Winter Training Challenges - Signup/Discussion Thread

TheBigYin · October 2015

I bet you've been wondering when this thread would start. I've been agonising over what to say/do about this for the past few weeks now - indeed, since my "medical episode" during the Vuelta Challenge, I've had to give quite a bit of thought to the whole thing.

Truth be told folks, I don't think that I have the time this year to organise and administer the "winter omnium" challenges similar to last year - to be absolutely honest, it was a struggle last year to do so, while I had medical problems, and with the substantially different problems I'm having now, it's just going to be a bit too much for me - frankly, I have to really concentrate on getting myself organised and following my own Cardio Rehabilitation routines to be able to positively participate in any of the riding challenges on here - I found it massively difficult last year to be running the "Classics Challenge" and not able to ride - I think that running the Winter Omnium and not participating would be even more soul-destroying.

So - if anyone else wants to organise something, I'm happy to provide any of the "source materials" - i.e. the google spreadsheets from last year, and obviously, any insights or recommendations I can pass on I'll cheerfully do so - I'll even try and join in with some of the challenges where I can - i'm thinking that something non-specific on the indoor trainer may be in my remit - though I'm doubtful that I'd be up for something exclusively Zwift based for example - it's TOUGH to ride that application with a prescribed Max HR of 104bpm...

Sorry folks - hope this isn't too much of a let-down for everyone - and I really, really hope that someone steps forward and takes on the organisation of something motivational over the winter... Hopefully, by the time the Spring comes around I'll be able to actually get outdoors and at that point I can consider the future of the Classics Challenge and the Grand Tours...

Jakess1971 · October 2015

Funnily enough this was on my mind this morning during my first morning commute in full Winter gear this morning, sorry your having a crappy time of it Mark, truly wish you back to good health as soon as possible, I'm sure come the new year you'll be seeing some decent progress and look to be hitting it again.

I don't mind helping or running something over the Winter if there is interest, last Winter I found it quite nice to take part in BUT the participation was very low I felt a bit of a lone Winter wolf in the outdoor side of things.

What I suggest is an overall combined challenge, everything is converted to calories and then points, it's purely an effort based challenge, aimed at keeping fitness over Winter and building that base fitness, no matter if your riding indoors or out, if we have 10 or more riders then a league becomes interesting, less then that then I don't think it's worth running. Let's see what interest there is and then we know if to move forward with it.

Example of how this would work:

25km would be typically 500kcal = 1 pt

and visa versa:

500kcal would be typically be 25km = 1 pt

I really honestly don't feel it would be the same if you Mark wasn't involved in this though, perhaps one or two of us could run the spreadsheet and figures and you set up spot prize point challenges such as Winter pics or performing an FTP test.

I'll be setting my own Winter personal challenge but would be nice to be part of something too, shout up now if you think it's worth doing.

cloggsy71 · October 2015

Jakess1971 wrote: »

Funnily enough this was on my mind this morning during my first morning commute in full Winter gear this morning, sorry your having a crappy time of it Mark, truly wish you back to good health as soon as possible, I'm sure come the new year you'll be seeing some decent progress and look to be hitting it again.

I don't mind helping or running something over the Winter if there is interest, last Winter I found it quite nice to take part in BUT the participation was very low I felt a bit of a lone Winter wolf in the outdoor side of things.

What I suggest is an overall combined challenge, everything is converted to calories and then points, it's purely an effort based challenge, aimed at keeping fitness over Winter and building that base fitness, no matter if your riding indoors or out, if we have 10 or more riders then a league becomes interesting, less then that then I don't think it's worth running. Let's see what interest there is and then we know if to move forward with it.

Example of how this would work:

25km would be typically 500kcal = 1 pt

and visa versa:

500kcal would be typically be 25km = 1 pt

I really honestly don't feel it would be the same if you Mark wasn't involved in this though, perhaps one or two of us could run the spreadsheet and figures and you set up spot prize point challenges such as Winter pics or performing an FTP test.

I'll be setting my own Winter personal challenge but would be nice to be part of something too, shout up now if you think it's worth doing.

Didn't it work on Kcals last time; 500 for men & 400 for women? That seems to ring a bell...

TheBigYin · October 2015

last year's threads

First of all, there's the google spreadsheet

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nFe3yhPER06uHif1AkaRPYluLzBQCXC_Q-_pe4eC2uY/edit?usp=sharing

then the individual challenge "discussions"

Cross - http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10004643/2014-5-ws-cross-challenge-discussion-signup

Commuter - http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10004636/2014-5-ws-commuter-challenge-signup-discussion

Indoor Trainer - http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10003912/2014-5-ws-indoor-trainer-challenge-discussion-signup

Base Builder - http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10005450/2014-5-ws-rule-9-base-distance-builder-challenge

Jakess1971 · October 2015

cloggsy71 wrote: »

Didn't it work on Kcals last time; 500 for men & 400 for women? That seems to ring a bell...

That sounds fair to me, the cals would accumulate to build points too, so you could in theory do a load of 250 cal sessions to build up those points.

As mentioned on marks thread Clive I'm happy for you to take the lead and I can help entering the figures if needed, the main consideration is do we have any takers for taking part? I'll add something on my status now to see if we have any takers from my friend list.

TheBigYin · October 2015

well - as far as taking part goes - I'm in, as far as I'm allowed to do so... now, that degree of participation is partly out of my hands - as it's down to the Medico's just what they allow me to get up to - it might be once a week of hamstering, it could be more - it could (gawd forbid) be less... but if there's a "handlebar option" for exercise, rest assured i'll take it, and try and join in where I can...

Glad that someone's prepared to try and "take up" on the running some challenge or other though - don't feel like you have to copy what I did - fresh ideas are always good, I simply linked last years as an example of what worked (and, in fairness, of what patently didn't work anywhere near as well as it should...)

Dave2041 · October 2015

I'm in for whatever, tricky with calories as the calculations used vary wildly unless you use a power meter but as we're all on strava i suppose it'll be fair enough

EDIT: Also will this be limited to the northern hemisphere? xD

ntnunk · October 2015

I would totally be in on this, both as a participant and helper. I'm not sure I'd have the time to run something like this wholly on my own but I'd certainly be willing to help with whatever gets going.

Dave2041 · October 2015

Same ntnunk, more than happy to be an admin lurking the forums updating a spreadsheet of some description.

Jakess1971 · October 2015

Ok great, I don't think it matters to compete, it's just taking part in a group mission to improve our fitness, so that's:

Jakess1971 - Me
cloggsy71 - Clive
Mark - TheBigYin
Dave - Dave2041 just expressed his interest to be in too.
ntunk

I'd say we need another 5 to make it worth running.

I really do think keep this as simple as possible, logging would be one thread with all your cals burnt and link to proof, this could be a link to the Strava activity that shows the calories burnt or a screen capture of your indoor turbo hamster activity. Mine would all be Strava as I'd either be cycling indoors on Zwift or using Strava to log my outdoor, both would be logged on the same account.

Example logging would be:

Date / In or Out / Calories / Link to proof

Total Cals & Total Points

i.e:

26/10/2015 - Out - 1275 cal - https://www.strava.com/activities/420538428
20/10/2015 - In - 1082 cal - https://www.strava.com/activities/416551669

Total Cals = 2375 / Total Points 4

For those using other indoor turbos and not able to create the Strava entries, create a screen shot, upload it to something and then just link it as you do the strava entry.

I'd suggest one other thread for the photo challenges that would be set and I also think points could be given for FTP tests, perhaps even performance increases on this from beginning compared with the end of the challenge.

Clive how does this sound, any other thoughts?

cloggsy71 · October 2015

Jakess1971 wrote: »

Clive how does this sound, any other thoughts?

Yup! Ladies get 1pt for every 400cals burned, Gents get 1pt for every 500cals burned.

FTP tests 1pt (only 1 allowed per calendar month?) Performance gains +1pt?

That being said, Zwift now updates your FTP after every ride doesn't it (or it did for me when I rode the other day?! Whether this was another glitch, who knows???)

Does this start from 1st Nov?

Jakess1971 · October 2015

cloggsy71 wrote: »

Jakess1971 wrote: »

Clive how does this sound, any other thoughts?

Yup! Ladies get 1pt for every 400cals burned, Gents get 1pt for every 500cals burned.

FTP tests 1pt (only 1 allowed per calendar month?) Performance gains +1pt?

That being said, Zwift now updates your FTP after every ride doesn't it (or it did for me when I rode the other day?! Whether this was another glitch, who knows???)

Does this start from 1st Nov?

Sounds good to me, 1st November makes sense, all we need now are willing members, need that 10 for starters and then I think an open policy of allowing others to enter if they would like to join, if we get a sudden influx of participants then we may want to limit the number to 40 or something but can't see that happening really based on last year.

Jakess1971 - Me
cloggsy71 - Clive
Mark - TheBigYin
Dave - Dave2041 just expressed his interest to be in too.
ntunk

Possible additions pending conflabs are Mr & Mrs centralcalicycling, so that would make 7 ish so far.

Added on the Strava club and awaits stampede of interest!

Regarding the FTP test, one submission a month sounds like a good plan, screen shot as proof would do it I think.

ntnunk · October 2015

My wife, @canbbot, might be interested. I just sent her a message to inquire. This sounds like a lot of fun. My intent was to not let the riding fall off quite as much this year as it did last winter and this kind of challenge would definitely help me with that.

Also, for future reference, ntnunk = Noel.

jillyian · October 2015

I'm in.

gobonas99 · October 2015

I'd be up for it

banshee1013 · October 2015

I'm in. I definitely need something to kick me in the butt and get going again

jillyian · October 2015

So this counts for any type of exercise? I do workouts a few days a week, only problem is they are Manuel entries, so I don't think it shows a calorie burn, although it does when it uploads to mfp,

jillyian · October 2015

Never mind, I didn't mean to post the last question -
I went back and read all previous entries so I know how it works.

amiller7x7 · October 2015

I would be willing to join in just for fun. Will likely only be cycling about 3X per week of which a couple will probably be indoor sessions if we have a "normal" winter! Calories seems like a reasonable way to cross compare indoor and outdoor cycling.