Wisconsin notes:
- Wet and wild workout today
- Sunrise 6K this Friday, 6am at the duck pond
- Junel wins Shabooya and takes epic selfie with the tribe
- Hugs and high fives
Today was a wet one, and it was a ton of fun. We made the decision last night that if it wasn’t absolutely pouring rain, we’d stay out of the parking garage, do the workout as planned and finish with some time trials. Everyone left pretty soaked with mud splatters up their back, but everyone had a big smile on their face. Worth it.
Last week, November Project released a PSA video with regards to the hugging at the beginning of the workout. The video is of the co-founders of NP, Brogan and Bojan, talking about some changes happening in the NP-universe. The video talks about hugs and physical contact at the workouts. The hugs before the workout were, and still are, meant to break down barriers and get people connected. However, not everyone wants to hug. The hugging might even be preventing some people from coming to their first or second workout, and some people may hug but deep down they don’t want to. We need to be better with making everyone comfortable at the workout.
The conversation has been ongoing amongst all of the co-leaders and NP ‘Corporate’. It’s been a fluid process, and we’ve been learning and growing with it. It’s a necessary step for the forward progress of the movement, and truthfully it’s an easy thing to change. Instead of saying ‘Give three hugs’ we will say ‘Give three hugs or three high fives, whichever you prefer!’ If someone puts their hands up for the double high-five, that means they don’t want to hug, so don’t hug them! High five and say ‘I’m glad you’re here’ just the same.
That being said, we will always keep hugging at the workouts. We’ve been a tribe for over three years now (unofficially), and the main reason it’s still moving forward is the community and the energy. The energy comes from the morning greetings, the hugs and high fives and the ‘I’m glad you’re here’, the bounce, the encouragement during the workout from everyone attending, and the breakdown at the end with the Shabooya or PA and then the group picture.
I’m sure there are many more aspects to NP that lead to that ‘energy’ and community, such as social events, coffee post-workout, new friends, etc. But when it’s really early in the morning and starting to get darker and you’d rather be in bed, you need that little bit of fire to get you going. And that’s why the initial greeting with a hug or a high five is so ingrained in this movement.
When we plan our weekly workouts, there are a few things we focus on.
The first thing is delivering a kickass workout. If people are getting up really early in the morning and making the trip in from all over the city and province, we want to make sure that they are getting their money’s worth! Jokes aside, if you’re showing up and working hard, we want to make it so that you leave feeling satisfied with the workout.
Another thing we focus on is the variety and the fun factor. We want there to be interaction amongst everyone so that you get a chance to make new friends. We don’t want the workouts to get stale, but at the same time we want some consistency so that people can track their progress. We have our usual spots and it’s to the point where you can almost guess when the next Bridge Challenge will be.
However, the one thing that is the biggest deciding factor is the safety. We joke about ‘safety third’ but the truth is that we are constantly thinking about that when planning and executing a workout. If it’s a -45 with wind chill kind of day, we plan the workout so that we are protected from the wind. If it’s super icy out, we plan around that as well; we think of where the best terrain will be so that the ice won’t be a factor. If there is loose gravel or big ruts in the time trial loop, we won’t do time trials there until it’s fixed. When we are doing the Bridge Challenge and constantly reminding you to leave a path for the cyclists, it’s because we don’t want one of you getting smoked by a bike.
When we plan the actual workout, we try to focus on different muscle groups and have a good balance between upper and lower body so we aren’t just doing one hour of burpees. If you’re injured and still come, listen to your body and don’t do anything that aggravates it. You can even ask us for an activity modification; we’ll usually come up with something! Today we wanted to do time trials and it was a bit wet, so we went and ran the course before we got up there to make sure it’d be safe to do so, and then we made it an 85% effort times three loops, instead of 100% for one or two loops.
To come full circle, we are always thinking of you guys when we plan these workouts to keep them challenging, fun, and most importantly, safe. The onus is also on everyone coming to the workout to stay alert and use common sense with regards to the actual workout, your surroundings, and if you sense that someone would rather not hug.
We hope to see you all Friday morning at the Sunrise 6K! Wear your fast pants and fast shoes.
Details-
- Meet at the duck pond at Assiniboine Park at 6am
- Race starts at 6:14am
- Distance- 6km
See you then
-Huggable D
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