Monday, January 2, 2017

Goal Setting

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had fun and relaxing holiday.  It's a stat holiday here in Canada so things aren't quite back to normal yet.  I had a very low key New Year's Eve and started 2017 with a 17km run.  That's been my longest run in a while.  It was a perfect day to be outside.  My legs felt tired around the 13km mark but that's probably because I did a pretty hard bike ride the day before.  I can slowly feel my fitness coming back.  Finally!

Yesterday my social media feed was filled with posts about 2017 goals and I find it so inspiring to see what people are hoping to achieve in the upcoming year.  I always encourage people to dream big.  I feel that pretty much anything is possible IF you have a plan and, most importantly you allow yourself the time to reach it.  Wanting to run a marathon in 8 weeks when you've never run more than 10km might be possible for a very small segment of the population but for most people, it will result in frustration and potential injury.


So how do you go about achieving your BIG goals, or any goal for that matter?  Obviously that starts with a solid game plan.  But it also requires some SMART goal setting.  And by SMART I mean:

S = specific
M = measurable
A = attainable
R = realistic
T = time sensitive

As athletes we don't have a problem being specific with our goals.  Pick a race, any race.  That's the specific goal.  The measurable part is the distance you're going to cover.  The ART of a successful goal boils down to are you giving yourself enough time to realistically attain your goal (attainable, realistic, time sensitive = ART).

Setting a BIG goal can be daunting.  It's also very exciting.  That's why we do it.  If it's a big goal, then allow yourself the time to achieve it.  Set smaller goals along the way to keep yourself on track and to keep you motivated if required.  Not allowing yourself the time to get where you want to go usually results in frustration and disappointment.

Here's to a successful year of being smart and crushing goals!

Coach PK




No comments: