Our Covid-laden 2020 continues on with canceled races and dashed finish-line dreams abound. Sure, you can sulk. You can get lazy. You can skip training.

Or… you can make new goals and embrace the new opportunities that lie at your feet. Yes, many of those big 2020 goals have been deferred to 2021 (or possibly even beyond). And maybe you’ve been depressed. Maybe you’ve had trouble staying motivated. Well, maybe it’s not all COVID’s fault. Maybe we need to change our approach.

Whether your goals be big or be small, maybe it’s not wise to have just one. Short-term, medium-term, long-term, long-long-term… set your sights on something. Get involved with a team, or gather a group of friends. Find something worthy of fighting for. It’ll be worth it.

I picture myself in my Senior year. Spending days on the track running, or in the gym lifting. Throwing the ball around over the summer and practicing for the season ahead. Then I imagine adults making decisions “for my safety” that cause me to lose that season. To lose that opportunity. And it’s upsetting.

That’s what is happening now. Many of those athletes were looking forward to those experiences from a very early age. And now they’re gone.

Nothing can fill the void completely. The emotions of having something you wanted, you earned, you deserved, taken away from you at no fault of your own. Forget about whether it’s “the right choice” or not. Understand that it’s only natural to feel angry, disappointed, if not betrayed. It’s not fair!

It isn’t.

These decisions are out of the participant’s hands and there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. A letter to their teachers, the school board, the Department of Education, the Governor??? Even if it connected and was well-received, it wouldn’t be able to reverse the decision in time.

When I left athletics, I had ample warning it was going to be over. And it was still a shock to the system. For me, it took 17 years to fill the void that losing athletics left behind.

Today, I’m here to tell you high school and college athletes who have lost that opportunity… It’s okay to be angry. It’s ok to be upset. No one is going to be able to bring back the experiences you might have had. But you have a choice now. You have options. You can let the void sit and fester and never be replaced. That can lead down a bad road – for me, it was obesity and depression. OR… you can investigate other options and look for the silver lining.

Why not try running? Or triathlon? Both are viable options that, when I was your age, didn’t seem like viable options. But they are. If you need help getting started, check out our Couch-To-5k program or look into Zwift and come riding with us. Stay busy. Keep training. You won’t regret it… you’ll only regret it if you stop.

Super proud that our group is so connected with military families and veterans. It’s no surprise to me that families with military history, and the discipline that comes along with it, are involved in endurance sports. We thank you all for your service and sacrifice.

Over the weekend, many of got to witness something awesome. Over time, we’ve butchered the word “awesome.” Not this time. This is really awesome. Chris Nikic became the first athlete with Down’s Syndrome to complete a full-distance Ironman. Overcoming a bike crash and an ant-attack, Chris made it through the finish in under 17-hours. It’s truly an overwhelming accomplishment that brought tears to many, and will open doors and give hope to so many Down’s athletes and families. What an incredible achievement!

It’s gotta be tough to train with a family of six, but the Graceys seem to have it down. Andrew is an accomplished cyclist and his wife, Jamie, is an accomplished runner. They join us today along with their youngest daughter, Eila, who is an accomplished eater.

Along with their athletic backgrounds, this family also has significant educational backgrounds in health and nutrition. This knowledge base significantly contributes to their ability to perform while also employing a vegan diet.

What does a large family of well-educated vegan athletes do in their spare time? They create their own business, of course. After doing some research, they decided to launch a plant-based energy bar called Boom Bar. I was able to sample a few, and they were pretty good. In fact, my biggest complaint is that I eat too many of them as snacks instead of workout fuel.

We further discuss how the Graceys got into business and thank them for giving us a 20% discount code – “Ordinary” – at check-out online. They also donated three boxes of bars to our virtual charity race, The Ordinary Half Marathon, so some of you will get a chance to try them out anyway if you register for the race and get lucky.

A few new things to talk about on our platforms. Number one, we have added a Patreon page to offer a place for you to offer support for the things that we build and maintain – the podcast, the YouTube, the team, our race… all that good stuff. We appreciate your support.

Also, we have constructed and added some free downloadable Zwift workout content to our store on TeamOrdinary.com. Check our our Workout Rides – the ones we have used on our USA Triathlon workout rides. Or if you are looking for a way to help pass the time during long rides or climbs, check out our Trivia Rides.

Today’s main topic? Accomplishment. This year has been a difficult one for all of us. But with many people lamenting the loss of their A-races this year, at least one person has looked at it as an opportunity. Team Ordinary Athlete Angela decided that this year would be the perfect year to try her hand at a virtual marathon that she would have never been able to try in real life. The result? Well, you’ll just have to listen to find out.

This is the worst time of year for me. When the weather starts to turn cold and the days are darker and darker. It’s harder to get outside. I fear for this year, in particular – so many additional stresses are on all of us. It’s hard to stay focused and positive.

Last week we announced the Ordinary Half Marathon – our 3-day virtual running event taking place November 27-29. We invite you to join us by registering at OrdinaryMarathon.com. Register for our 10-day Spring event and you are automatically enrolled in the The Ordinary Half. Come join us and give yourself something to train for as we head towards winter.

Personally, I’ve been crushing the 5am workout the past 10-weeks or so. I need to start adding some running to the mix. But, I’m happy with the consistency I’ve been displaying and hope to carry it through the winter months.

One thing I do need to be successful.?.? My bike! And I need it to be in good shape! A recent trip to the local bike shop resulted in frustration and a few missed workouts. It even made me question why I bother waking up so early in the morning. But, forming those good habits over the past 10 weeks turned out to help me strengthen my resolve. With my bike back home, despite still needing some work done on it, the good habits resumed and I was able to roll out of bed and get the workout in.

Hope you all are doing your best to keep up those good habits and get those workouts done. Winter is coming.

Thank you to all who have signed up for the Ordinary Half Marathon (and, by extension, the 2021 Ordinary Marathon). We are looking forward to a great weekend of running in late November! Please spread the word – we’re going to need tons of pictures over just three days to make a slideshow!

Special thanks to Sue Reynolds for spending so much time with us at our Happy Hour last Friday. It was great to hear her story and get a chance to ask her questions. If you missed the live Happy Hour, check out the replay on our YouTube channel!

This week will mark the 10th consecutive week of our 5AM Early Morning Zwift Rides. It has been outrageously successful in that I have only missed 2 workouts over that time and my bike has felt significantly stronger. However, that does not mean that waking up each morning comes without its’ challenges. We’ll discuss a few of those and the obstacles that need to be overcome in order to get on that bike every day.

We have been super-busy the past few weeks. Lots of announcements for you. Come visit us Friday Night at 7:30PM ET as we welcome Sue Reynolds to our Happy Hour Event series. The Ordinary Half-Marathon will be taking place November 27-29 – get registered by going to OrdinaryMarathoner.com and signing up for the 2021 Ordinary Marathon and you will be automatically registered for the 2020 Ordinary Half. We look forward to running with you!

Next… we have an amazing opportunity to offer our athletes. Exercise and diet go hand-in-hand when it comes to training. You can focus on more than the other, but the benefits of having both efficiently in sync can enhance your training results exponentially. That’s why we have circled up with our Team Dietitian, Allison Knott, to come up an affordable way for you to have a full team at your back to devise your training program. Check out our new coaching packages at our Team Ordinary page and reach out to me at [email protected] for your free consultation.

Lastly – come meet us tomorrow night (10/16/2020) at our Happy Hour event with former podcast guest Sue Reynolds. We are so excited to see her again!

The family that trains together… well, that’s these two. They train together for big, big goals.

We met Danielle just about a year ago when she had one of the more epic DFL Ironman finishes at Mont Tremblant. This was amidst a string of marathons, with her husband Michael by her side.

Today we welcome back Danielle and also bring in her husband Michael to see how they have dealt with training through COVID. Seems like they have been doing pretty darn well, and have set their sights on some big goals this fall and into next year. Be it marathons or Ironman races, setting PR’s or seeking revenge, the Rosvallys haven’t slowed down one bit! Check out our latest podcast as we catch up with them and relive some past races. Then we’ll look ahead at what these two have in store for us next year.

September has been a fairly productive month. Our early morning livestreamed workout rides were a consistent success. The 6-week FTP Builder training plan was completed last Friday. In all, September was a significant month for cycling – over 425 miles and 32,000 feet of elevation, both significant totals for me.

In addition, my weight has been on a downtrend. Using intermittent fasting as a launchpad, I have devised an approach that will hopefully keep me dropping pounds in the coming weeks. A recent study seemed to confirm some of my concerns – namely that you could lose more lean muscle than fat. However, I’m not convinced the study tells the full story. I’m using the input from my experiences with intermittent fasting to develop a personalized approach to diet that fits better with my training.