Colin Donovan

Why is fitness important to you?

Fitness is important to me because I love the physical challenges workouts provide me and being able to see, in real-time, what I’m capable of achieving and enduring.

What moved you to start with e3 Fitness after knowing about it for so long?

After several years of trying out different gyms and doing my own mountain bike training programs I was stuck at the same level of fitness and I was not getting any faster on my bike no matter what I tried. I became very frustrated with my progress and racing results and didn’t know what I could do to make myself faster. I decided to join e3 to make a positive change in my fitness training specifically for mt. bike racing. I knew Justin and several other members that raced and I realized that goal-oriented training could help me get faster along with a nutrition program specifically tailored toward that end and man did it pay off!

What was your biggest “health hurdle” in starting this program?

My biggest health hurdle was my diet and overall nutrition. I was eating what I thought was healthy- all organic, lots of veggies, and fruit but I was eating at the wrong times with the wrong types of food. My e3 nutrition plan was the game-changer. I lost 7% body fat and 14 lbs. once I committed myself to it and I’ve not deviated from it to this day (other than on race days when I reward myself with ice cream and other goodies!). Training myself to eat 5 times a day, not having any carbs after 1 pm, no sugar with my morning coffee, zero junk food of any kind, and learning what type of foods constitute healthy fat from unhealthy fat was challenging at first but the payoff was huge.

How did you keep your consistency during your wife’s cancer diagnosis and treatment, the COVID-shutdown, and your canceled events surrounding your 2020 Goals?

I kept my consistency throughout that entire time because I had to stay mentally and physically strong for my wife and our son. She was in the ICU unit for 9 days, I was working from home and trying to do virtual schooling all at the same time and I was in a bad place with anxiety and depression. I made myself work out 3 times a week even during the toughest moments when I had to drag myself to do it. I also rode my bike when the weather allowed several times a week to keep my sanity and keep some normalcy in my life. At that time none of my race events had been canceled so I was still training for my primary race goal of completing the Leadville 100 MTB Race in under 9 hrs. I am still committed to achieving that goal so now I’m basically training for the 2021 race season and just carrying my fitness level over into next year.

What is your plan to leverage this year of struggle?  Next goals??

My plan to leverage this year’s struggles is to remember that whatever difficulties arise in my life, I’m more than capable to surmount them. I’ve proven that to myself throughout my life. I try to remember that there is always something to be grateful for no matter what BS life throws my way and to remember those things no matter how difficult things seem to be at the moment. My goals for 2021 are to ride the Telluride 100 MTB race in under 9 hrs., ride the Bailey Hundito 50, Silver Rush 50 and the Firecracker 50 MTB races and hopefully podium one of them if not all of them. I also have several other MTB races on my calendar and I also want to do a road bike race to see how I stack up against the roadies.