Well, now that we're all well pas the "hot weather will kill it off" notion it's time to start really adjusting to what life and more specifically running is going to look like this fall, especially in terms of competition. With August around the corner, we're still pretty far from being out of the woods to the point that traditional cross country season is becoming more and more of a pipe dream and any road racing seems just as unlikely.
With racing, not an option, and legitimate PR's impossible, it's time to start thinking about new goals to shoot for. Why? Because just training to train isn't sustainable. Sure it's nice to just train for a bit and no have the pressures that can come with competing, but without something to work toward it's hard to find the motivation to get out there when the time comes to do the more difficult workouts.
Go for Distance
For me, pre labral tear my COVID goal was twofold to set a long-run personal record. It was something I knew would benefit my overall fitness as I was looking to build toward training for the 1500 more this season anyways. It's an easy goal to try to hit on your own because it requires zero assistance from others, just your own mindset, and some gradual training up to it (it's recommended to only increase your long run by 10% per week to avoid injury). Find a good route, grab a friend to run with (6 ft apart plz) or throw on some music, and go the distance.
Road PRs
The second of my COVID goals was to run a 5k PR, which is something I never thought I'd hear coming out of my own mouth. After nearly a year though of essentially hitting what wold be PR's during tempo runs, I thought it was time to give it a go and see what would happen. I'd scoped out a stretch along the Capital Crescent Trail that I thought would do nicely, but then this whole hip thing hit. Road running is an easy way to stay motivated and set up virtual races for yourself with plenty of platforms out there, including mapmyrun to help you find races to join and to create challenges against your running friends.
Set General Fitness Goals
Yes, non-running specific goals are still worthy goals toward your overall health and performance when the time comes to be able to compete again. In fact, too often I think we as runners collectively don't use other types of training enough. Struggling with pull-ups? Still, trying to master a plyometric drill that just hasn't been clicking? Want to add some more cross-training into your training plan? Nows the time where you have time (and plenty of it) to work on those general fitness goals.
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