We are facing a brand-new year. Twelve clean-slated months ready to be lived. 365 crisp calendar pages waiting to be filled with experiences, memories, and achievements. The time has come not only to have our goals ready but also to set up a plan to realize them.
If you, like most of us procrastinators, are not thoroughly prepared for 2026, please read below to follow a structure and get there before the final countdown of 2025.
âș Reflect on what happened in 2025 — To know where you are going, you must know where you are coming from. Understanding what made the previous year a success, less than that, or even a miserable failure, is the key to making the necessary adjustments. Adjustments will be needed to maintain the same trajectory or to find new paths to reach that elusive road to success. So, take your time to look back, reminisce, identify, understand, and realize before you take any steps towards defining what you want from your running in 2026.
âș Set up your 2026 goals now — Do not procrastinate. Figure out what you want from your running this year. Goals may be time-related (first 5K under 25), distance-related (finally getting to 1000), social (I want to make like-minded friends), health-related (losing those last few pounds), or a combination of everything. Adjustments and detours are expected, but to adjust and recenter, you must have a clear path to your destination.
âș Register for the races — If your goal is performance-related in a specific race, time, or distance, register for a race right now as soon as you are done reading this post. Nothing will get you more focused than having a date with destiny in your calendar. I know of no focusing tool sharper than spending the money on an upcoming race. And if your goal race hasnât opened registration yet, register for another race so you can stay active and focused until the day comes.
âșVenture outside your comfort zone — Running is a sport that, beyond the health and social benefits, can teach us so much about who we are and how the bounds of our limits are far beyond what we thought possible. So, donât get comfy just on what you know. Set up an extravagant short-term goal to keep your training fresh and varied. If you like marathons and halves, push for the fastest 5K you can. If you like the shorter distances, set up a trial date for your fastest mile ever. The options are endless: run an ultra, venture into a trail, force yourself to run slower, etc. Your imagination is the limit.
âș Embrace failure — Failing is part of the process, and eventually, you will fail. You get up, dust off, figure out what happened, reassess, and keep moving forward. If you learned something from it, it is not a failure. And when you donât get what you originally set out for, you get experience, which could be even more valuable than the original goal.
âș Remember you are doing this for fun — Unless your familyâs economic survival depends on your running performance, you are just running because you like it. So, make sure everything you do contributes to the enjoyment and extension of your running journey, and the satisfaction of achieving your goals while keeping yourself injury-free.
My sincere wish for you in 2026, my dear reader, is a year of endless, injury-free miles and PRs in all your distances. May you plan properly to accomplish it all.
Ethel B. is a great runner. This statement has nothing to do with speed or podiums. It has to do with achieving her goals. They range from 5K to 100 miles, including completing the Abbott World Marathon Majors 6-Star circuit.
I started working with Ethel when she was halfway through. I trained her to finish London 2023 within seconds of a PR. Tokyo and Boston 2024, within 6 weeks of each other, would complete the journey. We started focused work around November, but in December, Ethel tripped and broke a toe. Deferring for the 2025 year was not an option since both entries were charity-related, and they did not admit postponement. So, we proceeded with what we had available.
When the podiatrist gave us the OK, around mid-January, we relied on Ethelâs superb fitness to restart the training. The new goal was just to finish. Injury-free. So, there would be no speed work. This was uncharted territory both for Ethel as a runner and for me as a coach. We worked it run by run. Depending on how it went today, we planned what to do tomorrow. If the long run was successful, we started thinking about next week. Sure, there were setbacks, but we worked through them and overcame them.
Valentina L. is an extremely busy woman. A mother, wife, nurse, and student who, on top of it, loves to run. She fits her runs into her daily routine and has no problem running 20 miles during an day off in between 12-hour shifts at the hospital. Simultaneously, she still pursues her higher education goals. How does she juggle all this? I do not know, but she just completed her second marathon.
I met Valentina about 18 months ago when she wanted to become a marathoner. She embraced the training program I wrote for her and completed the 2022 Palm Beach Marathon in 4:19. She finished strong, smiling, and knowing she could eventually run so much better. So, she planned to repeat West Palm Beach for 2023 and also threw in Miami 2024 into the mix. The going got tough, but Valentina was tougher and persevered.
We adjusted her training every two weeks as soon as she got her shift schedule at the hospital. Yet, amid obtaining her masterâs degree a bout with Covid, goals were on a regular basis. She switched to the half in Palm Beach, where she PRâd (1:58), and then continued training for Miami during the final stretch before college graduation. Marathon day was hot, humid, and training was not optimal. Yet, Valentina stuck to the race plan, did not try to do too much, and finished strong, two minutes off her PR, while so many runners limped through the finish line.
As her coach, I canât wait to see what Valentina can do with a complete, full training cycle, now that she has two marathons under her belt. Going sub-4 and obtaining a BQ are worthy goals awaiting her around the corner. Thatâs what you can do when you commit yourself to making it happen.
Grace P. saw her neighbor running around and wanted to be able to, just like her, run without getting tired past 300 yards. Through a chance encounter she learned I was a running coach and started her journey immediately. It didnât take her long to figure out she had the talent and the drive to thrive in this sport.
She started training for a 5K but progressed so fast she skipped to the 10K, finishing her first ever race in 1:00:13. A couple of months later she checked off the half marathon off her list and within two months had completed two more, shaving off one minute per mile off her average pace, setting her PR at 2:05. She kept running and competing in local runs, even getting a few podiums. Now she wanted a marathon.
As the hottest month of July in recorded history dawned in South Florida, Grace started her preparation. It was brutal. Often she hit the streets at 5 AM under 85-degree temperature and 100% humidity. Yet, she persevered, until one day⊠Voila!!! It all kicked in and distances beyond 13.1 became not just possible but a regular occurrence. Setbacks like hitting the wall and bonking became learning opportunities. And then came race day!
It wasnât perfect racing weather in Washington DC. Participants traffic was heavy and uncomfortable during the first 5K. As soon as Grace found herself behind schedule, she comfortably settled into her marathon pace for the following 20 miles. Then fatigue started creeping in and the last mile, with the sun beating on her, was rough, yet she was well prepared and did not walk a single step. The final time was a solid 4:39:07.
Not everyone possesses the hidden talent and drive that Grace demonstrated. Not everyone aspires to become a marathoner. However, everyone has the potential to make the most of their physical capabilities. Just like Grace, it begins with showing up. And the best is yet to come.
Salud C. approached me by late May letting me know she registered to the Chicago Marathon. Two runners she trusts referred her to me, and her goal was to improve the PR set in her first incursion in the 26.2 monster. She ran a solid 3:21 the previous November with no structured training. She and her friend trained for the race based on whatever they felt their bodies needed to become acclimated for the challenge. Her natural talent was obvious.
We started the training focusing on improving her cardiovascular system, which was quite a challenge. She was frustrated about not being able to push hard and could not fathom how running slow now would make her faster come race day. It was frustrating for both athlete and coach. I ask her to please trust the process and to talk to the runners who referred her to me to vouch for my knowledge on the subject. After she decided to trust the process and continue working together, improvement started.
She is such a gifted athlete that fitting all her physical activities and making them part of the plan became an interesting challenge. She likes century bike rides on the weekends, which were accommodated into her aerobic training. She progressed so fast that 18 and 20 milers were done routinely without need for additional recovery. The challenge became to hold her back so she wouldnât peak before the marathon.
