Setting Goals

I'm big into setting goals. The day before every meet, my high school cross country coach had us write down three goals we wanted to accomplish the next day. Some weeks were easier than others, but mine were usually get a medal or run a certain time. I've only been writing this blog for a little over 3 weeks, but I've already talked a lot about my personal fitness goals (see here, here, and here).

Goals are a great motivator. They give direction and purpose to your training. A question I ask myself is: "How will this make me better/stronger/faster?" A big part of that is finding what works (or doesn't work) for you. Through trial and error I have learned that my body doesn't like to run more than 3 days a week. More than that and I reach a point of diminishing returns. (That doesn't mean I sit on my butt the other 4 days though!)

So, what kind of goals should you set? Honestly, it doesn't matter as long as it is important to you! As long as it is important to you, you have a much better chance of seeing it through to the end. And the more specific the better: What do you want to do? When do you want to do it? Why are you doing it?

Lastly, setting goals is great, but how do you reach them? How do you get from Point A (where you are now) to Point B (where you want to be)? You have to make a plan! Planning and scheduling go hand in hand with setting the goal. You can't know where you're going if you don't know how to get there. Next week I will explain how I plan and schedule my workouts.

Cavegirl Runner