3 Strategies for Carving Out Time to Create Content

Happy New Year! 

What are your goals heading into 2026? Are you looking to launch a new coaching program, expand your roster of athletes, or develop your online presence?

No matter what initiatives you’re focused on in the year ahead, committing time to create content that supports them will help you reach your goals. 

Below, I’m sharing three strategies to help you carve out more time for content — because there’s no better time than the new year to start new practices. 

I hope 2026 is an incredible year of growth for your endurance coaching business! 

- Kimberly, founder of Running Lifestyle Media and Content&Cadence

When you own your own coaching business, publishing content — social media posts, blog posts, email newsletters, videos — takes the backseat to everything else that’s required to keep your athletes’ needs met and your business running. It’s easy to deprioritize content marketing since it’s not a necessary daily function or the glue holding your business together. 

But if you’re looking to attract new clients, grow your online presence, or establish new partnerships, investing time in creating content makes all the difference. It helps you get discovered, earn credibility, and stay engaged with your audience. 

Here are three strategies to help you carve out time for your content so it stays a priority: 

1. Develop a Content Calendar: Think of your content calendar almost like a playbook. It’s what you’ll return to over and over to stay focused, and it’s what will guide your content creation and publishing schedule. Spend a few hours developing your content calendar — plan for the next three, six, or even 12 months. 

Perhaps your content calendar includes two blog posts per month, two social posts per week, and one email newsletter per month. Start by plotting out any seasonal content you want to post about, programs you plan to launch, races you’re leading training groups for, events you’re hosting, etc. Determine the content you would like to develop around each. Then, fill in the gaps by brainstorming on other topics you’d like to create content on — maybe specific coaching topics you want to be seen as an expert on or areas you’re looking to grow your business into. 

Taking this time to develop a content calendar ensures you won’t miss promoting important initiatives, helps to establish a regular content cadence, and avoids potentially scrambling for ideas in the moment. 

2. Create Content in Batches: Especially if you’re someone who ends up busier than expected each week, creating content in batches is a great strategy to stay on schedule. Set aside one day per month to write your blog posts and email newsletters, create social media posts, and record videos. That one day may seem like a lot of time to commit, but it will give you content to publish all month long. 

Refer back to your content calendar to make sure you’re creating content strategically, and remember where you save all your materials! (I prefer tracking content in Google Sheets and creating folders in Google Drive to save content to.)

3. Schedule Content in Advance: In addition to creating content in advance, you can also schedule it to publish on specific dates. Most social media and content management platforms have a scheduling option. My recommendation is to schedule content no more than one week ahead of time. This way, what you’re publishing or sending is still top of mind in case there’s a last-minute need to edit or unschedule it.

If you’re looking for more advanced scheduling platforms, I’ve personally used Later, which allows you to schedule and manage content on multiple social media platforms. Chances are, however, the platforms themselves should offer what you’re looking for without an outside investment needed. 

Pro Tip: When creating your content calendar, consider establishing consistency. For example, I generally publish new articles to Running-Lifestyle.com and schedule social media posts on Tuesdays. On Thursdays, I draft email newsletters, which are sent on Fridays. Plan a cadence that works around other priorities in your weekly schedule. Establishing this type of consistency helps your content creation and publishing become more like a habit rather than an unexpected inconvenience. 

Looking for more content marketing development guidance?
Book a Content&Cadence Consulting project!

Write a blog post or email newsletter on one of the topics below, record a short reel with your reactions to the content, or simply reshare something you find interesting with your audience of endurance athletes! 

Four reasons that may help your athletes get motivated in January, even if they’re not in a training cycle just yet. (Canadian Running Magazine)  

Researchers looked at how an athlete’s pre-race mood affects their chances of getting sick post-race and found a clear pattern. (Canadian Running Magazine) 

Penn State and Florida State researchers found a scientific reason behind why it’s common among runners to get lightheaded when standing up. It’s inner ear-related, not heart-related. (Outside)

Here’s some research (and anecdotes) on how time off from running — one week, two to three weeks, one month, more — affects our fitness. (RUN)

According to a small study out of Spain, cycling is the cross-training exercise that benefits runners most. (The Independent)

How the Copenhagen plank not only strengthens adductors and increases stability, but can also test whether a runner is at risk for injury. (Canadian Running Magazine)

Want more content to share with your endurance athletes?
Be sure to subscribe to Running Lifestyle on Substack.