Goals and Life

Happy, healthy and positive running occurs when running goals and life routines and habits are in alignment. 

Setting goals is a important part of life and an important part of running, but we have to be careful when setting our running goals to make sure that they are in alignment with where running fits in our life.  In this blog post I want to talk a little bit more about setting goals and finding this balance.

Running Goals
Running goals can be as wide ranging and different as the individuals who make them.  No measurement is off limits in your running goals, they can range from weight loss, to healthy living, to competitive aspirations, to time goals, to Olympic dreams.  Your running goals can be as individual as you are.  As a coach I have seen runners come to me with all sorts of goals.  One wanted to safely get to the point where they could run for 60 minutes per day 6 days per week, no pace or distance goals and no competitive aspirations, just to be able to run for an hour per day safely as part of the lifestyle they wanted - awesome goal.  Another wanted to be competitive in their age group at local races; another wanted to improve a personal best time; another wanted to win a marathon; another wanted to qualify for the Olympic Trials.  Still another loved to race and wanted to race 50 weekends per year and run as well and injury free as they could while doing that.  All awesome goals and so wide ranging.  This is one of the things I love as a coach, to see and work with so many different people with so many different personal goals in their running, and the opportunity to map out for them how they can best get there.  I encourage everyone, as they set their goals, to think outside the box, find what they want and what they are passionate about, don't get confined by races, distances and times if that doesn't fit them, the best goals are as individual as the people who set them.

Life & Daily Habits
An important step in the goal setting process is to make sure that your running goals fit with where running fits into your life.  As a coach, one of the biggest reasons why I see many runners fail to meet goals is that they set goals that required more from them than their current work/life/family habits and routines allowed.  It may be surprising to some, that rarely do I see people set goals that are beyond their capability from a talent, or physical perspective.  I think most people have a reasonable assessment of what they may be capable of, they know that if they are 5'2" large boned and 210 lbs they probably aren't going to make the Olympic team as a marathoner.  More often, if a problem is to be experienced, it is because the training required to reach their running goals is more than they are willing or able to include in their work/life/family schedule and habits.  It is beyond where running fits into their life.  In this case then either the work/life/family routines need to change, or the goals need to be adjusted.   

Unfortunately instead of making changes to either to their running goals or life routines, what I see many do is try and force these things together and invariably this leads to over-training, injury or burn-out.  It is a state of denial that often leads to a poor ending.  And in some cases this results in the runner making a change in coach to try and get the answer they want, rather than making the change needed fix the imbalance between their goals or life.  Usually this does not work and the same things happen again and again until the root cause (goals and life out of balance) is addressed.  

Some runners feel guilty and like they failed if they need to adjust their goals.  But really doesn't need to be the case, their goals are their goals and not anyone else's and the main goal should be to find running goals that fits their own personal balance.  But add in the prevalency of social media and sharing goals, and this pressure some feel can be very real.  And if they are not in a position to, or unwilling to, change their work/life/family routines (which is understandable) then goal changes have to occur. 

What I hope more runners do, and I guess that is the point of this blog, is to take a realistic look at where running fits into their life and what time and energy they can reasonably and sustainably dedicate to it during a training cycle, and then work with their coach to set goals accordingly.  If that comes with a change of previous goals, better that then to try and force things to work and end up frustrated, injured or over-trained.  

Happy, healthy and positive running occurs when running goals and life routines and habits are in alignment.