As the year is nearing its end, many runners are already looking ahead to new goals. Whether it’s a first 5K or a fast marathon, we see all kinds of ambitions emerge. But to truly make progress, looking back is just as important.

• How did you perform this past year?

• What extra-sportive events impacted your daily life?

• What lessons can you take from those experiences?

These insights are the key to success in 2024. That’s why I’ve outlined the most important performance parameters, so you can evaluate and prepare for your next steps.

1. Your Starting Fitness

In a high-impact sport like running, a solid base fitness is an absolute must. Where were you at the beginning of your training journey? Did you start with the right level of fitness? Often, we see enthusiasm leading to neglecting this crucial aspect. Sounds familiar?

Here’s an example: today (December 9), our helpdesk received two messages from runners planning for spring marathons, with current weekly volumes of just 15km and 25km. The 15km volume resulted from shin splints—a typical overuse injury.
The time required to build from such low weekly volumes to marathon readiness by April is simply too short, especially considering their injury history.

2. Your Goal

This is closely tied to the previous parameter: are you setting realistic goals? This includes both the distance and your target pace.

For longer distances, patience is key. Here are my basic requirements for marathon preparation:

• Running several half marathons is, in my opinion, a prerequisite before training for a full marathon.

• Maintaining a weekly volume of 35–40km throughout the year is a solid benchmark to start marathon prep.

• Have you been training consistently for at least two years without significant injuries? If so, you’re good to go.

When it comes to pace, set realistic goals based on your age, performance level, and running experience. The higher these factors, the less progress you can expect (you’re probably familiar with the law of diminishing returns). Our predictions, based on sufficient recent training data, can provide valuable guidance.

3. The Training Plan

Trust in a plan that works—preferably a Trenara plan, of course. If your body responds well to training stimuli and progressive overload, there’s no need to switch plans every year.

How can you recognize a good training plan?

• Written by a certified running coach (e.g., via the Track & Field federation), ensuring theoretical and practical expertise.

• Adheres to training principles: overload, recovery, and the proper distribution of intensity over time.

• Personalized: too many generic plans fail to account for starting fitness or performance level.

• Adaptive: incorporates analysis and application of your training data.

• Provides feedback: a good plan supports both your physical and mental development.

With Trenara, you gain access to fully personalized and adaptive training plans tailored to your data and needs. If your performance level improves, my plans grow with you.

4. Adaptation

Training is just one part of the equation. Every session aims to bring about physiological changes. Whether that happens depends on you as an individual. Adaptation is a balance between rest and training. Unfortunately, we often focus on more and better/harder training, while neglecting rest.

The two main factors in recovery are sleep and nutrition, followed by compression. Other recovery methods are, depending on timing, either marginally effective or even counterproductive. For instance, while ice baths are hyped, they’re often unsuitable during training periods (but useful during competition phases) as they can inhibit adaptation.

Remember: more training can lead to negative adaptations, which isn’t efficient. Do you consciously focus on recovery after training or training cycles?

5. Life Circumstances

I assume you’re not a professional athlete. Chances are, running is your passion and hobby, not your job. This means we, as amateurs, have multiple responsibilities to juggle. Running is a great escape from daily stress, but too much stress is counterproductive when aiming for performance.

This ties back to the previous points: experiencing extra stress? Then you need to adjust your training load accordingly. 

6. Race-Day Conditions

For optimal race day performance, tapering and carb-loading are essential. You pick your favorite shoes, wear the right gear, and...
Even with perfect preparation, race-day factors can still impact your performance. Analyze elements like pacers, start zones, and weather conditions beforehand, but stay flexible with your expectations.

Looking back at my Valencia marathon (December, 1st), the 95% humidity and 14°C at the start were far from ideal for me. My body doesn’t cope well in those conditions.
Understanding this makes it easier to accept a certain performance. Additionally, I can work on mitigating these factors in the future by incorporating treadmill runs in warmer conditions into my training.

Conclusion

There you go! By evaluating these performance parameters, you’ll know where to adjust and improve as you work towards your next running goal—together with Trenara! Being mindful of your body and its limits is something I wholeheartedly recommend.

• Honestly assess your starting fitness.

• Set realistic goals based on your training history.

• Trust in a personalized, adaptive training plan.

• Maintain balance between training, rest, and external stressors.