IT'S BACK!... GATOR FITNESS CHALLENGE XV!!!... Are you in?? Our fall GFC begins in less than 2 weeks... Monday, October 4... and will run for the usual 13 weeks, ending on Sunday, January 2! If you would like to participate, just post an "I'm in!" comment (or feel free to go crazy with emojis, animated gifs, etc) and we'll add you to the roster! In case you are new or have not participated in the past, you may be wondering "What on earth is the Gator Fitness Challenge?!?!" So here are the FAQs... • What is it? It's a fun contest with no reward except for self-satisfaction (plus shout outs on our FB group) that involves a weekly set of two challenges and a bonus challenge... The SBR Challenge and the SCF Challenge are the two main challenges and you will earn a point for each completed challenge each week. The bonus challenge is the "Plank Challenge", which we are bringing back after a multi-year hiatus; there will be no points awarded for this, but, instead, it's a "survivor" type of challenge and we will note on our tracking sheet who is still alive each week. • What is the SBR Challenge? Each week you are required to completed a minimum of 30 minutes of swimming, 30 minutes of biking (spin sessions and Zwift meetups count), AND 30 minutes of running (treadmill counts) to earn the SBR Challenge point. • What is the SCF Challenge? Each week you are required to complete a minimum of 30 minutes TOTAL (i.e. all one or any combination of the three that gets you there) of Strength and/or Core and/or Flexibility work to earn the SCF Challenge point. • What is the Plank Challenge? Each week you will do a plank of increasing length starting with 15 seconds in week 1 and adding 15 seconds per week through week 12, which will get us to 3 minutes... Then we'll increase to 5 minutes for the final week in week 13. In order to participate you must start in week 1 and continue each week... If you miss a week, you are out! This is an optional challenge, so you can choose to do just the SBR and SCF challenges and skip the Plank Challenge if you wish (but participating will help you to build a stronger core!). • How are reported challenge completions certified? By you... This is a totally self-policed activity! • How are completed challenges reported? Each Monday (GFC weeks run from Monday through Sunday) we do a "Roll Call" via our FB group where we ask anyone who completed at least one of the weekly challenges to report in so that their completed challenges can be recorded on the tracking sheet that we'll post every couple of weeks. • Why do we do this? Besides the fun aspect (which cannot be underestimated), it seems to provide some motivation to "Gator done" during the traditional "off season"... Since the challenges are fairly minimal (i.e. with a minimum of 2 hours of workouts/week, you can earn both points), you can still have an off season/recovery period AND not go completely cold turkey on your training. Full disclosure... I've been at the Y pool on several Sundays shortly before closing to get in my weekly swim so I can earn that week's SBR point... and I'm not the only one. That's it. Any questions?... Ask... With that said, who is in for the 15th edition of the Gator Fitness Challenge?