The ticker at the bottom of the site indicates that there’s less than 17 days until the Bolder Boulder 10K so the purpose of this entry is to do 3 things:1. Set a goal for myself
(b) Make it public so as to hold myself accountable (yes, this counts as making it public)
3. Impress my boss who is always encouraging me to set goals.
The question is should I set an attainable goal so that I feel like I've accomplished something? Or should I set the impossible, impractical, upper-management-thinks-we-should-do-this goal that will push me harder but make it look like I’ve failed at the end. To resolve this inner dilemma, this inner struggle between lazy and motivated, I’m going to set a stretch goal to push myself and an easy goal so I can feel good about myself. Running is all about feeling good.
My time in 2006 was 58:53, almost 8 minutes faster than in 2005, so if I could cut another 8 minutes off my time this year that would put me at 50 minutes. This translates to 8 minute miles and according to the McMillan Running Calculator my workouts are not fast enough to believe that I could accomplish this. I actually think I heard it laughing at me when I input the data, so that will be the high end goal or perhaps it’s more accurate to call it an aspiration.
On the attainable side my aspiration is that I’ll be able to run sub 9 minute miles or under 56 minutes. Plugging this into the McMillan calculator gives me results that are more inline with my current workouts. There you have it, that’s my
That's a good goal for you I think. Good job of actually reasoning your way through the process of finding out what you probably can do. At least its better then my "ahhh I bet I could do it in this..."
ReplyDeleteGood luck in a couple weeks!
I always go into an event with three goals. My "basic, this is what I have trained for", goal. My "if I have a really good day I might be able to manage this" goal. And my "super secret, God is smiling upon me and all is right in the world" goal. Of course, I always just barely make my basic goal :-) Remember, goals we set are goals we get.
ReplyDeleteYour goals all make sense .... try running with a plan .... a well executed plan is very satisfying and the the time looks after itself ... I use plans for the boss when the goals are too high or timeframes impossible ... "Well Mr Stretch Yourself ... here is my plan" This works for me.
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