The Training Journal is my ongoing running and movement log – part reflection, part recap, and part reality check.
Each entry is structured like a magazine issue: the volume represents the year and the issue represents the month. So this post – Volume 2025, Issue 12 – is my December 2025 training story. Not just the miles I ran or the workouts I did, but how the month actually felt: the wins, the struggles, the adjustments, and the lessons that don’t show up on a training plan.
December Reflections, Burnout Lessons, and a Softer Way Forward
December always feels like a strange place to land as a runner. It’s the end of the year, the end of a month, the end of a training cycle – or in my case this year, end of wanting to train at all. It’s cold, dark, busy, emotional, and somehow still full of expectations. We’re supposed to be wrapping things up neatly, reflecting wisely, and already planning what’s next… preferably with matching spreadsheets and a shiny new goal.
If I’m being honest, my December training didn’t look like a triumphant finish line moment. It looked like showing up when I could. It looked like adjusting plans (again).
It looked like yoga mats, short runs, and listening – really listening – to what my body and brain were asking for.
This month wasn’t about chasing PRs or proving anything. It was about learning how to adjust without burning the whole training plan down – something I’ve had to relearn more than once in my relationship with running.
December, by the (Very Real) Numbers
I started the month with a lofty goal: earning the December 15K Garmin badge. Naturally, I built a training plan around it. Hello? Red flag – didn’t I just talk about how training plans were burning me out?
That plan started at the end of November, and my first long run of December was five miles that felt like ten. I’d slept four hours, under-ate, waited too long after eating to run, and didn’t hydrate well. Since my runs before that had been going great, I knew this was an outlier, but it rattled me.
My next long run was 6.5 miles on the treadmill. I hate the treadmill. I very un-affectionately refer to it as “Satan’s Sidewalk.” Six and a half miles was the longest run I’d ever done on one, and surprisingly, it was a confidence boost.
The final long run of the month was eight miles the weekend before Christmas. It was solid. I felt good. The 15K felt doable.
Then Christmas happened. Winter in Michigan happened. And my plans unraveled.
From December 27–31, I didn’t do a single minute of intentional exercise. I didn’t feel like running. I didn’t really feel like doing anything. Instead, I reflected, planned for the new year… and then reflected again when I realized the goals I was setting were already starting to feel overwhelming and burnout-adjacent. (You can read more about that realization in last week’s post on my 2026 goals and intentions.)
The Actual Stats
- Intentional movement: 20 of 31 days
- Miles run: 37.3
- Steps: 183,555
- Yoga: 3 hours, 43 minutes
- Garmin badges earned: 9
Notably missing: the December 15K badge and the December Rundown (50 miles). And honestly? That’s okay.
My sleep didn’t improve. If anything, it got worse. I’m still trying to figure out routines that work with my ADHD, as well as whether medication has a place in that equation. That’s another story for another day.
What December Taught Me
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. Burnout will creep back in if you keep doing the same things that brought you there before. Consistency doesn’t always look like intensity. Rest matters, and sometimes you need more than you think you do.
December reminded me that I can be a runner without forcing it to look a certain way, and that training should support my life, not compete with it. My January intentions are simple: run, stretch, rest… in ways that match the season instead of fighting it.
RD on the Run 