March Update on 2026 Fitness Goals

As you know if you follow this blog, I generally give a monthly update on fitness / Strava goals. I guess we can say that it is another level of accountability to share these publicly.

Plus, I from time to time I'll look at older updates just to see where I was way-back-when.

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

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

As I mentioned in Random Things, a vacation slowed me down in March, but even so, 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 March Metric Century). This is 56 straight months I've done this. 
   
   
2. #7000MilesIn2026
   This is significantly lower than my #8200MilesIn2025 goal, but I figure with the running, 7000 miles is still a big cycling number. As of the end of March, I have logged 1,424 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 77,473 feet climbed on my bikes. This is almost 2.8 "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 235 miles so far this year.
   
   
5. Run a Half Marathon
   I'm doing a Runna Half Marathon plan and have signed up for the Platte River Half Marathon in mid-April. I'll give myself extra points to finish under 2:20, but honestly my main goal is simply to finish the whole thing. The plan is having me taper-down for the actual event, but I was able to finish my 13.1 mile Half Marathon Hotspot Long Run with Runna, so I appear to be on track to finish the Platte River Half.
   
   
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. For a few weeks, I've bounced between 42 and 44. Every time I do my "long run", it falls to 42, but as soon as I do a tempo run, it jumps back up to 44. I suspect this bounce will continue until I'm done with the Half Marathon, and can concentrate on targetting more VO₂ Max workouts. 
   
   
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. The vacation really killed momentum of this goal, but I think I'll recover fine in April. 

I know my Cycling numbers look like I'm falling behind the goals, but my "plan" is always more cycling-heavy in the warmer months, so I'm actually right on track.

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		...		...	.		...		...		.
May		...		...	.		...		...		.
June		...		...	.		...		...		.
July		...		...	.		...		...		.
August		...		...	.		...		...		.
September		...		...	.		...		...		.
October		...		...	.		...		...		.
November		...		...	.		...		...		.
December		...		...	.		...		...		.

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