"A goal without a plan is just a wish."

I've always been a goal person.  I like having goals.  I like having something I'm working towards.  Sometimes to my detriment.  I tend to not practice my instruments unless I have a gig coming up.  Then suddenly I have a gig and holy cow I'd better get my chops in shape!  But for race walking I tend to always have goals.  I've been doing a lot of thinking about goals lately and have made some changes to how/what my goals for this year are situated and organized. 

I've always had two kids of goals.  Goals that were time goals, hitting various PRs (PBs for my international friends ;)  Then I also had goals that didn't fit in the time category, things like doing my ab work a certain number of times per week, getting enough sleep, eating right, stretching, all those "other" things that help you reach your time goals.  But as I've been thinking about what I tell my athletes, "the only thing you can ever do is your best"  I realize that the time goals are counter to that philosophy.  Don't get me wrong, if you do your best you very well may hit that time goal, hopefully you will!  But it's not a given.  Just because I set a time goal doesn't mean I'll hit it, otherwise I'd be much faster than I am!  But I can set goals that I can constantly achieve. 

In the book, "With Winning In Mind" by Lanny Basham (same book I've recommended before and will continue to recommend) he talks about process and outcome goals.  Outcome goals are the time goals, the place goals, the making a team goals.  Process goals are the things you're going to do to achieve those goals.   Making time goals are "easy." You pick a number.  How many people really focus on HOW they're going to reach those goals?  Do you have a plan for the process of achieving your goals?  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said it best:  "A goal without a plan is just a wish." 

I have a plan!  And many of my goals are going to be process goals.  And the awesome thing about process goals is you can hit them so often!  Some of them you can hit every time!  What a great feeling of empowerment!  Everyone knows the frustration of going to a race certain that you're ready for your best time ever, and then, for whatever reason, you don't do it.  Frustration, anger, depression, so many emotions can float around in your head.  I remember one year Dave and I were training great, feeling great, and went to do a half marathon.  We were so pumped for it, we were sure we were going to do amazing.  Well, we didn't.  And we didn't know why.  and it depressed us big time.  We both didn't really train for a few weeks afterwards because we were so upset and frustrated.  looking back now I know it was because we were so outcome focused instead of process focused.  If that same thing happened to me now I would be able to come at it with a much more positive mindset because there would've been many aspects of the race I would've been successful at, instead of only having one goal and feeling like I failed it, thus failing in totality. 

Here are some examples of my process goals for this year:
1. Base workouts more on effort and not on the time on the watch.  After every workout (where applicable) I should be able to say to myself, "I pushed myself as hard as possible and gave my best."  (note:  this does not apply to recovery days.)

2.  Do some workouts not looking at the watch.  Because I'm a numbers person I will still take splits, but I will look at them afterwards and see how they match up with the effort I was giving.  My plan is to do that for both speed sessions and long walks.  Not all the time, but sometimes.

3.  Each workout will have a technique goal, something specific to work on, think about, and improve on.  Examples are; arm swing (compact and controlled shoulders), push off, solid core, and head position. 

4.  There is a group of things I focus on in general for training; drink plenty of fluids, get enough sleep (nap when needed) do core work 5-6 days per week, strength training twice per week when appropriate for that training block, eat well and healthy.  These are all things I can achieve every day.  Even on a day when I can't train I can look back and say to myself that I did things that helped me get better. 

I urge you all to take a look at your goals.  How many of them are outcome goals and how many of them are process goals?  Are you frustrated that you haven't hit as many of your goals as you'd like?  Do you wish you could set goals that you could routinely meet?  You can! 

Competitor.com did a great article on 7 Habits of Highly Effective Runners that I think is great.  If you're looking for more motivation I strongly encourage you to read it.

http://running.competitor.com/2015/02/training/7-habits-highly-effective-runners_122921 

Set your goals, set amazing ones, and start going after them!