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Setting Season goals - Gaining a better focus

An article by Mike Schultz CSCS of Highland Training

Creating season goals using races or performance measures is one big step towards gaining a better training focus. Organizing your goals is also important. Creating a few key events to perform well at is always the smartest way to approach a long season of endurance training and racing. Utilizing some of your races as training is a good way to work good intensity and experience race mentality. Mentally preparing for your targeted races of the year is of equal importance to physically preparing. Once you have structured your season, whether it is six months or one year, you can begin to set up your weekly and monthly training focus leading up to each race.

Goals should be set as challenging and realistic as possible. Race goals should not always be focused on finishing time. Goals should also be focused on improving mechanics, lowering your perceived exertion, improving mental aspects and finishing strong. Gaining a more specific race goal will allow you to conduct training in a way that will benefit you the most. If you are new to marathon running, your goal may be to simply finish a marathon. This would be a realistic goal. To achieve this goal, you may need to focus on more base training compared to a veteran runner. You also may need to focus on better mechanics, allowing you to become more efficient. When becoming more efficient with better mechanics, you use less energy. Using less energy will allow you to work a little harder for a longer duration of time.

Having goals to compete in many events within one season provides a big challenge physically and mentally. It is almost impossible to be on the top of your game for every event throughout the year. To peak for an event means that you need to be as physically and mentally prepared as possible. This takes time and plenty of rest is required. Since allot of rest is needed to peak for an event, it is advised to peak for only a few events, from one to four events, each season. Identifying your targeted races to do well at will allow you to look at your other races as training and race preparation. All other races during the year, your secondary events, are usually referred to as your “B” events. Secondary races are good to use to test new skills, feel new strength and handle new speeds. Preparing for a “B” event is more casual and is sometimes thrown into your training weeks with little or no rest leading into the race. Categorizing each event will allow you to enter into each race with a certain mindset. This will allow you to be better prepared mentally for the race and the outcome.

Establishing goals for the season will allow you to have a more meaningful training experience. It is easier to conduct your day and maintain a good focus on training if you are training for a reason. Your reason for training may be to finish a 10K run in six months or to finish a marathon under three hours. Whatever your goal may be, it will keep you focused on training daily and training each day will keep you focused on a lifetime of fitness.

Mike Schultz CSCS