Hi, this is Debbie Boyles, coach at Mojo for Running with podcast number 87, goals, resolutions, and the Mojo 2016 Race Challenge.

As we enter 2016, as usual, I've heard lots of discussion of setting goals, of challenges, of making plans,

of what people will do in the next year in their running lives, how many races they'll do,

what weekends.

It's an exciting time.

As you make these plans, I want you to consider this.

It's best for you if you change up your training from season to season

and year to year. Last night, a friend told me she had backed off of her running for the last

couple of months. I'm pretty sure she thought I'd think that was a bad idea. But on the contrary,

I thought it was a good idea. She's a hard worker, and she'd been training

consistently for two or three years. I think most people, no, all people, need to take a

breakdown then. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean to not run at all, but as long as you

continue with some running, say 10 to 20 miles per week, then it's not that hard to get back into racing shape when the time comes if you take some time off for a while.

Seriously, as long as you're doing something to stay fit, if you switch it up and do something entirely different for a few months, in the long run, when you return to running,

you'll probably actually experience more success. Let's say you dial it back from, say,

let's say you were doing an average of 30 miles a week to 10, but you replace the running with

cycling. I think that's a great idea. Now, it would mean that you might not perform

as well in races. Well, you definitely wouldn't, of course. But in the end, assuming you up your

mileage again after a few weeks or months, enough time to get back and give it enough time to get back

into running fitness before your next goal race,

then I think once you are in running shape again, you might very well experience greater success

and you certainly would be less likely to experience injury because you gave your running muscles

...