Hi folks, it’s Kelvin here.
We Run coach for Leeds and surrounding areas, as well as online coaching.
In this little video, I’d like to share some thoughts on goal setting and maybe look at goal setting from a slightly different angle.
Rethinking Common Running Goals
It’s not uncommon for me to hear runners say things like maybe the training for a 10k that they’ve done a previous year. They say things like, I’ll be happy as long as I beat last year’s time.
When we dig a little bit deeper into it, they actually want a little bit more than that. When we start to say, if in six months’ time you run that 10k and last year you ran 50 minutes, and if this time you run 49:58, are you going to be really happy? They say, well, no, not really.
Then we start to have a conversation about what that time needs to be, or is it a completely different goal that can help motivate that runner?
Thinking Bigger About Goal Setting
Because when people are having discussions with themselves about setting goals, and maybe having discussions with others, they are quite often a little bit shy of thinking big.
The size of goals is very individual. Some people work better with smaller goals. Even those people who set big scary goals often benefit from some smaller goals to break things up on that journey.
Planting the Seed With Bigger Challenges
I sometimes suggest goals to runners. I suggested something to somebody the other day that was like a three-day trek. Two nights in huts and a three-day trek in the mountains.
They were like, really? Do you think I could do that? I said, I’m not sure. What do you reckon?
We came to the conclusion that it wasn’t a physical impossibility. It would be very challenging, not just from a fitness perspective, but also looking at the weather, logistics, navigation, booking the huts, gear, everything this person was going to wear.
There was a lot involved, but what I was really doing there was planting a seed.
I’ve known this runner for a number of years now and I’ve got ideas about what this runner might like to do. Sometimes as a coach I make suggestions that might be a little bit off the mainstream and prompt a reaction of really?
Then, in a couple of months’ time, this runner might come to me and say, I think that might be a maybe now. Whereas when you first said it, I thought there was absolutely no chance.
Letting Goals Evolve Over Time
We carry on with what we’re doing and maybe blend some training that might be specific to that, just to give us a bit of an idea. It’s still not something completely set in stone.
Another couple of months might go by and that runner might come to me and say, what do you think about giving it a go?
I’d be excited. They might say, do you think I can do it? I don’t know. It’s not a physical impossibility.
That might really fire that person up and get them motivated.
Writing Down Your Big Scary Goals
What I’m trying to say is, when you’re setting goals, it might be something you keep to yourself. It’s wise to write it down.
You might write it down and pop it between the pages of a book. Maybe you don’t want anybody else to know because it feels so crazy.
But every now and then, if it keeps popping into your head and you think, I might be able to do that, by all means feel free to set big scary goals.
Final Thoughts
I hope that makes some sort of sense. If you’ve got any questions, please pop them in the comments below. And for now, happy running.
