Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
So today we're going
to talk about something that
I've referred to in the past andhave talked about, which is the
Conqueror Challenges, and thisis a virtual race, but it's a
race that you're running againstyourself.
It's not on a particular day ora particular time.
You pick your challenge and youget a medal at the end of it.
(00:24):
The medals are really cool.
A lot of times I like to use itin if I'm base building before
marathon training, I'll pick howmany miles that I want to cover
before I start the actualtraining.
So, for example, in January Ihad taken a little bit of time
off and was going to be runningthe Buffalo Marathon, which I
(00:46):
deferred till next year becauseour weather was so bad it was
all ice all the time.
But before that happened I wasgoing to pick that I wanted to
be up to 30 miles a week by theend of my base training as I
went into marathon training.
So I kind of worked it out andfigured out what my runs were
(01:10):
going to be, what each you know,what each mileage was going to
be, and then went to thisConqueror Challenges site and
picked a challenge that coveredthe miles that I wanted to cover
and then had the date that Iwas going to end my base
training on as the date for whenthis was completed.
(01:31):
So you may have done virtualraces before or other virtual
fitness challenges, and this isalong the same lines.
But, like I said, this isagainst yourself, and so if
you're not somebody who's biginto racing or big into like
having to run something in acertain you know, you've got a
(01:52):
lot of times you have like threeor four days to run a virtual
marathon or half marathon orwhatever race is also doing it
virtually.
I've never done a virtual raceas far as like an actual event,
like a marathon or 5k.
I've only done these challengesvirtually, which they're not
(02:15):
really races.
So anyway, in this particularvirtual challenge, this allows
you to travel famous routesaround the world.
So, for example, I did the baseof Mount Fuji as one of my
challenges because I lived inJapan for a few years, so that
meant something to me.
I did the road to Hana, whichis in Hawaii, because I've
(02:37):
driven on that road before.
It allows you to either picksomething that you know and love
or pick some place that youhaven't been before, and so
you're going to log your milesby running, walking, cycling,
swimming, anything that covers adistance.
This challenge actually willallow you to use, and a lot of
your fitness trackers willautomatically upload your
(03:01):
information to the app that youuse for these Conqueror
Challenges.
So I have a Garmin watch.
I also have an Apple watch.
When I was doing it in Januaryand the winter was starting to
get really, really bad, I alsologged some cycling miles on my
spin bike and had that upload aswell to this Conqueror
(03:22):
Challenge.
So the goal is to cover thedistance of the chosen route,
which they let you know, andthis is in a self-set time frame
.
So you pick what you thinkyou're going to be able to
complete this challenge in andit doesn't really matter.
Like, I took a lot longer tocomplete it because it was just
so icy I couldn't really get outfor runs, so I went for
(03:47):
probably two weeks over what Ihad said that my goal was going
to be.
So it's more of a self-imposedgoal, but if challenges are
something that you like to do,then I would say pick something
that's a little bit challengingbut, of course, very doable for
you in order to get this medal.
They're really, really nicemedals and they show you a
(04:09):
picture of them with eachchallenge on the website and you
can pick to do like maybe twochallenges.
Some people will pick like a 20mile challenge or a 36 mile
challenge and it corresponds towhatever it is that you are
running.
So I don't quite remember whatthe base of mount fuji, the
mileage was, but it's the actualbase of mount fuji and so
(04:34):
they're going to send youvirtual postcards in your emails
of where you kind of are on themap based on how many miles
you've run.
So whatever is like five milesfrom the start line.
They're gonna send you avirtual postcard about what's
around there and then picturesand things like that.
So it's really cool, it'sreally fun, it's a, it's a good
(04:55):
way to learn about somethingaround the world.
If you pick a challenge of areathat you don't know, and the
finishing metals that you get,they come really quick, like I
always get mine within a week.
So it's actually it's a verylegit, very cool challenge.
And then if someone's doing asmaller challenge, they can also
(05:17):
do like a really big challengelike the Pacific Trail, and so
people will do both kinds ofthings at once and you can apply
your miles to both things.
So you know, if you run a fivemile, that will apply to the
smaller challenge and that canalso apply to the bigger
(05:38):
challenge, which might take youa year, two years.
It depends on how big thatbigger challenge is that you
pick.
Depends on how big that biggerchallenge is that you pick.
Also, within the app, they doeither tree planting or they do
getting plastic bottles out ofthe ocean, also for some of the
challenges.
So I think it's every 20% thatyou cover that's what they do.
(06:00):
They plant the tree or theyrecycle the bottles or get the
bottles out of the ocean.
So you're also having anenvironmental impact along with
being able to complete achallenge.
And also, you know it helpswith motivation that you have
accountability.
Yes, it's self-imposed, butstill, if you have something
written down or something likethis app that everything is
(06:22):
uploading to, it can give youthe extra little push to get out
there and get those miles in.
As you see yourself kind ofmoving along and other people
who are doing the challenge.
You're going to see theirlittle avatar on the thing, even
though you're not actuallyracing against them, but you'll
still see yourself movingforward and moving along on the
(06:44):
little map that they have in theapp and so you know when you
get to the end of it and theysend you your medal.
It's just a real cool reminderand a real cool motivator and
tells you that that goal thatyou had was something that you
completed.
So I love telling people whodon't actually like to race that
(07:05):
they can get a medal.
You can also pay a little bitmore to get a t-shirt as well I
usually don't actually like torace that they can get a medal.
You can also pay a little bitmore to get a T-shirt as well.
I usually don't do that.
I have enough T-shirts, but Ido like to get the medal.
So if you find yourself needingthis motivation, this is one way
that you can have a goal.
That is sort of a race, but notreally, but it can encourage
(07:28):
you to get out there and do therun, get the miles in, you know,
add an extra day, those kindsof things.
If you find that you'resomebody who maybe doesn't have
the discipline yet to roll outof bed and just get, you know,
just go out for a run, justbecause some people need to have
these end goals, and this isone way to do it.
(07:52):
That's actually a lot of fun,and if you have to break down a
bigger goal for example, if youare going to be marathon
training or half marathontraining and you do need to base
build, like I said earlier,that is, this is just one way
that I really like to get outthere and do it, because I'm not
(08:13):
quite into the training yet,but I do need to make sure that
I hit a certain level of mileageper week before I jump into
marathon training, especiallynow that I'm.
I'm finding that I'm having alot more issues with injuries
and things that are hurting, andso I'm not able to just jump
(08:34):
right in like I used to be ableto do if I took a few weeks off
or a month off.
So this really helps me to getinto that mindset and develop
the discipline I'm going to needfor that training by doing
something fun, doing somethingthat gives me a little reward at
the end of it and just kind ofbreaks up the monotony of this
(08:59):
base training idea.
If you do longer distancesBeyond the medal, beyond you
know just this reward that youget at the end.
This is actually a really goodway to develop consistency in
your running, if something likethis they call it gamification
appeals to you.
So my husband and I and mygranddaughter and my daughter
(09:23):
and one of my sons, we are doingDuolingo.
So if you've ever done Duolingo, you're practicing a language.
But it's all about thegamification, it's all about
points.
You get points, you get bonuspoints, you get all this stuff.
That doesn't really motivate meand so I just kind of do one or
two lessons a day just becauseI'm in this group and so I don't
(09:45):
want to disappoint mygranddaughter.
But my husband is heavy intogamification, so I'm always
hearing this Duolingo going onand then he gets like other XP
and then they'll give him oh,you've got 30 minutes of free XP
or whatever, and so he'll do it.
(10:05):
So it can get kind of annoying,like I'll hear this, this ring
that happens when you getsomething correct, and I'll hear
it for long stretches of time,because he just loves the
gamification.
So if something like that isappealing to you, then this also
can kind of be in that category, because you are watching
(10:26):
yourself on the map, go forward,you're watching your progress.
It will.
It will tell you how, whatpercentage you are at in and
towards completion, and you knowyou get these little postcards
and little rewards.
So it can help with consistency, because if you really want to
see yourself moving along andyou really want to hit that goal
(10:49):
, whatever date that you put foryour end goal then maybe you
are going to go for that run onTuesday when if you didn't have
anything, you wouldn'tnecessarily go because you're
tired or whatever.
We come up with all kinds ofexcuses, but.
But whatever the thing isthat's holding you back from
(11:09):
being consistent.
This can help with that.
It's also a variety, which Ilike variety.
Again, there's a differencebetween my husband and I.
He knows the route for histhree miler and his five miler
and his six miler.
He might have a second routedepending on if it's in the
(11:31):
wintertime we do not run towardsthe water, but basically I have
to really steer him away fromrunning the same thing every
time, where I will run adifferent route all the time
because I really like variety.
And so the these challengesbecause there's so many of them,
(11:53):
so many different areas aroundthe world that you can pick to
do, and different mileages.
I mean you could be virtuallyrunning these challenges all the
time if you wanted to and justpick something different once
you reached the last goal, onceyou got the last medal, you know
, pick something else and andrun that one.
(12:14):
So if you like variety, thatcan also.
This also can really help withthat.
It's also great for people, likeI said, who don't race.
If you do race, it's also great, but if who don't race If you
do race, it's also great, but ifyou don't race, this kind of
gives you accessibility to whatracing is like without having to
drive to the race, thelogistics of getting your bib,
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having a specific date that youhave to be there.
This kind of gives you an ideaof what racing is without
actually having to have allthose details that races entail
in with the mix.
It's super easy you sign uponline and you're in.
You download the app, you're in.
(13:01):
Make sure, if you're going tochoose a challenge, that you
pick a distance that'schallenging but also achievable
for your current fitness level,so you could go from 20 miles to
Thousands of miles.
Like I said, if you're abeginner runner, the 20 mile
ones are like in that in andthat frame would be a really
(13:24):
good mileage for you to startwith.
But just remember that,whatever your current fitness
level is, that's what you needto be looking at as far as what
the challenge should beSomething that is going to
encourage you and not discourageyou.
So it's pretty easy once youget the app and you have picked
your challenge to sync up, yourwhatever you're using to sync up
(13:48):
, and they just take it, takeyou through it step by step.
Once you do it once like Ihaven't done this a challenge
since january if I do it again,then it it just will
automatically do it.
It's, it's super easy.
So I don't have you don't haveto reset it up every time.
Your Garmin or your Apple Watchwill just automatically, once
(14:10):
you have that app going, you'llbe able to select it and then it
will just automatically do it.
So if you're doing challengeafter challenge after challenge,
you only have to do thatprocess once.
You can also do a manual entryif you don't have something like
that.
And you know, just make sureyou're being honest.
You know there's no point insaying you ran six miles if you
(14:33):
ran four.
This is just on you.
It's not a race.
Nobody else is probably seeingit, except for maybe the people
around you on the app, theirlittle avatars, and you don't
know them.
So just be honest.
If you're going to do itmanually, if you like to do
other things besides running,you can make sure to mix it up
(14:55):
with this challenge.
So if you are doing a cyclingclass or a spin class, or you
bike or you go for a walk oryou're running or you swim, make
sure that you upload it to theapp, because it all counts.
It can help you to get thatcardio in, whether you're
running or not.
(15:16):
If you're nursing an injury andrunning is non-existent, but
you can walk, do it for walking.
Obviously, in the show notes Iwill send you the link to the
Conqueror Challenges so that youcan see what it's about.
I would love to hear about yourown experiences if you do these,
so you can send me an email.
(15:38):
If you do them, go to theFacebook page.
Let me know that you're.
You know what you picked,picked what your goal is.
That way I can encourage you tokeep on going, get that medal
and then, you know, send me apic of the medal that you get,
because they are so pretty and Ican't remember how many I have,
(15:59):
but I have a long way to gobefore I get all of them.