring; not with Coach Troy, I can guarantee! I stick with Coach Troy because even somebody like me, who is not even interested in racing, can see improvements, each time!
And why do I say if you are triathelte, this is heaven? Well, read on.
2) Get ready to interact with cool people like you, who love to challenge (and torture) ourselves.
Currently I teach a class that students pay $2,000.00 a semester and taught a class that didn’t cost a penny. I came to the conclusion that people need to make financial investment in order to be accountable and responsible for their learning.
NOT HERE, not with Spinervals Challenge, which costs nothing to sign up. What happened last year for Coach Troy is that he found a bunch of people, who go through his program, not because they are told to, not because they get paid, not because they paid, but because just because and go through the suffering together with good attitudes, helping and encouraging each other. Get ready to meet really neat people from all points of the globe!
3) It *is* Challenge. Is it crazy? Probably so.
It didn’t say so in initial blog, but Coach did give us TWO rest days. Even so, there were times I showed the schedule and described the workout to my unpaid trainer (also known as Husband) and asked if I should/could be following. To quote Coach from last year’s blog, “I want to make it a true test of your physical and mental endurance and toughness and for those who complete the program to be in a select group.” And this involves more than just you, a participant. People and circumstances around you have to be accommodating on your behalf. You may end up declining some outing because of training or because you are tired. That is not easy during holiday, time for family and close friends. If you and I finish this year, we will have a lot of people to thank for letting us have the privilege to be recognized as a 2012 finisher.
4) Tough on you, tough on the bike.
After all, you are going to be on the bike everyday, sometimes for hours. As much as it is tough on you, it is going to be tough on equipment as well. Last year, as Challenge moved onto half way and more, I kept hearing “mechanicals”: dropping chain, tire blown up, gears, trainers. Anything that could go wrong will go wrong. If you still have a chance, get your bike checked and other equipments in good shape. Oh, this includes washer and dryer, too!
Well, that is all for Prologue. The next entry will be an update of set-up portion of my entry. I am tentatively calling, “How to overprepare for Spinervals workout”. Until then, as Coach says, “Train safe. Train smart.”
Coach Troy re-posted his 2011 Challenge blog the other day and he is still taking sweet time tweaking and keeping this year’s version still secret for us. We still get good ideas from last year’s blog, but as an official finisher, ahem, from last year, I wanted to share some thoughts for people who are interested and curious about the Challenge.
During last year’s Challenge, keeping a daily blog was part of my Challenge experience. I would like to get back into that. This entry serves as a prologue, like opening Time Trial at the Grand Tour!
1) If your main sport is not cycling, you are in the right place. If your main sport is cycling, you are in the perfect place. If you are triathlete, you are in haven!
I am an overweight kid who didn’t really exercise turned 46 from Japan. How did I end up being in Spinervals community and half-way act like I belong here and hanging out with elite athletes, you can read my confession blog.
Cycling is my only sport that I can call my own and that is why I could keep up. I don’t know much else, but I know cycling fairly well. After all, Spinervals is cycling focus and in Challenge you get on the bike everyday! Therefore I may not be the perfect person to be saying this, but I have seen and heard immense improvement whose main sport is not even cycling. And if your main sport is cycling like me, you get most out of your winter off-season, if not summer on-season, riding maximum. People say indoor cycling is boring; not with Coach Troy, I can guarantee! I stick with Coach Troy because even somebody like me, who is not even interested in racing, can see improvements, each time!
And why do I say if you are triathelte, this is heaven? Well, read on.
2) Get ready to interact with cool people like you, who love to challenge (and torture) ourselves.
Currently I teach a class that students pay $2,000.00 a semester and taught a class that didn’t cost a penny. I came to the conclusion that people need to make financial investment in order to be accountable and responsible for their learning.
NOT HERE, not with Spinervals Challenge, which costs nothing to sign up. What happened last year for Coach Troy is that he found a bunch of people, who go through his program, not because they are told to, not because they get paid, not because they paid, but because just because and go through the suffering together with good attitudes, helping and encouraging each other. Get ready to meet really neat people from all points of the globe!
3) It *is* Challenge. Is it crazy? Probably so.
It didn’t say so in initial blog, but Coach did give us TWO rest days. Even so, there were times I showed the schedule and described the workout to my unpaid trainer (also known as Husband) and asked if I should/could be following. To quote Coach from last year’s blog, “I want to make it a true test of your physical and mental endurance and toughness and for those who complete the program to be in a select group.” And this involves more than just you, a participant. People and circumstances around you have to be accommodating on your behalf. You may end up declining some outing because of training or because you are tired. That is not easy during holiday, time for family and close friends. If you and I finish this year, we will have a lot of people to thank for letting us have the privilege to be recognized as a 2012 finisher.
4) Tough on you, tough on the bike.
After all, you are going to be on the bike everyday, sometimes for hours. As much as it is tough on you, it is going to be tough on equipment as well. Last year, as Challenge moved onto half way and more, I kept hearing “mechanicals”: dropping chain, tire blown up, gears, trainers. Anything that could go wrong will go wrong. If you still have a chance, get your bike checked and other equipments in good shape. Oh, this includes washer and dryer, too!
Well, that is all for Prologue. The next entry will be an update of set-up portion of my entry. I am tentatively calling, “How to overprepare for Spinervals workout”. Until then, as Coach says, “Train safe. Train smart.”