At ATD 2021 I gave a presentation ‘Anima Sana in Corpore Sano’ which told the story of my journey to a healthier life (the full talk and video of this session can be found at the bottom of this page). Due to the corona pandemic, I worked from home, my social life suffered and I also started to gain weight (sounds familiar?). I bought the Strava app to motivate me to do more sports, but that did not really work out. At the end of 2020 I had done 500km cycling in a year. When I posted this in the group app at work, with a sarcastic comment on my achievements, I got challenged by a former colleague to do more distance cycling than he did running. Before I knew how much he actually ran, I accepted the challenge (how hard can it be?).
This small nudge has changed my mindset and has helped me in doing more exercise, feel better and in general increased the quality of my life. At the time of my presentation at ATD I did 10.000 kilometers in 2021 and I ended the year at 11.000 kilometers. This year I decided to pay it forward, so -together with trendig- we have set up the AgileTD Fitness Challenge.
How does it work?
We have set up 3 Strava Groups: cycling/e-biking, running and walking. Virtual activities tracking is for all groups activated as well. Each of these groups are divided in 3 levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. The sum of all kilometres recorded in Strava, during the period between ATD 21 and ATD 22 (Nov. 19, 2021 to Nov. 19, 2022) determine which level you get. This challenge is not a competition, it is not about being the best, it is not about how fast you can get to what level. It is a challenge to yourself, to do sports and feel better. It is a peer group designed to give you kudo’s and feedback on what you do. Challenge yourself to rise to a certain level and maki it work!
To join, all you need to do is set up a Strava account and follow our account: https://www.strava.com/athletes/agiletd. Then send your Strava username with the categorie(s) you want to join to Uwe Gelfert (uwe@trendig.com), then we follow you back and invite you to the groups. Now you are to start tracking your activities.
PLEASE follow us first on Strava then we, AgileTD will follow you back!
At ATD 2022 we are going to organize a raffle for prizes. Based on your level, you will get one or more raffle tickets. (BTW: you do not have to be present at ATD 2022 to claim your prices, but you will need to be there to be treated to a beer!)
The prizes for each of the categories are sponsored by: De Agile Testers (cycling), Stromverkehr (cycling), Inflectra (running) and the Agile Testing Fellowship (walking). I hope to see you all on Strava!
Please Note: If you are not on Strava yet and you have already tracked your activities with your smart watch or smart phone via a different app you still can join our challenge at any point. Strava is a free app and has also a paid version, but to take part in our challenge the free version is totally enough. Once you have downloaded and connected Strava with your smart watch or smart phone all your tracked activities will be integrated automatically to Strava and our challenge groups.
Sponsor Details and Challenge Prizes:
This disciplined winner will then get a chance to improve their technique, because the grand prize is a pair of PacerPoles! PacerPoles are ergonomically-designed walking/skiing/snow-shoeing poles that apply Bio-mechanics to whole body movement to improve walking ability and general health. Lisa and Janet, two of Agile Testing Fellowship’s co-founders, both use PacerPoles to improve their posture and get the most benefit from walking. The second-place walker/hiker will receive a free copy of Janet and Lisa’s “Agile Testing Essentials” video course, which they can enjoy by themselves or watch together with their team. Three runners-up will receive free ebook copies of Janet and Lisa’s latest book, Agile Testing Condensed: A Brief Introduction. The book is available in several different languages, the winners can choose.
Inflectra, as a company, has four core values - one of which is work-life balance! Many times life balance takes the form of athletic pursuits and as you know, we Americans are known for running. Everything is about running here: running for office, running the business, running errands, running a deficit, something even a person's nose can be running! Seriously though, just in our business development unit at the Inflectra HQ in Washington, DC we have two veteran marathon runners!
So, as an American company, what better cause to support than a Running Competition run by (pun intended) the Agile Testing Days' team! And what do all runners love the most? Their gear, of course! So the winner of the running competition will receive the amazing Apple Watch for their endurance and discipline! The fastest runner in one session will win Apple AirPods! Another set of Apple AirPods will go to the winner in the category of the longest distance covered in a single running session. Ready, Set, Run! And good luck!
For us at stromverkehr, there's nothing more awesome than getting out in the fresh air and being active every day. Preferably riding an e-bike! It has been proven that people on e-bikes not only significantly improve their fitness, but also quadruple their radius of action, i.e. discover much more in their living and working districts and - as far as possible - have more social contacts. Both, i.e. sport and togetherness, are not only good for the body but also for the soul. No matter how fast or slow someone exercises: The main thing is to be out in the fresh air and, preferably, a backing wind and sun on your face. And what always helps for keeping the routine: Being on one with nature and in a group of people who support you. That's why we're absolutely in to sponsor a voucher worth 250 euros for the Agile Testing Days fitness challenge! It is about health and about teams - so for us it is a must to support this initiative! The voucher can be used to buy everything related to bicycles and safe, comfortable cycling from our online shop at https://stromverkehr.com/. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the winners and hope that the chosen product(s) can continue to accompany and support the winners on their fitness journey.
A healthy body is a healthy mind! We at De Agile Testers promote initiatives and especially healthy ones. Last year several colleagues wanted to organize a cycling event between our offices in the Netherlands and Belgium. A Cycling Classic Gent – Gendt was born. Cycling almost 400 km in 4 days. Combining Team Building, Health, Pleasure and supporting a charity, like ALS! So when we heard about the cycling initiative at the ATD, we immediately wanted to sponsor the cycling challenge! A great challenge to promote a healthy body for a healthy mind!
To motivate people even more for the cycling challenge we have bonus prices for cycling the most kilometers in one session and cycling the most altitude kilometers in one session. The price is a DeAgileTetsers cycling outfit (shorts, jersey, socks & gloves) - a true limited edition collectors item!
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About Bart Knaack
Bart Knaack has worked as a testmanager/ testadvisor at numerous companies, he has coached testers, build up test-teams and developed all kinds of processes, both in test, testsupport and overall quality management/improvement. He has spoken at several international conferences and is also a well known speaker at universities and colleges.
He is a true believer of Agile and Gamification. As co-founder of the Agile Games Market he knows the power of games and the role they can play in teaching the Agile Principles.