Hi All, we took a week off from the newsletter last week for Christmas, but we are back with a New Years Day edition and wish you all a very happy 2026 and thanks for being here. On a personal note this is my first day officially taking over things at Running Explained, so I am nervous and excited to grow something amazing and also continue all the wonderful things Elisabeth has built.  More to come on all of that as we enter the new year and I will continue to work on growing this newsletter into something amazing for the running community!  Let's get into it.

 

-Nick K

As we approach the new year, one of the loudest themes we hear is the idea that we either succeeded or failed based on what we accomplished within a single calendar year.

 

We treat January 1st like a finish line and a fresh start all at once. But our goals, especially in endurance sports, don’t follow calendar rules.

 

Fitness doesn’t reset in January.
Growth doesn’t suddenly accelerate because the year changed.
Confidence isn’t built on a 12-month timeline.

 

A new year isn’t about fixing what went wrong, proving something, or “starting over the right way.” It’s simply another day with a different number attached to it.

 

When we measure our lives one calendar year at a time, we compress long-term progress into an artificial window. And when change doesn’t happen fast enough, we label the year a failure, even when real progress was quietly happening all along.

 

Endurance training teaches us this lesson over and over.

No meaningful fitness is built between January and December alone. Progress comes from consistency across seasons, setbacks, and multiple training cycles, not from a single “perfect” year.

 

Life works the same way.

When you stop forcing growth into a 12-month box, the pressure eases. You feel less behind. You trust the process more. And you start noticing progress that doesn’t show up neatly on a calendar.

 

So don’t live your life one calendar year at a time.

Your growth isn’t bound by those timelines. You are moving forward in your own way, even when it doesn’t feel obvious. Every year adds to the foundation and none of it is wasted just because the calendar turns.

 

-Nick K Baltimore, MD

What’s one simple thing you can add to your training in January that delivers a lot of benefit without piling on fatigue?

 

Long runs often live at two extremes. For many runners, they’re always done strictly in Zone 2. For others, they include structured pace work or speed sometimes. What’s often missing is a steady, moderate effort somewhere in between.

 

This isn’t marathon pace or half marathon pace. It’s simply a pace that’s slightly faster than your normal easy run, but still controlled and sustainable. You’re not pushing race-specific intensity, you’re just asking your body to work a little more.

You don’t want to do this every single long run. But there’s a lot to gain, both physically and mentally, from occasionally operating in this “in-between” zone.

 

Long runs are always a workout in my book. Even when there’s no formal pace prescribed, they should feel more purposeful than a recovery or easy run. Adding moderate effort helps you get more comfortable sustaining effort over longer durations without significantly increasing fatigue.

 

Heart rate should stay under control. You should still be able to talk in short phrases or sentences. If you’re gasping for air or struggling to speak, you’ve gone too far.

 

Think of this pace as comfortably focused, not easy, not hard.

 

Try incorporating this into a few long runs where you don’t already have structured speed work. This zone gets a lot of criticism, but when used intentionally, especially in the offseason or early in a training block, it can be a valuable tool before cumulative fatigue really builds.

 

-Nick K Baltimore, MD

What question do you want the Running Explained team to answer in next week's newsletter mailbag? You tell us! Is there another question you'd like us to answer in a future issue? Send us a note!

 

— JoJo

You asked we answered and today's question you want to know about is “Am I progressing even if my pace isn’t improving?"

 

This is a question runners ask often, because it might seem the most obvious way to measure progress as an athlete is pace. But many runners end up looking at the wrong data or miss the bigger picture entirely.

 

Let’s start with the most common mistake: using easy pace as a measure of fitness.

 

Easy pace is never a good indicator of improvement as an endurance athlete, yet it’s usually the first place runners look. I constantly hear athletes say their easy pace feels slower, so they assume they’re out of shape or that their easy pace used to be faster last training block, so they try to “speed up” on easy days.

That thinking is backwards.

 

Easy runs are almost always done on tired legs after workouts, long runs, or even races. Their purpose is not to prove fitness, but to minimize fatigue so you’re ready for your next hard session. The correct easy pace is whatever pace allows you to recover.

 

In fact, as I’ve gotten faster as a runner, my easy pace has actually slowed by 30–60 seconds per mile.

When it comes to workout paces, it’s also easy to assume that if those aren’t getting faster from block to block, you aren’t progressing. But again, context matters.

 

Have you increased your mileage?
Are you training for a different race distance?
Are you doing workouts that expose your weaknesses?

 

Training is designed to challenge you, not showcase your strengths. When training is done correctly, paces can stay the same, or even get slower, as you’re pushed in new ways. For me, that often shows up in long, sustained tempo work.

Progress isn’t always obvious unless you understand why your training looks the way it does.

 

The long answer is this: pace alone is a very incomplete measure of progress. Hyper-focusing on it can actually undermine your confidence by causing you to overlook key pieces of the training puzzle.

 

Trust the process. Do the work. Keep your belief high.

Training paces are just one indicator but not the whole story.

 

-Nick K Baltimore, MD

We hope you like the new look and feel of the newsletter! Is there a section you really enjoyed, or a topic that you'd like us to cover? Send us an email at hello@runningexplained.com and let us know!

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