Naming Workouts

For Immediate Release

During the upcoming 2013 training season, Tri-Banter.blogspot.com will name noteworthy training sessions. Our goal is to better communicate the threat and the timing of the significant impacts that accompany these events. The fact is, a training session with a name is easier to follow, which will mean fewer surprises and more preparation.

Naming Workouts
Track sessions and long runs have been given names since the 1940s. In the late 1800s, swim training sessions near Australia were named as well. Training systems, including winter training, have been named in Europe since the 1950s. Important dividends have resulted from attaching names to these training sessions:

• Naming a workout raises awareness.
• Attaching a name makes it much easier to follow a workout’s progress.
• A workout with a name takes on a personality all its own, which adds to awareness.
• In today’s social media world, a name makes it much easier to reference in communication.
• A named workout is easier to remember and refer to in the future.

The question then begs to ask “Why aren’t workouts named?”  In fact, in Europe the naming of workouts has been going on for a long time.  Here in the U.S., summer time exercise including recovery runs and easy days occur on such a small time and space scale that there would be little benefit and much confusion trying to attach names to them. However, harder training is different. Workouts occur on a time and space scale that is similar to tropical training.

In fact, historically many major training sessions have been named during or after the event has occurred. Examples include “The President’s Day Run” and “Swimageddon.” Yet, until now, there has been no organized naming system for these workouts before they impact physiological centers.

One of the reasons this may be true is that there is no national workout center, such as the National Exercise Center, to coordinate and communicate information on a multi-state scale to cover such big events. The Centers for Raised Awareness and Prevention (CRAP) does issue discussions and training plans on a national scale but it does not fill the same role as the USAT. Therefore, it would be a great benefit for a partner in the exercise industry to take on the responsibility of developing a new concept.   

This is where a world-class organization such as Tri-Banter.blogspot.com will play a significant role. We have the physiological ability, support and technology to provide the same level of coaching for workouts that we have done for years with semi-entertaining blog posts.

In addition to providing information about significant workouts by referring to them by name, the name itself will make communication and information sharing in the constantly expanding world of social media much easier.  As an example, hash tagging a workout based on its name will provide a one-stop shop to exchange all of the latest information on the impending high-impact anaerobic efforts.

There will be many differences from the “traditional model” for naming workoutss. Unlike simple runs, training takes place at efforts under extreme energy and forces from the body.

Often a workout that is expected to strike a metropolitan area three days from now has not even completely formed in the training log. Therefore, naming of workouts will be limited to no more than three days before impact to ensure there is moderate to strong confidence the workout will actually happen and produce physiological effects in an area of the body.  In addition, the impacts from workouts are not as simple to quantify as speed training sessions where a workout is named once the paces exceed a certain threshold.

The process for naming a workout will reflect a more complete assessment of several variables that combine to produce disruptive impacts including snowfall, ice, wind, temperature, and relative pansiness on the day.  In addition, the time of day (morning vs. evening) and the day of the week (weekday school and work; travel vs. weekends; Spring Break) will be taken into consideration in the process the Banter will use to name workouts.

This is an ambitious project. However, the benefits will be significant. Naming workouts will raise the awareness of the public, which will lead to more pro-active efforts to plan ahead, resulting in less impact and inconvenience overall.

Coordination and information sharing should improve between bloggers as well as the media, leading to less ambiguity and confusion when assessing big workouts that affect multiple states of mind. It will even make it easier and more efficient for social media to communicate information regarding the workout resulting in a better informed public. And, on the occasion that different workouts are scheduled on the same day, naming workouts will allow for clearer communications.

Finally, it might even be fun and entertaining and that in itself should breed interest from our reading public and our digital users.  For all of these reasons, the time is right to introduce this concept for the season of 2013.

Call to Action
I am asking you, the reader, to help me in this endeavor. I am looking to compile an A-Z list of named workouts. The name could be just about anything., PG-13 or below please. Comment with your proposed name and description of the workout. United on this front, we can change the way people think and report on exercise.

Special Thanks
Thanks to The Weather Channel's ludicrous policy of naming winter storms for providing the inspiration for this post.