Run Stronger Series – Goal Setting

       My tips for setting goals in your running!                                                                                 

Having a goal can be a great motivator to keep us training and working towards something. We all have something we want to work towards in health, fitness and running. It could be anything run your first 5k, PB marathon, multi day ultra event! But goals are just dreams unless we make them specific! So, once you have your goal you need to make it more tangible.

 Make your goal specific,

Think of a specific even or time that you want to achieve. You also need a time frame but make it a realistic one! Think about your goal – it could be to run a half marathon, you will need to train for it, so think about how long that will take, (if you need advice – that’s what I am here for!) then look for an event around that time. Allow enough time to realistically be able to achieve it, but not too long so that you lose motivation! It is a fine line. If you think it will take a year or more to reach your goal, then think of events you can do in the meantime that will help you work towards your bigger goal.

Find your Why…

 Before you do any of that, Think about your why. Why do you want to run a marathon, lose a stone, complete an ironman? There are 2 different reasons we do most things in life –

 Intrinsic reasons – this is for us, to make ourselves feel good/happy, or

Extrinsic reasons – this is for other people – whether it’s to make others happy or what you think you should be doing.

Can you guess which reasons would be more successful?! Of course, it’s the intrinsic! We must find our own reasons for doing things, our own why. When you are training hard and things get tough, you will always come back to your why – so having a goal that means something personal to you will motivate you to see it through to the end, no matter how hard it gets. This is how we succeed and smash our goals!!!

Tips:

*Pick something that inspires you, that you feel passionate about, that enhances and develops you, something that brings joy

*Comparison is the thief of joy – everyone is on their own journey, the only person you should compare yourself to is you!

*Keep a diary of your journey – this will help you to see how far you have come when you are doubting yourself

*People ‘fail’ because they want to rush to the end of their goal – they miss out on everything in-between; the in-between is the most important part! Enjoy the process.

*Allow yourself to be a beginner- no one starts out as an expert!

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