by GRP Trail Runner Sophia Etienne

As the year draws to a close, it's a natural moment to pause and reflect on the months that have passed. Even if your training season doesn’t end with the calendar year, the holiday season often offers a brief respite - a chance to step back, assess what you've achieved, and look ahead to what’s next. For me, it’s a time to review the past season, set my big goals for the upcoming year, and let go of any lingering thoughts or concerns from races or events that are now behind me. 

With the winter solstice marking the longest night and the gradual return of daylight, this season embodies themes of reflection, release, and renewal. It’s the perfect opportunity to embrace new challenges and set your sights on what lies ahead in 2025. Below, I’m sharing a glimpse of my own reflections, along with some guiding questions to inspire your own training journey. 

2024 Training Reflections: Spring to Winter 

This was my first year with GRP and my first year in my new home of Vermont. My season began with the Boston Marathon, where my goal was to feel strong and shave some time off my previous marathon time. Training for a road marathon on the snowy, gravel roads of rural Vermont may have been some foreshadowing for how the rest of my training season would unfold. 

I accomplished my goals for Boston, finishing with a new 6-minute personal record and without blowing up (too much). This was only my second marathon, so I’m looking forward to refining my marathon training and setting new goals for the future. In the two months following Boston, I battled IT band and hamstring issues, which sidelined me from my other planned spring races. 

When I finally began training regularly again in June, I fell into the all-too-common folly of doing too much too soon and felt that my training wasn’t translating into results. As a result, a summer of racing every other week became a bit of a slog. I opted for a wide variety of distances and registered well in advance, intending to find the racing I enjoyed the most. In hindsight, I stacked too many races into a short time. Fall brought more fitness after a summer of training, and that translated into much better racing experiences, particularly in the trail marathon distance. I learned a lot about how my body responds to training, and I now know how to better plan for that when setting my race schedule in the future. 

Reflection and Intention Setting  

This exercise is intended to help you take stock of your season and hopefully gain perspective for your future training planning. Here are some guiding questions to help you reflect on your own year:

1) In what ways did you intentionally push yourself outside of your comfort zone this season? 
2) Where did you feel most successful in your training or racing? Where did you feel the most challenged? 
3) How can you use what you know to move forward and improve? 
4) Who in your sport sphere has had a positive impact on you this year? What impact have they had? 
5) What were your favorite moments this year in training and outside of it?

The Takeaway  

Whether this year was full of wins or marked by significant setbacks, you've made progress - both as an athlete and as a person. We can all strive to be grateful for small victories and the everyday progress we make in all areas of our lives, not just in sport. Let this exercise serve as a reminder to connect with a sense of gratitude, use challenges to inform your future decisions, and stay focused on your personal motivations for pursuing your sport. As my teammate Jess mentioned in her article on winter training motivation, it’s always a great idea to reconnect with your “why” behind your training: “Understanding your motivations and grounding yourself in your personal ‘why’ can sharpen your mental game and serve as a tool to stay driven during training.” 

I hope you all had fun in your training this year, and I wish you the best of luck as we head into 2025! Keep up the great work.