Be specific with your goals for the season

In the southern hemisphere we’re about to start laying the foundations for our season. It’s a time to choose goals and plan to achieve them.

When a new athlete comes to me I always ask what we’re working toward achieving. It’s suprising how often they really don’t know exactly what they’re aiming at. They have a few ideas of what they’d like. It’s more of a wish list than a set of goals.

Goals for the season don’t have to be times, they don’t have to be positions in categories.

The goals for the season can be

* To go faster than ever before – we then need to identify what speed we have swum, cycled or run in the past and set mini goals throughout the season or time trials in each sport to gradually inch our way down to the “faster than ever before” time. By breaking the distances down into smaller pieces we can get used to actually swimming, cycling or running at the faster speed. Every time we perform at that faster speed we gain confidence. Lots of small confidence building steps along the way build a wall of confidence. The longer races are built on confidence. 

* To be leaner and lighter than ever before – Dropping a couple of kilos can raise your VO2 max significantly. There’s no point starving ourselves and looking like a refugee, if it leaves us with no energy to train. The easy way to achieve this goal is to “eat for performance”. To train well we need fuel, to recover well we need protein and carbs at the right time. The best plan is to not get too fat in the off season, a little restraint can let you live a good life enjoying lots of little treats as long as you don’t over indulge.

I have found little things like cutting out desserts, drinking black coffee instead of milk based coffees. Cutting out deep fried foods and pastries. Increasing rice and vegetable intake. By following these few simple tips and training well the goal will be easily achieved.

* The goals can be more advanced – gaining a Hawaii spot, winning an age group, winning overall. These goals are for the more advanced athletes who “have the runs on the board” already. There’s greater pressure involved when we get this specific.

But believe me, it ain’t gunna happen, if it’s not a serious goal. Have dreams, we all have dreams, but when we really want something we have to know exactly what we want and make a solid plan of just what to do to get it.

Once that plan is in place every “right decision” we make, like not having that second drink, or not going out on that late night,  is able to be justified. Discipline delivers results, discipline only happens when the athlete “has a plan”.