This time last year, I was a month away from running my first half-marathon. Back then, I thought I would presently be a month away from running my first full marathon. Runner’s high must have distorted my forethought: my current workout schedule is miles away from that of a marathon trainee.
Building up to the half-marathon last year, I followed a training schedule that laid out exactly the type and amount of running I should be doing for the 16 weeks prior to the race date. This year, I don’t even have a target race date. Why, you ask? Whereas running the half-marathon was a serious fitness goal I set for myself last year, running the full marathon was nowhere near being a real goal. Rather, it was a mere hope I let go of when my post-half-marathon high came to a halt two weeks later.
Goals and hopes are not the same thing. We all have hopes to do many things, but the things we set out as our goals are far fewer. Without specific goals and concrete steps to make your hopes happen, your workout wishes will whither away much like my marathon mindset. Whatever fitness challenge you would like to tackle—be it to jog for 10 minutes straight, climb four flights of stairs, or run a marathon—careful goal-setting will gear you up for success.
First off, setting a fitness goal involves knowing why it is you want to become more fit. (The reason for wanting to improve one’s fitness should never be just to look better: fitness goals that focus solely on “bettering” one’s body are doomed for failure or fanaticism.) Understanding the reasons behind your goals will help you figure out how best to reach them.
There are several other crucial elements to goal-setting.
(1) Establish long-term goals that will help direct your training schedule and assist you in meeting your goals. Long-term goals might include improving your endurance, rendering it possible to walk upstairs without sweating profusely, or being able to leg press 40 pounds.
(2) Establish short-term goals that act as small, concrete steps toward your greater goal. These might include running an extra block each time you go for a jog, or staying on the bicycle for three added minutes every week.
(3) Create a workout schedule that ensures you are getting adequate rest between workouts. Commit to your exercise schedule as you do to your class schedule. (Think of another appropriate simile if you tend to skip class more than you attend.)
(4) Be healthy. Be sure to increase your food and carbohydrates intake with your activity levels.
(5) Reward yourself for progress!
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