Yesterday I watched a Q&A session with England Athletics Regional Endurance Lead Coach, Tom Craggs. Much of the discussion was not surprisingly about maintaining motivation in these difficult times. Here I precis Tom's main points:
Much of our training is usually focused on upcoming races, so change your focus to "process goals", e.g. small goals such as number of repetitions at a certain pace, could you do two more, or add another set of reverse lunges as part of strength training?
Focus on conditioning activities, that can be done at home, e.g. on-line gym sessions (see my "Stay Strong" post).
After a winter of intense, higher mileage training, reduce the volume by use of fartlek, “more relaxed sessions”.
Use WhatsApp group to share your running
Enter virtual races, or go after running Strava segments' PB's
Missing the intensity of the Tuesday evening intervals - perhaps that is not a bad thing as sometimes runners leave nothing in the tank for tomorrow.
If you do want that intensity consider what is it that drives your running and makes you willing to go into the "hurt zone"
Lastly, take the opportunity of having time at home to review your running over the last two years : what has worked well, what has not? I have asked Tom to share his athletes' spreadsheet to help in this. If you want a copy let me know