May Update on 2026 Fitness Goals

As you know if you follow this blog, I generally give a monthly update on my fitness / Strava goals. I'm sure no one besides myself really cares, but I figure sharing these publicly give me a little extra motivation because of the extra accountability.

Plus, from time to time I'll look at older updates just to see where I was in the past.

In previous years, my goals have been mostly around cycling, but starting this year, I've started running as well.

If you're interested, You can always track these workouts on Strava. 

So far, I'm tracking pretty well to my 2026 Fitness goals.

My 2026 Fitness / Activity Goals are:

1. #MetricCenturyEveryMonth
   As of July 2021, I've cycled at least one Metric Century every month, and this month was no exception (see May Metric Century). This is 58 straight months I've done this. 
   
   
2. #7000MilesIn2026
   This is significantly lower than my #8200MilesIn2025 goal, but I figure with the running, 7,000 miles is still a big cycling number. As of the end of May, I have logged 2,659 miles for the year. While technically this puts me "behind", I am tracking to my plan.
   
   
3. #13EverestsIn2026
   Also significantly lower than the #16EverestsIn2025 because of the added running goals. My goal is to climb 13 x 29,032 = 377,416 feet on the bike. At the end of last month, I've logged 141,254 feet climbed on my bikes. This is almost 4.9 "Everests".
   
   
4. #Run700Miles2026
   700 miles is just under 100km per month. With my Half Marathon (see #5) training, I'm ahead of this pace with just over 71 miles so far this year. I did unfortunately hurt my knee on my last long run. Hopefully I'm able to recover soon, or this goal will start to be difficult to hit.
   
   
5. Run a Half Marathon
   CHECK ✅
   I finished my Runna Half Marathon plan and completed the Platte River Half Marathon in mid-May. I even ran the Half Marathon faster than planned and blew away my 2:20 goal.
   
   
6. VO₂ Max > 44 ml/kg/min
   As measured by my Garmin Watch, I started the year as 42 ml/kg/min. Right now, I'm at 44, but Garmin has shown me at 45. In previous months, I mentioned that I've been "bouncing" between 42 and 44. Now I seem to be "bouncing" between 43 and 45. I won't give myself the "Check" on this one until I seem to be above 44 more consistently. 
   
   
7. 15 Stone
   At my heaviest, I was over 260lbs. I've been as low as 214 last year and this month, I got to just over 216lbs. 15 Stone is 210 lbs, which would be lighter than I've been since my early college days. I'm "on track" on this, but it will get more and more difficult. 

My Cycling numbers show I’m behind the straight‑line daily pace for 7,000 miles and 13 Everests, but because my mileage spikes in the warm months, I’m actually right where I should be. This is the time of year that I'll start to approach the "daily tracking lines".

Month		Miles		YTD			Elevation		YTD
January		500		500	-94		28,741		28,741		-3,235
February		454		955	-177		23,250		51,991		-9,015
March		470		1,424	-301		25,481		77,472		-15,588
April		576		2,001	-300		31,463		108,935		-15,150
May		659		2,660	-236		32,319		141,254		-14,880
June		...		...	.		...		...		.
July		...		...	.		...		...		.
August		...		...	.		...		...		.
September		...		...	.		...		...		.
October		...		...	.		...		...		.
November		...		...	.		...		...		.
December		...		...	.		...		...		.

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