Many of us hope to keep our training mileage at our standard levels through the holiday season. However, there are many good reasons why doing so can be challenging. There are a few ways to work around it, physically and mentally.
1. Reasonable expectations. If you’re travelling or have a busier social schedule and think that reaching your normal mileage will be difficult, adjust your weekly expectations. For example, if you normally run 25 miles over 6 days, consider aiming for 20, either through shorter daily runs or running on 4 or 5 days.
2. Related to #1, fewer miles are better than no miles. This is true for any given day or week. Even if you don’t run for a long enough time/distance to improve or maintain fitness, any amount helps keep the training routine going. It’s far more encouraging to get to early January and see a bunch of short runs than a long stretch of goose eggs on the calendar.
3. If you’re adamant about keeping mileage at your normal training level but are concerned about holiday interruptions, consider signing up for a race that occurs in late December/early January. There are holiday themed ones out there and if you have a race on the horizon, that is good motivation to keep the training going.
The holidays are meant to be a time that you enjoy, so whatever you decide on with a routine, make sure you’re likely to enjoy it and that it fits in a way that doesn’t overly stress you out.