Hey Tribe, we know it’s Wednesday and we like to revel in how awesome Wednesdays in the stadium are–especially when we do workouts like “7 Boroughs” and the hype is high for whatever borough you were in today. (see the FB album which is purely, only Borough group photos…)
But let’s talk about Friday
Every month, on the second friday of the month, we race #PRhills. And we know that with newbies joining every week, there’s a NEED to refresh everyone on what the hell we mean when we talk about PR hills. So read carefully, share broadly, and be sure that everyone is on board with PR hills (and PR days, in general!)
What’s a PR?
A “PR,” or Personal Record, is the fastest recorded time or farthest recorded distance YOU have ever completed for a specific workout.
In the Stadium (last Wed of the month) we set the distance at a Full Tour, which is 37 sections as fast as you can. And we set the time at one workout, which is from the end of the bounce until 6:20am (for the 5:30 group) or until 7:20am (for the 6:30 group). You can set a PR two different ways: either by completing the full tour faster than you ever have, OR by completing more sections than you ever have during one full workout time.
On the Hills (second Fri of the month) we set the distance at 3 full hills. A “full hill” means starting at the fire hydrant at Corey Hill Outlook Park, running down the “front hill” to Beacon St. and back up, over the top to the “back hill” down to Corey Rd. and back up to the fire hydrant. Complete this full hill 3 times = 3 full hills. You can also set a PR two different ways: either by completing the 3 full hills faster than you ever have, OR by completing more distance on the hills than you ever have during one full workout time.
Can anyone PR?
You bet your ass anyone and everyone can PR. It’s a personal record, so all you do is go faster or farther than YOU have before, and you set that record. Showing up for workout between PR days in the month helps make you faster, build strength & endurance, and get better at the PR course, so participating in the PR days is encouraged to help you see the progress you’re making from your hard work throughout the month. We have PR days because we believe that November Project can make everyone faster, fitter, stronger, better and we celebrate every single human being who is willing to step up and challenge themselves. You’ll find a super positive tribe all around you when you show up for PR days. We don’t give out prizes for placement. We do celebrate the individual Personal Records with PR photos (with the big gold bling chain) for Stadiums, and with a different colored spray paint dot for Hills (which folks collect on a “racing” hat or shirt or some other item they bring to PR day).
PR Day isn’t about winning, it’s about getting better.
As we already described, PR day isn’t a race against each other, it’s actually a race with each other to help us individually get better. So you betcha that folks take PR day seriously, (with effort, support, and kindness) in order to do their very best.
And because you can PR by time or by distance, everyone gets to decide how you want to attack it. Both methods of PR-ing are legit. And for folks who PR by distance (completing as many sections or as many hills as possible in the time allotted for the workout) who want to attack the full distance, no matter how long it takes, you don’t have to be limited by the workout time. We have some badass tribe members who choose to start early, in order to finish the distance by the designated end of workout, and we think that’s freaking awesome. We encourage people to use social media–the NP Boston Social facebook group is a good place–to coordinate and organize with others who also want to start early.
Bottom line: we want everyone to challenge themselves and to be able to see their progress. PR day is a good way to do that–so make the challenge one that motivates you!
So Just Show Up
Friday is PR Hills at Summit Ave, 6:30am. Show up and throw down your best race. It just might be a personal record. And if it’s not a personal record, we think showing up –willing and committed to racing yourself– is the most important thing. We’ll see you there. PR dots are waiting!
Announcements:
- Monday workout location is McDermott Court on MIT campus, Cambridge. 6:30am Map HERE.
- SAVE THE DATE!! Friday, Dec 21st (the shortest day of light in the year) we are gathering for a late-night run + social. Stay tuned for more details, but take a nap today, and be ready for the next NP_BOS run & social!
I’m glad to see the Hills policy has been changed to be more inclusive 🙂
I agree! I think it’s unfortunate that when second-Friday #PRHills first started in November 2015, the idea of “what’s a hills PR?” (previously stated as time for three full hills, or else greater distance in workout time, in blogs like https://november-project.com/pr-friday-the-best-weirdness/ in January 2015) got altered to “time for three full hills” ( https://november-project.com/prhills-and-fuel-for-life/ ). I know this had to do with the finite supply of free hats from the September 2015 NP Summit, but unfortunately, the revised definition lingered long after the free hats were gone, and I don’t really know when it was officially changed – even in October 2017, the distance option wasn’t being mentioned ( https://november-project.com/but-whats-a-pr-dot/ ).
This blog is a great way to make it clear where we stand now, and that’s for inclusive fierceness. Show up and throw down!