This January, I went through creating 2020 goals at work and in training. It has me thinking a lot about how similar the goal setting process is in both arenas. 

While you’re planning your race calendar for 2020, it is also a great time of year to decide on your goals for the year.  Races are part of those goals, but what you want to do in those races or outside of racing is still something you might be figuring out.  When we talk about goals, it’s easy to throw out the standard “get faster” or “get stronger”.  While great goals, they are way too vague and hard to measure at the end of the year.  In my office we talk about “SMART” goals and I think that concept should be applied to your season goals. 

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Bound.  Specific goes back to what I said before.  It needs to be something that isn’t vague, that can follow the rest of the parameters.  When you’re sending your goals to your coach, think about how you’re going to measure the success of the goal.  For instance, if your A goal is a ½ marathon, do you have a specific time to go for?  Or maybe it’s your first, so the measurable goal is a finish, or keeping to your race plan. 

I think achievable is a little looser for me in training.  A pie-in-the-sky goal isn’t a bad thing, but I think having at least one goal where you know that if you put in the work, it’s achievable can be a good confidence boost.

Relevant I think is fairly simple in sport.  If your A race is a bike race, you probably don’t want all of your goals to be around running or swimming.  Although, if your A race next year is already scheduled and is a run, then maybe one of your goals is around running. 

Time bound gives us a finite amount of time to finish the goal.  Although goals can always be moved due to life or health challenges, I think it’s good to have a time that you want the goal to be competed.  Obviously race based goals have a specific time frame already established, but if you’re looking for something different like a power test goal or a lifting goal, try to set a day where you want to have that achieved. 

Hopefully you can take some of this to sit down and brainstorm your 2020 goals.  Your coach is always here to help you fine tune your thoughts and decide on some great goals.

Here’s to an amazing 2020!!!

-Coach Kaitlyn