3 Ways to Make 2011 Your Best Year Ever

This is a guest post by Jason Fitzgerald.

Jason Fitzger­ald (or Fitz) is the founder of Strength Run­ning, a 2:44 marathoner, and online run­ning coach. He loves spend­ing time on the trails, plot­ting his next train­ing cycle, strong cof­fee, and cycling. Strength Run­ning unleashes Fitz’s pas­sion for help­ing run­ners achieve their best and pre­vent run­ning injuries. You can fol­low Fitz on Twit­ter at @JasonFitz1.

Each new year is a new oppor­tu­nity to eval­u­ate what worked last year and what you can improve. This is true for every­thing: your fam­ily life, job, and of course, your running.

Run­ners often go through the motions day after day, month after month, with­out tak­ing a step back and look­ing at their train­ing and plan­ning for the future. Doing so is sur­pris­ingly sim­ple and can pro­foundly improve your running.

This exer­cise should take you about a half hour and leave you feel­ing inspired and ready to take over the world. Are you ready?

First, get your train­ing log or open up your online jour­nal. If you don’t have one (shame on you!), this will be trick­ier, but it can still be done. Use an esti­mate or guess based on the races you did last year.

We’re going to look at three impor­tant vari­ables to improve this year.

1. Vol­ume: How much you run impacts your fit­ness level and how fast you can race. Add up how much you ran in each month last year. Your goal is to increase each month by about 10–15% on aver­age. You should almost always be striv­ing to run a lit­tle bit more than you have in the past. It’s the most sure-​​fire way of get­ting faster for new and inter­me­di­ate runners.

   You can focus on run­ning a more con­sis­tent long run, adding a day of run­ning to your weekly plan, or adding an extra mile or two to a few runs every week. What­ever option you choose, make sure you increase mileage grad­u­ally and include a day of com­plete rest or a short, easy run every week.

2. Work­outs: How many work­outs do you run per week? Work­outs are more struc­tured train­ing ses­sions that include faster run­ning in addi­tion to stan­dard runs. You should aim for 1–2 per week — few run­ners need more. Focus on long-​​term aer­o­bic devel­op­ment with long runs, tempo work­outs, and fartleks. You’ll get the most reward for your hard effort with these types of workouts.

   Tough inter­val work­outs on the track should be infre­quent and saved for pre-​​race sharp­en­ing peri­ods. They can get you in top shape quickly, but are just icing on the cake. They also increase your risk of injury because of their intensity.

3. Races: It’s a new year — now is the time to train for a new race! Make your marathon debut, try an off­beat dis­tance like 8k or 10 miles, or get crazy and do a Muddy Buddy or other adven­ture race. If you don’t race that often, it’s time to get out there and test your fit­ness. Run­ning for fun and health is fun, but rac­ing is incred­i­bly exciting.

   A lot of run­ners actu­ally race too fre­quently. If the dis­tance is 10k or less, you can do 1–2 races every month. Oth­er­wise, focus on high-​​quality train­ing and get­ting in the best shape pos­si­ble before your goal race. Your results and new per­sonal bests will thank you!

   If you’re attempt­ing a new race you should look for a train­ing plan that will help you reach your goals. It’s easy to have a goal — the tough part is putting a good plan into action that will help you succeed.

Let’s make 2011 the year of mile­stones — more run­ning, bet­ter run­ning, new races, and faster per­sonal bests! Take some time from your day and reflect and what you did last year. How can you improve your train­ing? What worked for you?

Even thirty min­utes of plan­ning time can change your entire year — mak­ing you faster, more pro­duc­tive with your train­ing time, and hap­pier with your run­ning. Ready to get started?

2 Comments

• 
  Fitz January 5, 2011 at 12:10 pm

  Thanks for the oppor­tu­nity to post here Evhen!

  If any­body has ques­tions, let me know in the com­ments and I’ll reply. Cheers!
  • 
    Evhen January 5, 2011 at 2:39 pm

    My plea­sure! I’m hon­ored to be able to fea­ture your con­tent, and highly rec­om­mend that all read­ers check out http://​strength​run​ning​.com