Newbie guide to running a marathon part two. Goal setting! This is part two of “So you want to run a marathon?” Last time we discussed how to choose your marathon and in this article we will discuss goal setting. Again feel free to send me your comments and ideas. This is written for planning your first marathon but goal setting is important for all sports and especially performance. Performance isn’t a dirty word it just means doing your best at whatever your planning to do, not running a world best standard.
This is part two of "So you want to run a marathon?" Last time we discussed how to choose your marathon and in this article we will discuss goal setting. Again feel free to send me your comments and ideas. This is written for planning your first marathon but goal setting is important for all sports and especially performance. Performance isn’t a dirty word it just means doing your best at whatever your planning to do, not running a world best standard.
Goal setting
Where to begin? Well first you need to set a goal for yourself. This is not simply picking your marathon and researching it. Your goals need to be realistic, measurable and performance related. A first time marathoner should consider their goal to be finishing the marathon. Surviving the marathon might seem like a simplistic goal but it highly realistic and it allows you to focus on enjoying your marathon. A time goal can be secondary, depending on your recent race times, you can use a variety of calculators which are available online to give you a projected finish time, even if you have no intention of going for a time goal initially, it may be helpful to determine your ideal marathon training plan. A performance goal, short term goal, might be as simple as to improve your 5km time by 2 minutes in the first two months or a longer term goal of completing the marathon in 8 months. Another goal maybe to run your projected marathon pace for 10km nonstop without walking breaks by next September. Setting performance goals as opposed to outcome goals is dependent on a large number of factors, the largest being the athlete in question. But the performance goal is how we determine success. A performance goal of sub 4 hours in the marathon maybe more achievable and a better measure of success than the outcome of winning the race. For a novice runner making their debut in marathon running, the outcome of finishing the race is infinity better than trying to race for a sub 3 hour. Again all these goals depend on a large number of factors such as the race route, conditions on the day, the runners previous history of running or sport etc.
Either way, set your goals, make them challenging but realistic (not setting the world record on your first outing) and above all have your goals measurable so that you can see how well you achieve them. By having a plan with goals that are achievable it helps you develop a plan, builds your self-confidence, and helps you maintain a positive attitude and control.
So if you’re a new runner thinking of running, for example the Cork city marathon next year (June 2013), what should be your goals?
Complete the marathon next year (long term)
Complete a 5km (run / walk) in the next month at a local BHAA or AI race (short term)
Run three times a week for the next month and four times a week for the following month (measurable)
Run a half marathon in December with the aim of maintaining a 9 minute per mile pace (performance goal)
So that was the theory, how do we do goal setting in a simple nuts and bolts fashion? A simple mnemonic for this is SMARTER.
SMARTER simply stands for;
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Timed
Exciting
Recorded
So once we have our goals we can record them. I prefer to use a spread sheet with my goals sub divided by the headings,
What (goal)
How (to achieve them exactly)
When (the periodisation plan or the actual month I will carry it out)
End zone (what benchmark will I accept as being achieved)
One of my goals could be to run a 5km nonstop next month at a local race. So my main or long term goal is to run the marathon, my short term performance goal is to run the 5km race next month without stopping or walking breaks. The "What" of my goals is to increase my endurance to achieve my short term goal. The ‘how’ really depends on where you are at the moment and in this case my plan would be to run intermittently during my walks and gradually decrease the walking time in favour of increasing my running time. Also to increase the distance and thereby reaching the 5km mark by increasing my endurance. Another method might be to increase the time you cross train and you might also increase the frequency of sessions in the week. The ‘when’ is this month until the race and the ‘end zone’ or measurable outcome is the race and this determines if the goal is achieved or do I have to readjust,
The above process I described sounds long and drawn out but I have taken you through it step by step. This process is very simple and you probably already do it but if you put it on paper or in my case on a spread sheet with five boxes it is very simple and much more effective. It certainly motivates you when it is stuck to the fridge and you have a very real short term end zone on the way to you marathon.
So while you can see that the spread sheet looks a lot easier and you can have multiple short term goals build on each other or running concurrently, you may also have a secondary ‘longer’ term goal such as a lifestyle goal. Goals do not just have to be performance related but can also be fitness or lifestyle based though these prove harder to set a measurable outcome for. Some athletes may also set themselves mental goals for example, learning to focus on the running and train without music or even to run the marathon with the belief that it is very achievable.
So now we have decided on the Cork city marathon on the June bank holiday weekend in 2013 (pick your own race ? ) How are we going to plan our race? That will be in the next article in the hope you will continue reading.
Thanks
Niall
12/09/2012
This is part two of "So you want to run a marathon?" Last time we discussed how to choose your marathon and in this article we will discuss goal setting. Again feel free to send me your comments and ideas. This is written for planning your first marathon but goal setting is important for all sports and especially performance. Performance isn’t a dirty word it just means doing your best at whatever your planning to do, not running a world best standard.
Goal setting
Where to begin? Well first you need to set a goal for yourself. This is not simply picking your marathon and researching it. Your goals need to be realistic, measurable and performance related. A first time marathoner should consider their goal to be finishing the marathon. Surviving the marathon might seem like a simplistic goal but it highly realistic and it allows you to focus on enjoying your marathon. A time goal can be secondary, depending on your recent race times, you can use a variety of calculators which are available online to give you a projected finish time, even if you have no intention of going for a time goal initially, it may be helpful to determine your ideal marathon training plan. A performance goal, short term goal, might be as simple as to improve your 5km time by 2 minutes in the first two months or a longer term goal of completing the marathon in 8 months. Another goal maybe to run your projected marathon pace for 10km nonstop without walking breaks by next September. Setting performance goals as opposed to outcome goals is dependent on a large number of factors, the largest being the athlete in question. But the performance goal is how we determine success. A performance goal of sub 4 hours in the marathon maybe more achievable and a better measure of success than the outcome of winning the race. For a novice runner making their debut in marathon running, the outcome of finishing the race is infinity better than trying to race for a sub 3 hour. Again all these goals depend on a large number of factors such as the race route, conditions on the day, the runners previous history of running or sport etc.
Either way, set your goals, make them challenging but realistic (not setting the world record on your first outing) and above all have your goals measurable so that you can see how well you achieve them. By having a plan with goals that are achievable it helps you develop a plan, builds your self-confidence, and helps you maintain a positive attitude and control.
So if you’re a new runner thinking of running, for example the Cork city marathon next year (June 2013), what should be your goals?
Complete the marathon next year (long term)
Complete a 5km (run / walk) in the next month at a local BHAA or AI race (short term)
Run three times a week for the next month and four times a week for the following month (measurable)
Run a half marathon in December with the aim of maintaining a 9 minute per mile pace (performance goal)
So that was the theory, how do we do goal setting in a simple nuts and bolts fashion? A simple mnemonic for this is SMARTER.
SMARTER simply stands for;
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Timed
Exciting
Recorded
So once we have our goals we can record them. I prefer to use a spread sheet with my goals sub divided by the headings,
What (goal)
How (to achieve them exactly)
When (the periodisation plan or the actual month I will carry it out)
End zone (what benchmark will I accept as being achieved)
One of my goals could be to run a 5km nonstop next month at a local race. So my main or long term goal is to run the marathon, my short term performance goal is to run the 5km race next month without stopping or walking breaks. The "What" of my goals is to increase my endurance to achieve my short term goal. The ‘how’ really depends on where you are at the moment and in this case my plan would be to run intermittently during my walks and gradually decrease the walking time in favour of increasing my running time. Also to increase the distance and thereby reaching the 5km mark by increasing my endurance. Another method might be to increase the time you cross train and you might also increase the frequency of sessions in the week. The ‘when’ is this month until the race and the ‘end zone’ or measurable outcome is the race and this determines if the goal is achieved or do I have to readjust,
The above process I described sounds long and drawn out but I have taken you through it step by step. This process is very simple and you probably already do it but if you put it on paper or in my case on a spread sheet with five boxes it is very simple and much more effective. It certainly motivates you when it is stuck to the fridge and you have a very real short term end zone on the way to you marathon.
So while you can see that the spread sheet looks a lot easier and you can have multiple short term goals build on each other or running concurrently, you may also have a secondary ‘longer’ term goal such as a lifestyle goal. Goals do not just have to be performance related but can also be fitness or lifestyle based though these prove harder to set a measurable outcome for. Some athletes may also set themselves mental goals for example, learning to focus on the running and train without music or even to run the marathon with the belief that it is very achievable.
So now we have decided on the Cork city marathon on the June bank holiday weekend in 2013 (pick your own race ) How are we going to plan our race? That will be in the next article in the hope you will continue reading.
Thanks
Niall
12/09/2012
