It’s hard to believe that as I write this, it has been over a year since I last toed the line to start a race. 2020 was a year unlike any other. We saw races canceled, stay-at-home orders enacted, and learned to adapt to a new pattern of life. However, 2021 is here and the new year brings new hope! The 2021 spring season is upon us and the excitement is building as the vaccine rollout is giving me the hope that racing will return this year.
My running goal for the year is to get my total year mileage over 2000 this year. While that was my goal last year, the pandemic made that difficult to achieve, as my total came in just shy of 1500. My hope is with 2 marathon training builds and a healthy year, I can easily reach that goal. Breaking down the math, I will need to average around 38 miles per week, or a little over 5 miles per day.
If the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon is a go, I plan to run my hometown race this spring. That will be my second time competing in that race. It will also mark my return to the race that gave me my first marathon finish back in 2018. For the fall season, I plan to hopefully run in the first ever fall version of the Boston Marathon. If Boston is scrapped or the time requirement leave me on the outside, I plan to enter the Indy Monumental Marathon once again in hopes of another PR.
I plan to use the same training plan this spring that I used in my 2019 Indy Monumental Marathon buildup. It will consist of 6 days of running per week, with 2 days of speed work during the week. As I continue to build my endurance base, I plan to reach a weekly maximum volume of 60 miles/week. You can check out a more in-depth look at my training philosophy in this article here.
I’m excited to see how this spring season shakes out. It’s time to put in the work so that I can reap the benefits come May. I hope that you enjoy following me on my journey and Happy New Year!
