When your daily run becomes
a chase toward a bigger, broader goal—a full-on
pursuit for something more than checking off a workout
or hitting a weekly total—suddenly every mile has
intention, and every step gets you closer to reaching
your full potential. You’re not just running. You’re
running with purpose. Ready to start? Choose from these
six expert-backed new year goal plans, and you can become
the runner you’ve always wanted to be—faster,
stronger, tougher, more confident—and all in 30
days. Commit to a goal now, and you’ll reap the
rewards all year. You’ve got nothing to lose when
you set a smart and worthwhile new year goal—and
everything to gain.
New Year’s Goal: Get
Faster
If you’ve always wanted
to PR a half marathon or shave seconds off your mile time
but dreaded the speedwork you knew it would take to get
there, fear not. Stephanie Schappert, professional runner
on the New Jersey New York Track Club, says it only takes
a little bit of oomph to get big results, no matter what
distance you’re running. If you’re currently
training four to five days a week, Schappert recommends
incorporating drills like strides, hill repeats, and track
workouts into just one or two weekly runs. Go ahead and
use a timer or running watch if you want to know your
exact speed, but her advice on pacing is simple: “Try
to run faster than you usually do.”
New Year’s
Goal: Grow Your Grit
What separates the runners
who train when they don’t feel like it from those
who find excuses? The same thing that drives a racer to
cross the finish line long after he or she has hit the
wall: grit—a combination of perseverance, resilience,
and determination. And according to Jonathan Fader, Ph.D.,
sports psychologist and author of Life as Sport, it isn’t
an innate quality that some athletes have and others don’t.
With a little mental conditioning and consistent practice,
anyone can gain guts.
New Year’s Goal: Score
a Stronger Core
How well and easy you run
is directly related to your core, explains Rachel Cosgrove,
certified strength and conditioning coach and owner of
Results Fitness in New Hall, California. “If our
core isn’t strong, we use more energy because we’re
not able to stabilize our body while we take that next
step,” she says. That energy drain can slow you
down and make training feel harder. And because a weak
core can force unnatural movement compensations, it may
also be the cause of recurring injuries.
New Year’s Goal: Grow
Your Endurance
Most runners don’t
entirely understand the concept of endurance, says Chris
Hinshaw, endurance coach and founder of AerobicCapacity.com.
Athletes of all levels come to him wondering why they
haven’t improved their 5K time or why they are still
struggling through the last couple miles of a half marathon,
despite increasing their mileage. We all have an entire
spectrum of muscle fibers available for work, from the
fastest of the fast-twitch fibers to the slowest of the
slow, Hinshaw explains. Runners, he says, have a tendency
to train in one “gear.” Either they don’t
like distance running, so they stick to short sprints,
or they’re more comfortable at a steady pace, so
they never run fast. As a result, one type of muscle fiber
often remains untrained and passive. No matter your preferred
distance, you need to have both types available for firing,
he says. To gain endurance, Hinshaw’s plan will
help you train every one of your available speeds, from
breakneck-fast to slow and steady.
New Year’s Goal: Run
in the Cold
Winter training runs build
the foundation for summer PRs. But that also means you’re
bound to find yourself facing a few frigid miles. While
some runners’ motivation understandably dips with
the thermostat, others will tell you they simply cannot
train in cold temperatures. That’s avoiding opportunity,
according to Brian Mackenzie, founder of Shift, an online
programming and coaching platform for athletes. “It’s
just an adverse sympathetic reaction,” Mackenzie
says of the typical cold-weather freak-out marked by a
racing heart, short breaths, and clenched muscles. If
you’re mentally and physically unprepared for the
cold, your nervous system will tell you to flee for more
comfortable conditions. (edited section) Get seme proper
clothing tips and specific advice from running friends
and your neighbourhood running stores. Dress appropriately
and stay close to safe places until you are comfortable
with your new cold environment. You just may learn to
love running in the cold.
New Year’s Goal: Master
Mindfulness
“Mindfulness is the
quality of being in the present moment, free from distraction,”
explains Andy Puddicombe, cofounder of Headspace and the
voice of the app’s guided-meditation tracks. But
between playlists, audiobooks, podcasts, and our own churning
brains, runners have essentially mastered the art of distraction.
Train in mindfulness, though, and you’ll automatically
put yourself ahead of the pack. Puddicombe often sees
this advantage among elite athletes. “The difference
on race day is their mind-set,” he says. “Some
people might even be better than others, but they just
don’t bring the right mind-set on that day, so they
don’t perform as well.”
Outside of competition, mindfulness affords
runners increased body awareness, which encourages better
posture and technique. Postrun, it can even enhance recovery,
lead to better sleep, or keep your head in the game when
you’re sidelined with an injury.
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