How to train this winter to return to racing in 2021.

Practice balance, balance is crucial to running healthy.

It has finally arrived, the time we have all been anticipating for most of last year is here. Welcome to 2021 !

I’d like to believe we all believe this year will be better than last year. A year ago I was recovering from abdominal surgery and not able to run until mid-February. I remember looking forward to returning to running and most of all returning to racing. I was determined to make 2020 my best racing year ever.

So I find it very strange that here it is a year later and I have the same aspirations for my running year ahead.The difference this year is that nobody really knows when racing will return to a more normal state. Some agree with me and believe there will be some level of racing as early as the end of April and as the year progresses the likelihood of races returning increases.

As of now the Boston Marathon, normally the third week in April, is non-committal about their already delayed race day this fall. Another very popular race here in Michigan, the Bayshore Marathon, Half Marathon, and 10K, scheduled for the end of May just announced their race will be totally virtual this year! While these notices are disturbing to runners, runners need to understand the infrastructure behind planning any race event especially very large and mega races. For this reason, I believe the races that do return to a more normal schedule will be the smaller, shorter (i.e. 5K), and locally focused events.

Stay tuned and until then what should a runner do? Well, the simple answer is to continue to run. Prepare to race. But how to prepare and what to prepare for? Difficult questions to answer, what you can do as a runner are the following points:

Build a solid running base. Take advantage of this time to slowly but surely build up your weekly mileage base. Increase your weekly long run, or add another run to your week. A common mistake during normal times is that runners often attempt to fast track their training and fail to build a solid base. Building a solid base involves increasing your total miles during the next few months.
Vary your runs, add intense training runs on a periodic basis. Running more and more miles as you building your base without including some level of intense training such as hill reps, or speed intervals will only assure that you are able to run the distance you have achieved in your training. To be ready to race, you will need to build your anaerobic capacity too.
Build strength and flexibility. During normal times runners feel a need to log their miles and typically ignore any attempt to do anything else to improve their running performance whether or not they are aiming for a race. Most strength training can be done without fancy equipment or weights. Runners also need to take time to focus on their flexibility, this is especially true for older runners too! Running many miles after miles will ultimately result in stiff areas of a runner’s body where the runner really needs to be flexible. Think hips, core, yoga, and more.

Include these three areas of focus between now and your next race which hopefully be here before we know it and when it does arrive we all will be ready to run!

Thanks for viewing my post and continue to “Run Happy”.

Coach Lee

PS: I look forward to your comments and thoughts on this post, don’t be shy.

email: therunningarchitect@gmail.com