2016 has officially left us, and whether you enjoyed the year or not, it is now that time of year where we start to think about the goals we want to achieve in 2017.
Fitness centers, coaches and runners alike expect two things of the next few months: a huge influx of runners in January and a drastic decline in February.
Take a look at the gyms and trails this January, notice the people hard at work on the elliptical, pedaling furiously in spinning classes and clogging up the usually vacant trails.
What happens to them at the beginning of February?
More importantly, how can you make sure that you aren’t one of them, letting your resolution slip through your fingers as the novelty wears off?
In this article, I am going to outline the 7 principles I believe anyone needs to follow if they want to make changes in their life. While I will focus on how we can use these principles to become better runners, I believe this advice is applicable to any goal you may have.
What is the Best Way to Set Realistic Goals
Take things one step at a time
When most runners set a goal, it’s something ambitious, like finishing a marathon, becoming a vegetarian, finishing a race under a certain time goal, losing a certain amount of weight, etc.
Being the ambitious, sometimes OCD personality runners are known for, we jump right into that goal and try to make a big, drastic change right away.
Personally, I think that’s the problem with New Year’s resolutions.
They have this all-or-nothing connotation about how you’re supposed to approach effecting change in yourself. However, making a drastic change to your habits and routines is difficult to sustain and it’s a frequent reason resolutions typically fail. Often setting those kind of goals can actually hold you back in races.
A better approach is to breakdown your goal into a manageable, step-by-step process.
As an example, if you want to become a vegetarian you shouldn’t try to stop eating all meat on January 1st. Instead, you should start by eliminating four-legged animals from your diet for a month or two.
That’s a pretty easy change since it allows you to gradually adapt to the new lifestyle. Our interview with Katie Foster from Runs for Cookies, who lost 125lbs talked about this in detail in our recent podcast on how to lose weight; only make changes you can follow.
After another month or so, whenever you’re comfortable, eliminate two-legged animals from your diet. Continue the process until you’ve met your goal of becoming a vegetarian.
By breaking down your goal into a slow, step-by-step process you’ve effected major change to yourself in a matter of a few months but because of the gradual nature, you likely didn’t even recognize the difference in your routine.
Set a resolution within the right “range”
Along the same lines, selecting a running resolution that is within your range is hugely important in determining whether or not you will be able to pursue it in the optimal way.
For instance, if you have never run a day in your life and your New Years Resolution is to run a Marathon by June, perhaps you are shooting past the high end of your range.
Alternatively, if you decide that you want to work up to a one mile run by June, you may reach your goal within the first few weeks of January, become bored and give up running completely.
Choose a resolution that will challenge you but not overwhelm you, one that is feasible but inspiring.
As an example, if you are a runner that has stuck to 5k races, set the New Years goal of a 10k, or set the goal of a new 5k PR. Help setting these realistic goals is often where a coach can come in handy to provide perspective and to help you see the bigger picture of your progression.
We wrote about the importance of selecting the right race time goal and how to find yours in a separate article.
How Do I Make Sure I Stick to My Goals?
Enjoy the small wins
After you’ve created your step-by-step process, don’t forget to celebrate the small victories along the way. Making lifestyle training changes is mentally draining and you need to reward yourself to stay motivated.
As an example, if your goal is to finish a marathon using a marathon training schedule, don’t forget to celebrate your farthest ever long run (remembering to progress your long run carefully) or your highest mileage week, especially when it puts you at the “minimum” many coaches recommend before starting to train.
Use these small victories as markers and an opportunity to reflect on how far you’ve come already.
It’s easy to become so caught up in our currently reality that we can forget about the progress we’ve already made.
As an example, I worked with a few runners this fall training for their first 10k.
Both started with 3 miles as their longest run for the week. After two months they were comfortable running 6-7 miles at a time, but they were frustrated and ready to give up after a tough 9 mile long run.
However, I asked them to think back two months and remember how daunting running 7 miles seemed. After reflecting, it helped them appreciate their progress so far while providing much-needed motivation.
Give yourself small goals along the way
Likewise, don’t neglect the short-term goals that can be stepping stones to your larger resolutions and goals.
When a runner sets a goal that is 6-12 months in the future, training can be dull and monotonous because the goal is so far away that there seems to be no light at the end of the training tunnel.
Running a fall marathon can be a wonderful resolution, but to keep your legs and mind fresh, allow yourself to have check points along the way, these can be smaller races, like 5ks and 10ks each month, or a mid-point goal like a half marathon at marathon goal pace a few months before the big race.
Make sure that you allow yourself enough check points to keep your mind from getting bored, but few enough to keep your body healthy and not over-worked.
If your goal is not race related, it is still important to set short-term goals.
As an example, if you want to run 50 miles a week by the end of the year, set a smaller goal of 35 miles per week by June, or 25 per week by March. These short term goals keep the larger goal looking achievable by breaking it into stair steps rather than a steep climb up the side of a mountain.
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How to Stay Motivated When You Are Struggling
Invest in your resolution
Many times in the past, especially on rainy, cold days, I would have thrown in the towel and stayed home rather than go for a run if I hadn’t had friends waiting to meet me for that run.
Informing your friends and family of your resolution and asking them to keep you accountable can make a world of difference.
I often encourage people to have “accountabila-buddies” – people who are willing to check up on the progress of your training from time to time.
When you have a network of support beneath you, it is a lot harder to give up. Knowing that your friends and family want to be at the finish line to see you achieve your goal is enough to keep you motivated during the rough patches.
We also recommend downloading and subscribing to our Runners Connect podcast. You would be amazed to see just how much distracting your mind by listening to inspiring stories like Dick Beardsley’s or how to make sure you can run pain free with Brad Beer, can make a difference.
Set yourself up for success by investing time and resources into your resolution.
Rather than waiting until the week before the race to enter, pay the entry fee now, enter the race and start looking into travel.
Investment, particularly financial investment makes your resolution less of a “perhaps” and more of a “plan”.
In taking the steps to reach your resolution, removing the option of giving up by purchasing a non refundable plane ticket is sure to keep your mind going that last mile repeat even if your body wants to quit!
Expect to have bad days and weeks
Runners World Magazine reports that the average first-time runner starts and quits 13 times before running finally sticks and becomes a lifestyle.
One reason that runners quit is that the novelty of daily/weekly running wears off and each run can seem more like a chore than a privilege. When this energy slump hits, fight back by searching out new trails, downloading one of our inspiring podcasts to listen to as you run, or joining a local running club.
A simple trick I use is thinking of training like playing Nintendo.
One thing I remember about playing Nintendo as a kid was how easy it was to hit the reset button when things went wrong. I could always rely on that reset button to make all my mistakes go away.
Along the same lines, remember that no matter your goal, you’re going to encounter setbacks along the way.
Rather then let those setbacks throw you completely off course, learn to hit the reset button.
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Whether you need to reset that day or the entire week, it’s ok. Hit the mental reset button when you go to sleep and clear out all the mistakes and bad things that happened. When you wake-up, it’s a fresh start.
What happened yesterday or the week before doesn’t matter.
Today is a new day and within your control to make it a positive step forward.
Stop looking for shortcuts
Finally, don’t waste your time with secret tricks, hacks and the latest magazine headlines about how you can run faster without training or lose weight and eat whatever you want.
Real change takes hard work and effort.
In essence, that’s the real satisfaction that comes with meeting your goals – the hard work, dedication and perseverance it took to achieve them. Qualifying for Boston wouldn’t be so great if it was easy, right?
By not wasting your mental and physical energy on “secrets” and hacks, you have more time to devote to the hard, unglamorous work you need to do to achieve your goal.
As you begin to think about your New Year’s resolutions this year (or anytime you want to set and reach a new goal), keep these tips in mind and help yourself make a lasting, positive change to your health, fitness and running.
