<span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">Howdy everyone! I usually post to the daily thread on Run and Race Reports. I set my sights on being Bad. Hopefully, I’ll be a little better than Bad. <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif"> Time will tell.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">The list says I’m the “captain.” Officially, my role is that of a counter of points. There will be a daily thread. You report your points. I tally them and send them on to Roots. Other than that, I have no authority. Zip. Zero. Nada.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">So, by the authority vested in me by the VRAA, here are Da Roolz. <img alt="biggrin.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/biggrin.gif"></span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><b>Rule 1 – Have Fun</b>. This rule, along maybe Rule 2, is the most important rule in the game. And it is a game. Let’s have a good time. You’ll notice that the teams that are winning are having a good time.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><b>Rule 2 – No VRAA Injuries</b>. In the game, the more you do, the more points you get. There is thus an inherent danger of overdoing it and getting hurt. Injuries are not fun so they violate Rule 1 anyway. Respect the old saw and “listen to your body.”</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">A corollary to this is that, for VRAA purposes, there is no reason to do other than an easy workout. You get the same points for an easy warmup mile as for 1 mile repeats at your best lung searing pace. If you want to do harder workouts, be my guest. Do them because they make sense for you and your training program (and hopefully to have fun) and for no other reason.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><b>Rule 3 – Post Every Day</b>. Let us know what you are doing every day on the daily thread. It’s OK if that is “nothing,” “rest day,” “taking the day off,” etc. It will be much easier to make sure that I get an accurate point tally if I have something from you everyday.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><b>Rule 4 – Talk to Us</b>. Sometimes life will get in the way of the game. Maybe even you will end up getting injured despite your best efforts to follow Rule 2.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">If we know about your situation, we can adjust. For instance, the team I was on during Round 3 won the VRAA. We had a teammate who was unable to get in his workouts. The team was able to do some extra work to cover. It was even fun! However, if we don’t know about what is going on, we can’t adjust because we have no opportunity.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">So, if you are going on vacation, get injured, get bummed out about life, or whatever (these have all happened to me), tell us. If you don’t want to talk about it too much, that’s OK, too. Certainly, if you cannot Post Every Day, give us an idea of when you will be able to post again. Here’s some things you might say:</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">* I’m going on vacation for 3 days and I will be nowhere near a computer. I will work out and post my totals when I get back – or – I will not work out during my vacation; it’s a flippin’ vacation, after all!</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">* Something has come up. I’m not going to work out for the next 5 days while I take care of it. I’ll update you when I can but within the next 5 days for sure.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">I hope the above don’t seem too obvious. But please, do talk to us. We’re your team. We want to support you. We want you to succeed! Maybe there is something we can do. You will never know unless you ask.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><b>Rule 5 – “We will listen. We’ll understand.”</b> We respect that you are talking to us. We’ll take what you say to heart. Some people like a more smashmouth style of communication. Some do not. Let’s assume people do not unless they ask for it (Rule 4). If a harsher style helps you, we’ll try to accommodate.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><b>Rule 6 – There is no Rule 6.</b></span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><b>Rule 7 – Do Your Best</b>. No matter how well we are doing in the standings or how poorly, focus on doing your best. If you are Having Fun, there’s really no reason not to. Use, indeed maximize, the opportunity of the VRAA to help you improve your workouts and your fitness.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><b><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Now, on to Race Strategery</span></b></span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><b>* Accountability</b>. If you haven’t already, take a look at my post on commitment. I’m going to post everyone’s weekly points and compare them to their commitment levels. This has 2 functions. First, if you see that I am wrong in my calculations, let me know so I can fix it. Second, we want to encourage anyone – and I do mean encourage, see Rule 1 – to come up to their commitment levels if they are not there. This definitely includes me. I’m supposed to earn 60 points/week minimum. It should already be clear (because I Talked To You) if I could not do so for some reason. But if it isn’t, let’s figure out why and figure out how to fix it. Did I need a wake-up call? A candy gram? An encouraging PM? What will help?</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><b>* Timing of workouts</b>. If you are going to surge in your workouts (and still stay injury free), do that during the first week and the last week. In the last 3 rounds, winning teams come out of the blocks strong and then mount a final charge at the very end. If you can slightly rearrange your workouts during the initial Friday-Saturday-Sunday period so that more workouts occur, do it.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><b>* Run For Show, Yoga For Dough</b>. A point for yoga counts as much as a point for running. Those “extra” points for quickly add up. It’s New Year’s Resolution time anyway, so go Have Fun! Is there a yoga or pilates class you always wanted to take? Give it a try. Have you been meaning to get back to lifting some weights? Go to it. Swimming in particular seems to be a rich source of points. So, if you have an indoor pool nearby and have been thinking about that anyway, please do try.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;"><b>* Try to Score Every Day</b>. This really goes along with “Yoga For Dough.” Don’t know what to do? Me neither! The February issue of Runner’s World (subscribers have it now or shortly will) has some core exercises listed beginning on page 60. I’m going to give them a try. If you are still stumped, Talk To Us.</span></span><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">Think about it. There are 12 of us. If we each earned 1 extra point a day, for 31 days, that would be 372 points! The VRAA has been won by smaller margins. See if you can find 5 extra minutes a day and score an extra point or 2.</span></span><br><br><br><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size:medium;">I’d love to win again. Let’s go do our best!</span></span>
