Newsletter ep. 120: my recommendations for 2020

Shit, 2020? That sounds like a lot of years. That’s almost a quarter into this century. That’s two decades since we had Y2K parties. That’s a long time and also not so long.

I know everyone’s posting decade sum-ups on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. ‘Here’s how much I’ve learned and grown and been amazing. Here’s how much my life is.’ And that’s fine, own it, do whatever you want to do. But it’s also come to my attention that I am very much not in that place. It’s come to my attention that there’s probably a reason you never hear from people *while* they’re dealing with personal crises; you only hear from them after it’s done and over and they got through it. 

And, so, I’m sorry, I have no brilliant inspiration for you on this first day of the new year, the new decade. You’ll have to just keep keeping on because that’s the only option.

Live Feisty has some fun bloopers from this year on Insta and we summed up the decade in triathlon in last week’s newsletter if you’re looking for recaps and forecasting trends. The New York Times (which actually does a quite good job covering wellness and fitness science) looked back at the last ten years in exercise and health trends, and Outside looked forward at the next ten.

What I’m going to do instead today is just give you some of my random recommendations, things I guarantee will improve your life in 2020. What are your random recommendations?

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Some things to try in 2020

Obviously, I have a long list of recommendations: the best store-bought chocolate chip cookies in ranked order, which beers and shorts and helmets to buy. I have lots of thoughts about training methodologies and routes. Ask me sometime.

Here, instead, are not so much things to purchase through an Amazon affiliate link or triathlon-specific tips, but rather random things I recommend doing. Right now: 

– Only wear sports bras: I don’t know exactly when I gave up wearing the standard contraptions made of hammocks and wire. It was a few years ago. Some time when I was on a trip and had only thrown sports bras in my bag and then realized I could put on a Gap t-shirt or a work blouse over the sports bra and NO ONE CARED. And there are so many options now: cute athleisure sports bras, running sports bras you can just go straight from the office to a workout in, lightweight sports bras that basically are the same as the undershirts underwear places try to sell you for more money. At this point, I only pull out regular bras for weddings or black tie formal events. Trust me on this. Only wearing sports bras changed my life.

– Eat frozen meals: My love of prepared frozen meals is well-documented, but let me reiterate it here: It’s 2020 now. The things they can do with healthy prepared foods is amazing these days. Add some lettuce, an egg, avocado, maybe cheese. Microwave or throw in a pan. And you have very solid meal options in less than 10 minutes. Stop mincing garlic and start using your time better. 

– One day/week, don’t set an alarm: I know this isn’t always possible, but try it. Even if it means sleeping in long past whatever time you think is acceptable as an adult, even if you get plenty of sleep anyway with your alarm, even if you might miss hitting your workout right at 6 a.m., it’s worth it to know one day each week you’ll get up whenever your body needs to get up. And then get the fuck on with your day.

– OK, actually most of my life is about getting as much done as efficiently as possible, and then doing absolutely nothing when I don’t have things to do. To that end, I have given presentations and workshops on time management and it always all comes down to this: Write a list of the things you need to do, plot out the time each takes in the day, and then do them. It’s not more or less complicated than that. Round all time estimations up and add buffers.

There are tons of other things I’d recommend:

– the bantam bagels at Starbucks (really, for real, everyone I’ve introduced these to agrees they’re the best tide-me-over snack)
– baby wipes to get off bike grease
– giving up fancy facial washes and just using soap
– running without headphones
– cutting avocados horizontally instead of vertically (really)
– watching regular TV (not Netflix) at least some times for national context and the ads
– and more

But trust me about the sports bras.

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• You can check out the top Triathlete stories of the year — I wrote two of them — and the takeaway is: KONA!!! (Triathlete) 
   
• Alberto Contador is going to race in the 35-39 age group at Ironman Vittoria this summer. This is the third or fourth (depending on how you count?) former pro tour rider to move into age group triathlon competition. (Triatlon)
   
• Triathlete did a story on Siri Lindley and her leukemia fight, and it looks like there are some updates on her GoFundMe. (Triathlete/GoFundMe)
   
• Of all the various looks back at the decade, I did like Power Play’s 20 most important women’s sports moments: Part I and II. (PowerPlays)
   
• The NYT Opinion section has been all over women’s sports this year and now: Where Are All The Women Coaches? (New York Times)
   
• In the running world, there’s been a ton of talk about new squads and what makes a good coach and a good squad. I don’t know, but it seems like there are different ways to do it: Tinman Elite going old school boys, new Under Armour group in Flagstaff without a ton of details yet, and the BYU women’s coach on how she’s cultivated the culture there. (Runner’s World/Arizona Daily Sun)
   
• There are more women than ever winning endurance cycling events. Also, relatedly, there are more people than ever doing the damn things. (REI)
   
• Spartan moved into trail races last year and has now bought a three-day mountain bike race, which it ultimately plans to turn into a championships event with qualification races. This is interesting for a number of reasons. (Bicycle Retailer)
   
• ‘I loved bike touring, until I got paid to do it.’ (Outside)
   
• Molly Huddle is calling for the criminalization of doping. I get the argument and the anger, but in general I’m for less criminalization not more, and I’m not sure I want police involved in deciding sports injustices. (Providence Journal)
   
• On that note, one of the things I do sometimes is just read random stuff. This week: what if we abolish prisons. It’s not that crazy. (New York Times)

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Comments & thoughts

– Pam pointed out last week that the trend she hopes to see in the new decade is an increased focus on sustainability among races and athletes. Amen to that.

– In case you missed it, we answered all your question (or at least the top 20) in our AMA podcast episode.

– And you all were very split on whose advice to take to our younger selves: mine or Sara’s. 

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‘If We Were Riding’ is a weekly triathlon-ish newsletter written by Kelly O’Mara and produced by Live Feisty Media. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning. You can also read past issues. This episode is from Jan. 1, 2020.