it's time to get ready for ... december challenges!
🎉 The holiday season is here, and we’re back to keep you moving with our Run, Core + Mobility, and – new for 2025 – Strength Challenges!
🌟 Choose Your Adventure: Whether you’re a core-crushing champion, a running fanatic, or an aspiring gym rat, we’ve got options! Select from daily core and mobility workouts, daily run distances (1 mile, 2 miles, or 5k), or twice-weekly strength workouts targeted to build your max strength before the 2026 season. Or combine them all into a massive month of season prep!
🎈 Why Join? This is your chance to set the stage for an amazing season! Kick off the new year feeling fitter and ready to take on 2026!
🎁 NYX Swag! All athletes who complete a December challenge will be entered into a drawing for some awesome NYX swag. Because: we love swag!
RUN AND CORE CHALLENGES
The run challenge includes daily 1, 2, or 3.1 mile workouts and 3x weekly strides. The core + mobility challenges includes daily core and mobility sessions (yes, both of them each day!). We will have TrainingPeaks Plans available for download on November 25th – check the website for more details. (Plans are available to NYX coached athletes and Mob members. Want in on the fun? Join the Mob.)
DECEMBER/JANUARY STRENGTH CHALLENGE
Strong Foundation → Strong Power
December–January is the perfect window to step out of pure endurance mode and build the kind of strength that makes everything else easier — climbing, running, swimming, and racing strong deep into next season.
This 8-week NYX Strength Challenge is designed to help you move better, lift with confidence, and build a foundation of power that carries into 2026. We’ll train two days per week, focusing on four key lifts — the Hex Bar Deadlift, Squat, Overhead Press, and Row — supported by core work and mobility that makes you a more durable athlete.
In December, we focus on adaptation: learning form, building stability, and finding rhythm with higher reps and moderate weight. In January, we shift into strength: fewer reps, heavier loads, and a focus on quality power. Every session begins with mobility to prep your body and ends with core work to tie it all together.
We’re not chasing gym PRs for the sake of numbers — we’re building functional strength that shows up when you climb that final hill, run off the bike, or hold form in the back half of a race.
Track your lifts, note your RPE and confidence, and celebrate how strong you’re becoming. By the end of this challenge, you’ll not only lift more — you’ll move better.
Let’s go, NYX crew — strong bodies, strong minds, strong season ahead.
NYX athletes and Mob members can find the strength plan on the website. Or you can purchase the strength plan here.
what to read / watch / listen to:
Coach Julie:
Listen to: My new favorite podcast — and especially this episode.
Podcast Pick: “The Gray Zone Myth: Mistake or Advantage for Cyclists?” with Hannah Otto on Ask a Cycling Coach
Even though it’s cycling-focused, this one applies directly to triathletes. If you’ve ever wondered whether tempo or sweet-spot rides are “wrong,” this episode explains why that middle zone actually works when used intentionally. Hannah breaks down how to structure it, why overly long confidence rides can sabotage progress, and how to keep your training phases moving forward with purpose.
It lines up perfectly with our NYX philosophy: smart build, thoughtful intensity, and training that fits real life. Whether you’re prepping for tri, gravel, or juggling a chaotic schedule, there’s at least one concept you can use immediately — especially how to treat recovery weeks with intention.
🎧 » Give it a listen and ask yourself:
What phase am I in, and am I using the gray zone with purpose — or just drifting into it?
what makes us better:
Coach Alison: pick what excites you
It’s nearing the end of the calendar year, which means that triathletes’ minds are swirling with thoughts about next year’s race calendar. The options are endless – triathlons and ultra-runs and gravel races of all different distances and in all different locations and presenting a whole range of challenges. As you mull over your options, of course you want to consider the time of year and the venue and the race itself and how all of that ties into your life and your season and your athletic journey. But most of all, you want to make sure that the idea of the race excites you. Because that excitement – and some healthy respect for the challenge – is what will carry you through the months of training. So when your mouse is hovering over that “Register Now” button, ask yourself if you’re clicking submit because you feel that you ought to or you should – or because you simply cannot not sign up.
bonus (non-tri) recommendations:
Coach Julie: The Beast In Me
Not sport-related… but SO good for winter watching:
“The Beast in Me” — Netflix
Cold nights + time on the trainer = perfect excuse for a really good series, and The Beast in Me has been my current obsession. It’s dark, smart, beautifully acted, and one of those shows you keep thinking about long after the episode ends.
At its core, it’s a psychological thriller about a grieving journalist who becomes obsessed with solving a case that hits too close to home — and every episode layers on tension, character development, and emotional complexity. It’s paced perfectly for trainer sessions: tight 40-ish-minute episodes, strong plot momentum, and none of the “scrolling your phone because you’re bored” moments.
Why it’s great:
- Atmospheric + immersive — moody Scandinavian vibe, gorgeous cinematography
- Complex characters — flawed, human, and genuinely unpredictable
- A plot that respects you — no cheap twists; everything builds with purpose
- Perfect trainer rhythm — bingeable, but not brainless
If you want something gripping that makes long indoor miles feel shorter, this is it.
Pop it on, spin the legs, and get pulled into a story that’s way better than doom-scrolling.
Coach Alison: On the Calculation of Volume
I came across this headline in the NY Times and was instantly intrigued: “She Has Taken 30 Years to Write a 7-Part Novel About 1 Day. It’s a Sensation.” I started reading the article/review, and when I came to this line I was hooked: “The writer Sloane Crosley … told me, ‘I’ve just been that person that’s sort of genuinely wondering: Do I learn Danish so I can read the entire series before they’re all translated?'” I mean, if someone’s just casually considering learning an entirely new language because they’re too impatient for a book to be translated, that says a lot.
I’ve only read the first few pages, but I can already see that the book – actually, 7 books – will draw me in in a way that I too may consider learning Danish. The writing just washes over you in a quiet, subtle way that transports you into this day, this experience, and it’s captivating. “On the Calculation of Volume” is about to become my new obsession.