Running Goals for 2020

While my New Year’s Resolution isn’t specifically running related this year, I do have running goals for 2020.

I’d like to run 500 miles this year (I made it in 2018, missed it in 2019) and I want to hit the starting line of the Maine Half Marathon in October feeling prepared. Goal one will certainly feed into goal two, while also making sure I have to run consistently throughout the year. Consistent running, even if it’s 5-10 miles a week in the winter and 15-20 in the summer, is better than going from 0 to 25 when June hits. And it makes me feel better and enjoy life more all year!

I’m also planning to complete both Tour de Zwift running and cycling this year. Tour de Zwift is a 7 event series this year from January 12th through February 16th. Greg and I did the cycling Tour de Zwift last year together and it was ludicrously fun. We had evening Zwift dates biking 20 miles after the kids were in bed, and Saturday mornings where we’d drink coffee on the bike while the kids kept popping in and out to check out our progress and watch us cycle through the virtual world. I’m looking forward to doing both the run and the ride this year. Mileage and elevation stats for each event aren’t available yet, but that’s half the fun.

Greg got us both Zwift RunPods so we can do the Tour de Zwift run. The little bluetooth device feeds onto your shoelaces and enables you to use any treadmill out there to run in Zwift’s virtual world.

I have to say, I’m shockingly loving it. Treadmill runs can be a touch… boring. Not that I would EVER call it the dreadmill.

The visual component of the Zwift world combined with the big display of heart-rate zone data makes the treadmill more engaging. And I haven’t even joined an event or race yet!

Yesterday I ran 3.1 miles using my heart-rate to create intervals based on effort. I would run 5 minutes in the orange heart-rate zone, then kick it up for one minute in red, then recover down to green and repeat.

New Year’s Resolution update: one thing that bugs me is sitting in carline at school pick-up. In order to get a spot where you’re not blocking parked cars, you have to arrive like 20 minutes before school gets out. Alternately you can come after school lets out and try to get into the back of the line and be one of the last people to pick up your kid, which is what the smart parents and guardians do, but let’s face it… I’m not that smart.

I am smart enough to reach out to my friends and carpool, though. Now I have two days a week where I pick up extra kids, and two days a week when my kids will be dropped off at my house and I skip the carline entirely. This probably saves me a minimum of 45 minutes and realistically closer to an hour a week.

What could you do with an extra hour in your week? That’s at least a 3 mile run, stretch and shower.

And it’s saving my neighbors time, too.

I hope you have great running goals for 2020 and that you can find your own creative solutions to reduce life’s little annoyances.

Some things I ate this week – because, Veganuary!