• Are new instructor contracts causing holes in the schedule?
• All-For-One classes drop.
• Peloton Deals tab disappears.
• A sneak preview of this weekend’s Lululemon event.
• Angelo/MetPro – Taming your sweet tooth.
• Katie Wang adds Strength Instructor to her duties.
• Rebecca Kennedy & Andy Speer engagement featured on Legacy of Untold Travel.
• Cody Rigsby’s book now available in paperback.
• TCO Top 5.
• This Week at Peloton.
• Sims 60 now on the bike.
• Peloton’s September Challenge – running and walking.
• Five new Benchmark Classes.
• Build Your Power Zones in German.
• Peloton drops another collab with Little Word Project.
• Birthdays – Jon Hosking (9/9), Anna Greenberg (9/18), Erik Jager (9/19)

All this plus our interview with Jolene Abanses

—

Watch the episode here

 

Listen to the podcast here

 

More Than A Break: Are Peloton Instructors Being Secretly Furloughed? Plus Our Interview With Jolene Abanses

We have some big stuff this week.

The first on the docket is this interesting little time off schedule that Peloton has put out. They slid it under the radar in late July, but now that the new Fall schedule is out, it’s causing all kinds of eyebrows to be raised.

Now that we see it in fruition and zoom out, we have some questions that are going to sound an awful lot like answers.

We also have our interview with Jolene Abanses. We will be talking about her marathon running. She tore her meniscus a couple of times. She has been using the bike to get better and trying to get back into running. She’s working on that and we’re going to hear all about her journey. We all have updates on the All For One class, as well as a few interesting little tidbits from the Peloton world. We have instructor updates. We have a visit from Angelo and he’s going to be talking about teaming your sweet tooth. We have content updates, as well as In Case You Missed It and birthdays.

Before we get to all that, shameless plugs. Don’t forget, we’re available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and TuneIn. Wherever you find a podcast, you can find us. While you’re there, be sure and follow us so you never miss an episode. Maybe leave us a review. That’s always nice. You can find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group.

Don’t forget our YouTube channel where you can watch all of these. That’s over at YouTube.com/TheClipOut. You can sign up for our mailing list at TheClipOut.com. You will get a weekly reminder that we exist and that there’s an episode out. It has all the links and everything. If you want to find an article and you don’t want to scroll through Instagram or our Facebook page, you can go straight there.

You can also check out our Patreon if you are so inclined. It’s a nice and much-appreciated way to support the show. It’s $5 a month and you get all sorts of bonus content. Every week, we record an additional 20 to 25 minutes, depending on how much is going on, of content that we didn’t have time to get to in the show. This week, we’re going to be talking about Ash Pryor and her new partnership.

It’s a big one.

We’ll talk about how run clubs in New York are the new tender.

I can’t wait to dive into that. Also, Ben was a guest speaker at Logitech. We will be talking about some updates with Peloton Germany. Also, why is Peloton asking about submitting questions for certain instructors?

That’s $5 a month. You get weekly extra content like that. You also get these episodes entirely ad-free. If we get it early, you get it early. You get a special place in our hearts for helping us out. There’s all that. Let’s dig in. Shall we?

We shall.

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Let’s talk about the Fall schedule. In your never-ending quest for Peloton information, you noticed some interesting quirks about the schedule, and then you married that up with a quietly released blog post back on July 26th about how the new Fall schedule was being configured. When you merged those two pieces of information in your head, there was an explosion. There was Crystal shrapnel everywhere.

A little birdie did raise my awareness. I was not the first person to see this. I don’t want to claim to be, but they want to remain anonymous. When this person brought this up to me, I started taking a look at everybody on the instructors list that’s on the schedule right now and what’s going to be on the schedule. That’s where I started, and it led to some interesting things.

Let’s start with the blog post. The blog post from July talked about the fact that they were going to have an off-season for instructors. They say it in a very positive way. It’s going to be time to rest. It’s going to be time to recharge. They even liken it to professional athletes. That’s all good. At The Clip Out, we are in strong support of everybody getting time off. Everybody needs time to rest and recharge.

It is a physically demanding job.

What we didn’t see in that post was anybody spelling out how long the instructors would be off, and that it wasn’t necessarily going to be a one-time thing, instead, it’s going to be spread out. The reason I say that is because when I started looking and comparing all these different numbers of classes that the instructors have out there, some people have been on the schedule for the entire month of September, nor are they on the schedule so far for the entire month of October.

We should say that we compiled this information and we are recording this portion of the show before the All For One announcement tomorrow.

We know and we are very well aware that there may be additional classes that could skew these numbers. Let’s take Nico for example, zero classes for September, zero classes for October.

It’s hard to believe All For One would fix that.

Even if she had a class or two for All For One, that is still very low when you look at some instructors. There was one instructor who if you included live, encore, and premiere had as many as twenty classes already on the schedule. Those are the two ends of the spectrum. There’s a huge chunk of instructors that fell in the 12 to 14 range, then there was a chunk of instructors that fell between 6 and 11, and then there were instructors that fell between 0 and 4.

It’s hard not to immediately slot that into tiers like A instructors, B instructors, and C instructors.

What I’m curious about that is, for example, you have Ally Love. She only has seven classes on the schedule before All For One, and also before we have a confirmation of who was at Rebecca and Andy’s wedding because we know that is potentially going to change things as well. Having said that, Ally Love had seven classes.

Ally is one of those instructors who has lots of side hustles going on. She’s doing stuff for Netflix.

Wouldn’t you agree so is Robin?

Yeah, but I would also say that Robin does more. I prepared for the Ally Love fans to come at me. She wants her life non-stop, which Ally Love doesn’t do a lot like she does. Robin prides herself on always being on the go.

Double the amount because that’s what it is. Robin has fifteen and Ally has seven.

That makes me wonder if either All For One is going to bring that up a little bit, and also is she off doing season two of that Netflix dance show or something like that.

That could be. That’s why we’re asking these questions. We don’t know the answer to this. Christine only has two in September. So far, she has zero on the schedule for October. Anna has zero classes for September and October. Denis only has two for October so far and none for September. Anna is on vacation. Denis is on vacation. Christine has a bunch of retreats and Wordshops coming up, but I can’t help but ask the question. Did the retreats come because there was a hole in the schedule or is there a hole in the schedule, so she planned a retreat?

This reminds me of when you see a TV show that is starting to struggle. The first thing they’ll do these days is they’ll renew it, but they’ll reduce the episode count. They will go from 25 episodes to 13. That’s because you don’t see as many shows that have 25 to 26 episodes a season. The next thing that they’ll do after they reduce the episode count is they will take certain characters and they’ll bump a reoccurring character. They’ll take a supporting character and bump them down to reoccurring. They’ll take a recurring character and make them less reoccurring.

You’ll notice this in shows that you like, especially as they get deeper into the run and they’re not huge giant hits. Certain characters just disappear for an episode. It might be a 13-episode season, but certain actors get a 10-episode contract. The writers know you have to leave these characters on the sidelines for three episodes, or this one for three and that one for four. This is what that feels like to me. It’s like, “We’re not firing you but we’re going to reduce how often we’re utilizing you to lower our costs.”

That’s the thing. That’s the big question. Is this a savings measure that has been draped in wellness? That begs the question, is that why Kristin McGee is no longer here? Is that why Kendall Toole is no longer here?

It’s like because they went through with their metrics and determined who was A, B, and C. Some of the people who maybe thought they were A found out they were B, or thought they were B and found out they were C.

It explains the two vastly different reactions between Kendall and Kristin McGee. We always felt it had something to do with the terms of the contract. I know several times you said it was a pay cut and this would be a pay cut.

This is a version of that.

I feel like when you pair these things together, it makes a much more complete picture of that. I feel like it gives more proof of it.

Different people react to that in different ways. Some people hear a message like that and they get mad, AKA Kendall. Some people hear a message like that and they get sad, AKA Kristin.

I think Kristin loved her job differently. I always felt this way, but now this backs it up. If this were true, I am projecting it onto her and I fully understand that she was sad to leave and she had to make a change to continue being able to care for her children in the same way because it would have made too much of an impact financially otherwise. She’s a single mom. You have to make those those tough choices. I don’t see any other way to read this. Here’s the other thing that’s important to note. The entire studio was closed from 8/19 to 9/4. That means that some of these people were off in the last two weeks of August and all of September, and now the first two weeks of October.

That’s almost a full quarter.

That’s not a vacation.

We’ve talked before about these company-wide budget cuts, but the instructors were seemingly unaffected. From a corporate standpoint, that seems a little weird because normally, when you’re making across-the-board cuts it’s across the board. They’re part of the board. It’s hard not to read this as a way for Peloton to lessen that line item without having the optics of laying off or furloughing the instructors.

It also explains why everybody was on the same contract cycle because they had to change terms even if they already had a contract in place. That’s why it affected everyone.

That makes sense because we thought it was weird. They all came in a different time.

Why are these all taking place in June at the same time?

 

Those things don’t sync up. They’re not menstrual cycles.

That is a thing, but that’s a whole different story. I have also noticed that some instructors who have stopped doing as much on the side are now doing more on the side. Jess King is doing her Mindful Life Coaching again. She always did it to some extent, but there was a good two-year time period in there that she wasn’t doing it, granted that she and her partner were both pregnant, but now it’s back. You have all of these new websites all of a sudden popping up. They’re selling themselves on these websites. It takes all these seemingly unrelated things in line and you go, “Got it.”

It’s locking into place.

I didn’t bother asking Peloton about this. I am very curious to hear the rest of the memberships’ reaction to this. If people mind, care, upset, or mad, Peloton has the potential to upset people. They were already upset that so many of the classes had been taken down. When I first joined Peloton, you might see Jenn Sherman or Robin Arzon having eight classes all day long. There would be bike classes eight hours out of the day. Now, you’re lucky to get four. There’s other content.

Maybe they have not even contemplated this yet, but I wonder if this will result in the slowing of the purge cycle. Peloton produces a ton of content. Even at this slightly reduced level, it might not be exactly what you want, but you get a ton of content from Peloton. That is a fact. It’s way more and way better than you’re going to get from other platforms. If they’re producing less, you wonder if, at some point, they have to slow down how quickly they purged things so they can keep the back catalog thick enough for people to dive into.

That’s a good question. I also can’t help but notice that in the last few weeks, there were no artist series coming out. We have talked about this fact internally, you, me, and the Helper Bees.

That also feels like a cost-cutting measure because I’m assuming they’re paying for that, which I would also say is dumb if they are paying for that. I hope they’re not because they shouldn’t have to. That’s a promotion for the artist. That is mutually beneficial, except for the A-list stuff like the Beyonces, the Taylor Swifts, and the Beatles. You probably have to pay for that. For a lot of those artists, they should be happy to be getting talked about.

There have been a lot that are not exactly ginormous well-known artists. There have also been a lot that we older people don’t know. I get the need to do some of these things and not hurt your stock price. I also think that when people start putting this stuff together and everybody starts talking about it, it makes people feel as if you’re hiding things from them. If you’re hiding things from them, then now we can’t trust that whatever you’re doing in the background is on the up and up.

In the grand scheme of things, if this is what’s occurring, I get it.

I get it but say that. I am a person who likes to lay the cards on the table. I don’t like to BS and play games.

You are not publicly traded.

That is very true. Isn’t that a concern? If somebody like me can see this and if our audience can figure this out, do you think those stockholders can’t? They follow all the things anyway. Do you think they’re not looking? You’re delaying the inevitable. If it’s not that, I’m curious to see what it is.

With that being said, let’s segue into the All For One class that will be dropping now. We are recording this before they drop. We record on Wednesdays and they’re doing that on Thursdays. By the time you’ve tuned in to this, that information will be out there.

It’s important to note that we have been asking the question, will they have members in the studio? Now that question is answered because it is going up on the studio website and it’s going up on Thursday. Classes normally open up on Thursday at noon Eastern, and this appears to also be opening up on a Thursday at noon Eastern. Not six weeks out, but it’s still on a Thursday. It’s such a short time period. You have to ask who can book. Only tri-state area people. That’s it.

Also, people with lots of miles and lots of PTO.

That’s true. You better have some big bands to expect people to do that.

I think that they know those slots are so sought after even in the “worst of times.”

That’s another thing while we’re on this subject. It worries me because, for the first time in the last three weeks, there have been multiple instances of classes not being full. That never happened before at PSNY. I mean the same week that they’re happening, they’re open. What is up with that? What does that mean? Does that then mean the data is going to tell Peloton, “We need even fewer classes?”

Ultimately, the data they’re looking at is how many people take the class and not how many people are in the class because what they’re charging to get into a class is nominal. That is not a legit revenue stream for them. What you spend at the shop while you’re there is probably a legit revenue stream for them.

It’s also interesting because don’t forget, there is one day in the US, on Wednesdays, that they’re no longer having any classes live, and there are two days in the UK.

I would also put an asterisk on that to ask whether some of the empty slots in classes are a result of them clamping down on the people that go over and over again. They are trying to put better mechanisms in place to prevent people from hogging spots.

I don’t think so and here’s why. Remember, they opened the door. They changed their security so now anybody can walk in that has been verified. You can go walk in to get on a waitlist anytime you want. I don’t think that they’re trying to clamp down on anything. I think it’s the opposite, which is concerning.

They want those people back. They need seat fillers like the Grammys.

They’re standing outside and they go, “You. Go take this class.”

“You look like you need to exercise.” That’s what they kept doing to me in London. I got offered a bike five times, “I’m good.”

I only did two classes though.

We were in and out of there a lot. They were like, “Do you want to hop on a bike?” “No, I’m good.”

That’s so funny.

We talked a couple of weeks ago about the new Peloton Deals tab. Peloton Deals, we hardly knew you. It’s gone.

I guess it was there for Labor Day. It popped up before. I guess they were like, “We got what we needed out of that.”

Maybe it’s something they will turn on and off. Maybe it’ll get turned back on in Black Friday and turn back off.

I’ll keep an eye on it, but I have a feeling that’s exactly what’s going to happen. They highlight and drive traffic to the deals to make it super easy for people to find.

I noticed on the Amazon site that there’s a Deals tab. It goes away and becomes like a Black Friday thing, and then I forget what they call it, but they call it something different at Christmas.

Maybe Peloton is using that logic and their copying it. It works.

You can’t go wrong copying what Amazon does because it seems to be working, based on how many planets Jeff Bezos now owns. We have a little sneak preview of what to expect at this week’s Lululemon event.

It’s very similar to the last time, but I figured not everybody heard it. Every class that you go in, you’re going to be getting a water bottle. If you are in three live classes, you will have three water bottles. I’m saying pack appropriately because you’re going to need a lot of luggage to take all those home. I am not joking. Trish will be taking extra luggage this time. Also at the studio, to your point earlier, you can buy all of the stuff and you get 20% off of the Peloton and Lululemon collection. There are of course terms. I’m sure some stuff doesn’t count. You are going to have a Recovery Lounge again. They’re going to have Hyperice. They’re going to have those little things that you can put your legs in and they squeeze them and recover your legs.

Normatec is what you’re looking for.

Yeah. They are also going to have another Beyondfeel shoe demo. That will be exciting. You can wear them. You can exercise in them. They have limited pairs and sizes available. They are first come, first serve.

If you slip and fall, you can’t see them.

Grab a free coffee at the Cold Brew carts on the Plaza level. I think it will be a great time. Most people had an amazing time last time.

People seem to dig it.

I can’t wait to hear more.

Coming up after this, we’re going to talk to Angelo. He has tips for you on how to tame your sweet tooth, so stick around.

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Joining us once again is Angelo from Met Pro here to answer all of your fitness and nutrition questions.

What’s fun about Peloton is its charm to set goals and milestones for you to chase. Share on X

We have a question from Darlene Jones. She is saying that she has a sweet tooth throughout the year and she does not know how to conquer it. Do you have any thoughts on how she can rein in the sweet tooth?

Yes, I do. It’s not a magic bullet but this will help. I know it’s cliche, but following clean eating and small meals frequently throughout the day will stabilize your blood sugar and it will keep cravings at bay. People ask me, “What are cravings?”We get confused. Not having cravings doesn’t mean you forget how good chocolate tastes. That’s not what it means.

That’s not a thing.

Not if you’re me anyway. There is a huge difference. For example, I follow my own advice of eating a clean breakfast and I have my healthy snacks. When it gets to 4:00 in the afternoon, I still remember that chocolate tastes good, but every fiber of my being is not saying, “Eat sugar, eat sugar, eat sugar.” Whereas when I wake up, I skip breakfast, I snack through lunch, and then I have maybe a simple carb as a snack in the afternoon and I know I need to eat something, now come 4:00 in the afternoon, my body is radically craving sugar. That perpetuates the cycle, so I grab a bite of sugar, and then I have dinner. Guess what? By 9:00 at night, I’m craving more sugar. That’s a classic yo-yo effect with blood sugar when it’s not stable throughout the day.

When you’re eating a balanced lower glycemic, that simply means incorporating protein and fiber. Don’t forget about healthy fats and a balanced breakfast lunch. If you’ve heard me before, you know how important an afternoon snack is. If you incorporate those things, you will find that the blood sugar-induced cravings will radically subside. It will take 2 to 3 days of clean eating and reducing your sugar. The cravings will radically subside.

The next piece of advice that I would give you Darlene is a little bit more obvious, but it does work. That is don’t battle a craving or the fact that ice cream tastes good and hunger at the same time. You can’t let yourself get overly hungry. A lot of times what we try and do is because I’m going to have that bite of sugar or I had that bite of sugar, I’m going to try and eat less of everything else. That is like making payments on a credit card. That’s a win right now and a whole lot of interest you’ll be paying on that later. You never catch up.

What you have to do is find the appropriate portions and amount that keep you satiated throughout the day so that way you have the willpower to not eliminate sugar but to pick and choose when you have it. I have a strong recommendation that I make for my clients. People want to know, “Once I’m working with you, Angelo or once I’m working with MetPro, I can’t ever have sweets again?” That’s not the idea here. The idea is that we have a purposeful nutrition plan.

As a general rule on Tuesday at 3:00 in the afternoon, we’re not diving into a piece of cobbler pie. We’re saving that for the special occasions. I want you to indulge in special occasions. I want you to have occasions where you enjoy yourself. Don’t do it out of habit, out of monotony, or out of boredom. Nothing is going on. No special occasion. It’s 2:00 on a Thursday. That’s not the time to break into the sugar. Save that for the special occasion. That recommendation only works if you have some healthy meals already prepped and ready to go. You have healthy food waiting for you and you’re not starving in the middle of the day.

Planning ahead, having a basic strategy to not miss meals, and keeping your blood sugar stable will significantly help. Time isn’t going to permit us right now, but the next thing that maybe we could talk about on a different occasion is how to have something sweet that isn’t refined sugar. There are lots of options for that. We’ll save that one for next time.

When you talk about stabilizing your blood sugar, every time Crystal and I treat ourselves like getting pizza or something, we have a version of this conversation the next morning. “Why am I so hungry? I had so much food last night. I had all the pizza. How am I waking up hungry? That’s mathematically impossible, but here I am.”

That’s exactly right, Tom. You’re experiencing those blood sugar-induced cravings, which take about 48 hours to stabilize. That’s why it seems like when you have an indulgent weekend, it is so hard to get back on track on Monday. If you do, you’re in good shape by Tuesday and Wednesday. That’s the key. Get back on track and those cravings will subside.

Thank you so much for all of that. Until next time, where can people find you or Crystal to get all this sort of stuff tailor-made for their lives?

You can find us at MetPro.co/tco. Come talk to us.

Thank you.

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Katie Wang has added strength instructor to her duties.

Isn’t that exciting?

It is cool, but reflecting back on what we talked about, I also wonder if that’s part of like, “We need you to do more things, and not just be a row instructor.” I’m sure a lot of these instructors are like, “Absolutely.”

On that note, don’t forget that Mariana got her tread spot. You have to wonder whether that means we’re going to see another instructor cross over here shortly.

This reminds me of when I was in radio where it’s like, “You’re going to do mid-days, but you’re also going to be the promotions director.”

Let me be clear. Although I’m not exactly happy with how Peloton is handling the news about this. I like Peloton to survive. It has been life-changing. I love these instructors. I love what they do. If people want to get out there and do more, then great. That’s fabulous.

I almost wonder if they were thinking/hoping that they would lose more instructors to attrition when they rolled these out, instead of the 2 or 3 that they did.

That’s an interesting thought.

It’s like it’s their decision and they’re like, “That’s a shame.” Being a Peloton instructor elevates your platform so much that you can make all this ancillary revenue off your socials. A lot of them are probably like, “This sucks and I don’t like it, but I will make more money off of Instagram if I’m a Peloton instructor than if I am not a Peloton instructor, so I’m going to eat this sh*t sandwich and power through it.”

They all signed contracts. If others are leaving, it’s still going to be a chunk of time before they do. I only say that because people who stayed did make that decision it was beneficial. I don’t know if Peloton is happy about that. I think they probably are because don’t forget, they said that they’re going to have guest instructors. They also said that they were hoping to bring in other instructors in the future. They strongly suggested that. They did not come right out and say that. They strongly suggested that.

Back to this, Katie is strength. That’s great and I think it benefits all parties for these instructors not to be siloed with one piece of equipment, especially when that piece of equipment is the Row or the Tread or something that’s not as widely embraced as the bike.

I can’t help but wonder if Alex Kowalski is now moving to the tread too.

What makes you say that?

He ran the 5th Avenue mile the other day in four minutes and some change. That’s freaking fast. That dude is fast.

He doesn’t even need an Uber to get around New York. He’ll beat the Uber. “I show up stinky, but I’ll beat it.” Although some of the Ubers I’ve been in are also stinky. It’s a jump ball. I’m just saying.

Katie’s premier class is on Friday, September 20th at 9:30 AM Eastern. We are so excited for her. Can we take more strength classes?

Rebecca Kennedy and Andy Speer had their engagement trip featured on the social media platform Legacy of Untold Travel. I have to say this. If it’s untold travel, but you’re posting it on your Instagram, that would technically be told travel. It’s been told. Someone needs to point that out to them.

You’re not wrong, but it was their engagement trip when they went to Cape Town in Africa. That’s what it was.

This is some sort of a bespoke travel agency. In other words, we can’t afford it.

No, you can’t. I’ve been seeing the wish version of that over on Facebook.

It’s called TripAdvisor.

No, for real. They have this thing called Journee. This is not an ad.

There will be no promo code at the end of this.

I’m intrigued by it because it’s spelled JOURNEE. You tell them the kinds of things you like and what you want to do, and then they pick a place and they do everything. You don’t know what you’re getting and where you’re going until you open it.

That sounds great. You tell them all the stuff and then you give them $10,000 and they’re like, “You’re going to Des Moines.”

They have lots of very satisfied people.

They’d be like, “We’d go to Saint Louis. I didn’t see any stab wounds so I assumed that you weren’t from there.”

Don’t worry. Nobody would spend $10,000 to come here.

I know that but that doesn’t mean somebody wouldn’t try and charge $10,000. Speaking of being frugal, if you like Cody Rigsby but don’t like hardback prices, his book is now available in paperback.

Congrats to Cody.

 

If you want to read the book and you’re looking to save a little cash, it’s now in paperback. Check that out or wait another two years and go to a book fair.

You could also wait for Black Friday. Amazon Kindle will have some good prices on it.

You get some good deals on Kindle if you keep an eye out. Should I throw in another #NotAnAd? There’s a website called BookGorilla. You can tell it the genres you like and you’ll get an email every day with books that are on sale usually for $1.99.

You’ll get a lot of good deals.

There are so many books that I’ve bought over the years for $2 and good big-name books. I bought the Beatles biography books.

That is not a short book.

Especially the way I read. Coming up after this, we’re going to give you the TCO Top Five and This Week at Peloton. If you’re struggling with how to best use your Peloton membership, we will give you some guidance right after this.

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It is time for the TCO Top Five, where you tell us things and we tell them back to other people so they can do things.

I want to mention that we link these in our article every week. If you are looking for these classes and you hear it on the show and you’re like, “How do I find it?” You go to the little magnifying glass search guy on our website and you type in “TCO Top Five,” or if you go to my Instagram or Facebook and you search, it’ll come right up, or don’t forget the newsletter. It’ll come right to you if you send it for the newsletter. You’ll always have it in your inbox and then you can click on the links and it’ll go right to the classes. You can bookmark them.

If you haven’t looked at the newsletter in a while, I changed how we do the links. They’re at the top. They used to be at the bottom. Now they’re right at the top when I give you the run of the show. Anything clickable, the link is right there. If it says TCO Top Five and runs a show, you click on it and it’ll take you right to the article.

There are so many options for you. We’re trying.

In case anybody ever wondered, the reason why some of them don’t have links is because they’re screen grabs of Instagram stories that we are utilizing.

A story expires in 24 hours.

There’s no point sending the link because it won’t work by the time you get it. If you’re wondering why some are clickable and some aren’t, that is why. Here we go. The TCO Top Five. Number one, your favorite run.

This is with Mariana Fernandez. She has been getting all kinds of love for her classes lately and she should because she’s amazing. Her 60-minute endurance run was her first premiere of being on the tread schedule on a regular basis. She calls it the Lost Toys Club. I also did this class this week and it was great. I’m so glad to see that Mariana has this finally on the schedule.

Rebecca Allen said that Mariana’s parents were in the class too, and it was so special. Nadine Armstrong said the run was well-programmed and had great music as always. It did. One thing I love about Mariana’s music choices is they are so eclectic. You might have a little bit of Spanish-Latin flair, but you also are going to have maybe some Taylor Swift, and then some good rock anthems. It’s always switching things up, so it’s so much easier to stay engaged while you’re running. I love it. Sixty minutes flew by.

Number two, your favorite ride.

This was taught by Robin and it took place on September 6th. Important notice, as Trish says, it was triple yellow. Robin based the ride on a bike ride that she did with Richard Branson on Necker Island. She was there co-hosting an event which we will also talk about in the bonus. She did six Hill intervals followed by Tabata. Holy cannoli.

I don’t know what any of those mean, but I know it’s rough.

It was only 20 minutes, but I would say that was a difficult 20 minutes.

Number three, your favorite walk.

Taught by Matty on 9/6. This was Matty’s first walk and talk back in the studio on Fridays. Dina Williams Roses got to be in the class live. She got to meet Matty and she said he was wonderful in person and that the class was so much fun. She said the class had great energetic music and his usual insightful and hilarious thoughts on pretty much everything. Not to mention, Chimp Crazy. I haven’t gotten to take this class yet, but I did hear him talk about Chimp Crazy. Now, I need to take the class because I need to know what Matty has to say about Chimp Crazy because it’s crazy.

They did not undersell either the chimp or the crazy in Chimp Crazy.

Fun fact, a lot of it took place in Missouri, and then you guys will understand why we get Missouri so much sh*t.

It takes place in Festus, Missouri. When you hear Festus, you think that’s just in the boot heel or the middle of the state. That’s twenty minutes from where we live. When you hear Festus, think suburb of Saint Louis, or maybe exsurb, but it is super close.

Just so you guys know, I lived there and I drove to work from there. I commuted. That’s how close it is to St. Louis.

You had no idea there were chimps there.

I have no idea because if I had, I probably would have tried to go see them. I had no idea how badly they were treated. I would see animals. I wouldn’t have known the rest of the story, but I didn’t know anything about any of it.

If you want to know, this is one of the many reasons why we make fun of Missouri.

This is a great thing for you to watch. You get absorbed. You will know.

Watch Chimp Crazy on Max. It is worth the price of admission. It’s like Tiger King, but shorter. Tiger King was like 8 or 9 episodes.

Not only that but this also has a conclusion. That’s what I was trying to say. I don’t want to give anything away. What a wild ride.

Number four is strength class.

This is taught by Denis Morton. We don’t get a lot of these.

Does he talk about primates?

No. It was a 10-minute arm in light weights. He taught this on September 5th. We don’t usually get this but Elizabeth Schlossberg, one of our Helper Bees, nominated this class. She said, “Denis was on fire with all the new moves and focused attention. We’ve heard that Denis can look right through your soul. This class was no exception.”

Number five is you’re unstackable.

This is a 30-minute house ride taught by Benny Adami on September 8th. Michael Davern said, “Benny was on fire with an unstackable series of hills and sprints coming at you in waves. He also had a special guest in the studio.” Michael doesn’t want to spoil the surprise. He’s not going to say who. “Normally house music isn’t his thing, but when an instructor likes the music, you can tell. One day later, his legs still feel it. Good luck.”

Who is the guest?

I don’t know.

You can tell me.

I can’t.

It’s just us.

I’m not going to.

 

You’re mean.

I’ve been called the rigid b*tch before.

You have, by no less than Dr. Jenn. She is a trained professional.

She calls herself a rigid b*tch. I feel like at least I’m getting good company.

She’s a trained professional. If she calls you or rigid b*tch, that’s not name-calling. That’s a diagnosis.

I’ll take it. I know I am. I’m very well aware.

Let’s dig into This Week at Peloton. Callie Gullickson is back from maternity leave.

She’s teaching her first class this weekend September 14th at 2:30 PM Eastern. It’s going to be an arms and shoulders strength class.

We also have a new Yacht Rock Ride with Jenn Sherman.

It’s going to be taking place on September 8th at 10:00 AM Eastern. It’s going to be 45 minutes of awesome music.

A 75-minute walk run with Kirsten Ferguson.

We have longer and longer hat formats happening. This is the first 75-minute walk-plus-run. It’s very exciting. We’ll talk about badges later, but this is good. This is going to count. This is going to be important to know. Pay attention to badges later.

Put a pin in it. We’ll be circling back around. That’s what you call a tease. Finally, Sundays With Love are back.

I think this is season 3 or 4. I don’t know. Time has passed so quickly since the pandemic. For all I know, we’re on season 6.

Sims 60 is now on the bike.

It is the first time we’re ever going to see a full 60-minute Sims 60 bootcamp class on the bike. It did take place on Tuesday, September 10th at 12:15 PM Eastern, which means that it’s already out there by the time you tune in to this. I heard lots of good things. We were told there were 11-minute intervals broken down throughout, so enjoy.

Remember when we told you to put a pin on something? Take the pin out.

There’s a new badge. They’ve redone the challenges. Instead of just having a running challenge, they now have a running and walking challenge, which means if you walk a mile or run the miles they all count.

Miles is miles.

It is. Forward is a pace for Becs Gentry. Now Peloton is putting that to use with this badge.

We also have five new Benchmark classes.

It’s so awesome to finally have another set of these. We have not seen these since April of ‘24. It’s September, so approximately six months. We’re getting five of these. You can use them to figure out how many reps you can do of certain moves, and then do some classes, increase those weights, and then come back and test again. That’s how you use them.

You can also now build your Power Zones, but they will be in German.

This is a whole new program. We did have Build Your Power Zones already in English, but it has been redone. It was taught by Charlotte and Erik. I think it’s cool that they’re making sure there are lots of German content. I’m glad about that. Charlotte and Eric are awesome. Charlotte is so nice. Every time I post anything that mentions her name, she sends me a message. She’s the sweetest person.

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Peloton has yet another collaboration with the Little Word Project.

Some more of your instructors’ favorite sayings. We have all kinds of them. We have “Hella Fire” coming in with Kirsten Ferguson. That went out of my brain. We have Camila Ramon who says, “No Pata Sucia,” and then Olivia Amato. We have “Stay Rad,” which is by Rad Lopez.

That tracks.

I figured you know that one. “Whole Ass Iit,” was Jess King’s. “No Ego Amigo,” I know that’s Jess Sims. I know that one for sure. If you want to collect more of these, now is your time. Better go in and get them before they’re all gone.

They go fast.

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We missed a birthday last week. It was Jon Hosking’s. He had one on September 9th. Belated happy birthday to Jon Hosking or super early happy birthday to Jon Hosking, however you wish to see it. We also have coming up, Anna Greenberg, on September 18th and Eric Jäger on September 19th.

Happy birthday to Jon Hosking, Anna Greenberg, and Erik Jäger.

Coming up after this, we got an interview of the week with Jolene Abanses. She’s going to talk about overcoming her meniscus tear. She can take over the show right after this, so stick around.

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Joining us is Jolene Abanses. Jolene, how is it going?

Episode Wrap-up

Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

I’m glad to be here. This is going to be fun. I love all things Peloton.

Discovering Peloton

Me too. How did Peloton first come into your world? How did you first find it?

I had my first meniscus tear. I’m a big runner and I tore my meniscus. I went in to see the orthopedic surgeon and he told me.

He didn’t say buy a stationary bike. He said to buy a Peloton.

He said, “Go buy a Peloton. I love my Peloton.” He knew my husband and he said, “You could tell that man.”

Does that mean it’s a medical expense? Did he write you a prescription? Can you build your HMO for that?

What I want to know is did he get a referral for that? Did you use his code and did he get free clothing from that? That’s what I want to know.

He should have.

Was your doctor wearing Peloton leggings? If so, I’m sensing the scam.

Running

That’s hilarious. Since you’re a runner, you have been a person who’s been fit your entire life. When did you start running or have you been active since childhood?

 

As a kid, I ran some high school cross-country and some high school track. I ran off and on after I had kids. I have four kids. After I had the fourth one, I said, “Sometime before I turned 40, I want to run a marathon.” I was about 38 and I trained for my first marathon.

You had never run a marathon. Have you ever done a half marathon? What was the longest distance you had run?

Before I was 36 years old, I had never run more than 2 or 3 miles at a time. I dropped off my youngest at preschool and there’s a group of women who were training for half. They said, “Why doesn’t she train with us? We’re going to run 5 or 6 miles on this particular day. Would you like to join us?” I was so scared, but everybody was talking during the run. They helped entertain me and before you know it, I ran 5 or 6 miles that day.

The next thing you know, I was training for a half marathon. I never run. Life and kids got in the way. My kids were little at the time but I ended up training for a full. I was supposed to run the Disney Marathon as my first marathon, but I made a rookie mistake and I signed up for another marathon four weeks before Disney. That didn’t go so hard, but Disney was hard.

Were your legs trashed by the time you got there?

They were trashed. It was a rookie mistake. You don’t know how exhausted, tired, and fatigued your legs are or how long it takes to recover from a marathon. At that point, I didn’t have any strength behind me.

I could get it if you haven’t done it before. You’re thinking, “It’s a month. I’m already in shape. I’ll knock out a second one.”

I was prepping for that marathon.

I’m sorry, but at least you still got to do the Disney Marathon. It didn’t take you out where you couldn’t do the marathon because that would be heartbreaking if that was the one you wanted to do, then you couldn’t do it. How many marathons have you run at this point?

I’ve probably run like 14 or 15 marathons.

You got right to it.

It’s that goal chasing and that’s what’s fun about Peloton. You’re goal chasing how many classes and milestones. That’s probably a little bit of the appeal to it for me.

That makes total sense. I’m not sure if you have the original bike or the Bike+ and how much you pay attention to the leaderboard and things like that. I’m curious if the leaderboard side of things drives you or if it’s only the goals you set for yourself.

I am not competitive on the bike at all, which is so odd because I’m very competitive outside running in terms of my marathon. I’m competitive against myself in a race. On the bike, I do it for fun. I do it to flush out the legs if I’ve been running or something. For the most part, I don’t take myself too seriously on the bike. I rarely get PRs on the bike. Usually, I take a lot of Ally Love and Cody classes. There’s not a lot of trying to chase the leaderboard for me at all.

Instructors And Injury

On the tread, what instructors do you take? What vibe do you go for when you’re doing that?

We only got the Tread+ back in March. I had a regular treadmill but I didn’t use it a whole lot. It was hard and doesn’t compare to the Tread+. I didn’t do a lot of Peloton classes on my old treadmill. I did some with Becs and everything, but since I’ve had the Tread+, I’m trying out all the different instructors. I’m trying to get a fill for what I like in a class and I’ve been injured. Here, I got a treadmill and injured my knee at the same time.

It was at the same time? You got the treadmill in March and when did the injury occur?

I ran the Mesa Marathon in February. The week that I ran Mesa, I tried out some of the new shoes, and some of them were a little aggressive. I was trying to decide which shoe I was going to wear for the race. I tried on this particular shoe that was stacked a little high and a little aggressive. I think I turned a corner. On a regular easy run, I tweaked my knee and that’s what started this whole meniscus episode this time. It was something that got worse over the next few weeks. When the treadmill came, I was able to use it but things kept getting worse and worse, so my husband got to use it. I was a little jealous. It’s been great because he was excited that we got this treadmill and wanted to use it.

At least it’s getting some love but that’s very sad. How does one heal from a torn meniscus? Whenever I hear something torn, it feels like you can’t just put it back together, especially since it’s happened more than once. What do they do?

This is my third time tearing the meniscus. This time, I chose to do platelet-rich plasma treatment where they take a vial of blood, put it in a machine, separate it, and then inject that into the meniscus. For your knee, that happens three times. It was over the course of about six weeks that I had these three injections done. After each injection, you have to take it easy. I would do low-impact spinning on the Peloton during the course of my treatment.

After the third treatment, it was a little bit harder. It took me a while to come back even on the bike, but finally, in July, I’ve been able to get on the treadmill. I have been doing some of the bootcamps because on the bootcamps, since it’s all broken up, I can walk maybe the first run, do some strength, do some walk-running during the second segment, do some strength, and then come back and maybe run the third.

That’s a good modification.

That’s a smart way to do it because it’s very not all or nothing, which I can be guilty of at times.

For that treatment, do they think that will fix it more long term than it’s been fixed in the past or do you have to change your stride? What causes all that?

They’re hoping that it promotes growth in my knee. It promotes healing. We’ll see over the next six months how it does. I’m walking better. There’s an improvement already. I have this done about two years ago when I have plantar fasciitis. It was the only thing that got me back to my normal everyday life because I couldn’t even walk the pups down the street with my plantar fasciitis. It was so bad and this was good for it. I did not want to go through surgery again. The surgery the first time fixed it. I came back within six months and set PRs in every distance. It was effective but, at the same time, I’ve lost some meniscus.

They have to probably cut off some stuff and put it together and do whatever they do. This time, you’re hoping that the natural growth that’s there with the blood that they put in will promote that growth, and then it’ll be better, hopefully. Does that mean you’ll always have to modify your runs or is the idea that it’ll get strong enough that you can run like you did before? Are they like, “You’re never running again. Now, you’ll only be walking?” I have no idea.

I can attempt to get back to my everyday running, but with my age, it’s arthritis in my knee. I should cut back on some running. The bike is there. I should use it more but once I get outside running and get into training. As much as I love the bike, I can’t do it both. I get too worked up over my training for a race or something. It’s a tough balance. It’s there for that reason for me to run less.

It is easier said than done, I know. If you could design a perfectly balanced load, how would you balance your bike and run classes?

I think about that all the time. I was thinking about that. I was like, “We need a run coach out there who knows how to put Peloton biking classes with a marathon training program. That would make the best training program.” When I do my Peloton classes on my strength on my bike, I’m very planned. I’m going to study the classes to see what’s going to benefit me and what I need in that week’s training.

Power Zone Training

That makes a lot of sense. We were talking to somebody a little bit ago who did not have an injury, but is also a runner and also uses the bike for cross-training. She was saying that Power Zone training has been very helpful for her as cross-training with the marathon. I don’t know if that’s something you’ve tried or like or not into it or whatever.

I tried Power Zone training when I had plantar fasciitis and I was out for so long. I was out for at least 100 days of running. I got into Power Zone training. That was fun. I tried it again recently. I love everything Peloton. I’ll do something for a couple of weeks, and then I move on. I need something else. The bootcamps are where it’s at and Ally Love on the bike. I’m sure that as I start running more, it’ll change again.

I had the same issues a lot more negative than I mean it to be whenever I was doing Power Zone because I enjoy the thought process of it and how it makes you stronger. It’s incredibly effective. However, I need a lot of variety and the ability to still take classes that are for fun because if I don’t, then I’m no longer engaged and I don’t want to go ride anymore. I have to have that constant variety, but it’s funny how different we all are and what drives us. Some people need that constant push to Power Zone harder and more. Some people are like me. I don’t want to do that all the time. Sometimes, I want to get on a bike, sing, and have fun.

Ally Love classes are my go-to. I’ve been able to finally sit in some live classes, but I have not done a lot of live classes. I’ve had the bike since probably 2018 or 2019. I’ve probably taken more live classes in the past few weeks that I’ve taken. All at least in 2023. Everybody is different in what drives us and right now, that’s what gets me on the bike.

Leaderboard Name

What is your leaderboard name?

It’s ZebraGirlRuns.

Why ZebraGirl?

Five or so years ago, I ran with a group of runners and we were the Hurt. Our logo was the zebra. When I was looking for an Instagram handle, I chose zebras and I like zebras. Even the blanket is zebra. I’ve always had zebra stuff or cheetah stuff. It fits me.

That makes a lot of sense. I didn’t know if you ran like a zebra. I wasn’t sure.

I’m not even sure if zebras run. I’m sure they must.

They ran fast, I guess.

Are they known for it? I don’t know.

I don’t know a lot about zebras. I know they’re fascinating to look at because they look like a horse but not and it’s weird in a good way but I don’t know. The only time I’ve ever gotten to see them is at the zoo or that one time we went to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

That’s a perfect place to see them.

Growing up, I was a big fan of their gum.

Favorite Instructor

I forgot about zebra gum. You took me back to the ‘90s, Tom. I forgot about that. What about your favorite instructor? Do you have one? I know for the bike it’s Ally Love, but do you have an overall for each kind of class that you do or is it just Ally in general?

I love Ally on the bike. I’m taking a ton of strength classes. I probably take more strength classes than anything else. It all depends on the mood and what I want. I like Ben quite a bit. He’s always a safe go-to. I did a couple of his classes. I love Matty and Rebecca. Sometimes, you take a class with somebody and they’ll surprise you that day. It’s what you need, but I love their core classes. That’s probably my go-to. I take tons of their core classes. In some weeks, I’ll say that I’m only going to do Rebecca’s classes. The next week, I might only do Matty’s classes or I’ll try to take every Olivia class that she’s done for the core. I like a variety of them, but those are my go-to.

That’s a very wide net that you’re encompassing. I like that.

I love all things Peloton and that’s why I can go from the bike to the treadmill to these bootcamps to the strength classes. I do a variety every week.

Advice

Do you have any advice for people just now entering the world of Peloton?

Try it all out because you don’t know what you’re going to like. One of my kids was doing one of the strength classes with Jermaine and I had never taken a Jermaine class. The music appealed to him and I did the class with them. I was like, “What a great class.” It was a very well-organized class. I loved the instruction. I hadn’t taken a class with Jermaine yet. It’s a matter of trying everything and you’ll figure out what you like.

That’s good advice.

Thank you so much for joining us. Before we let you go, let everybody know or remind them where they can find you in all the places, assuming you would like to be found.

@ZebraGirlRuns on Instagram.

That’s easy.

Also my leaderboard.

Thank you so much for doing this. We appreciate it.

Thank you.

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I guess that brings this episode to a close. Until next time, where can people find you?

People can find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/crystaldokeefe. They can also find me on all the socials and the Peloton leaderboard and running in circles out in the neighborhood @ClipOutCrystal.

Please don’t actually find her in our neighborhood.

That would be creepy.

We love you guys but that would be a little weird. You can find me on Twitter at @RogerQBert or on Facebook at Facebook.com/tomokeefe. You can find the show online at Facebook.com/TheClipOut. While you’re there, like the page and join the group. Don’t forget our Patreon, where for $5 a month, you get all sorts of bonus content. We’d like you extra and you get ad-free episodes of all the things. We will see you over there hopefully momentarily. Until next time, keep pedaling, and running, and rowing.

Bye.

 

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