Friday, January 9, 2009

Have You Set Fitness Goals This Year?


The New Year. Time for celebration, resolutions and goal setting. What weight-loss or training goals have you set that have already been tossed to the side? Be honest.

By mid-January, most of us have already forgotten the plans we made for the new year. This is no reason to despair. The confines of winter make for a good time to pause and set fitness goals for the coming year. This is time that you can use to commit to more long-term and realistic goals. Goals that perhaps six to seven months from now will be realistically met.

What about completing a 5K or a 10K race? What about just running 5 miles continuously without interruption? If you’re just getting started with a successful running program, any one of these goals is very realistic. What about losing 20 pounds by July 1? Again, if you’re committed to a successful training program, this is a realistic goal. Are you an experienced runner thinking “this is the year for the marathon”? Go for it! If you have already competed in a variety of races at varying lengths, there’s plenty of time to do the appropriate research and plan for the training needed to complete a marathon this fall.

This year, I have pledged to compete in the Hy-Vee Triathlon, an Olympic-distance event held here in Des Moines. After participating in this event in 2007 as part of a relay team, I’d like to do it all on my own. Three of my regular workout friends and I are in the process of developing a training plan right now. Additionally, I plan to participate in a half-marathon event in the later part of the year.

Both Don Allison and Christine Luff have written articles that provide great direction toward setting fitness and training goals in the coming year. Allison’s article can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/8s7hyj. Luff’s article can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/8kpaop.

Read these articles, be inspired and get to work on your plans and goals!

3 comments:

Fit Mommy said...

Yep. I have been dragging my feet on committing to some races. I have intentions, but haven't committed yet. Still working out though!

For a free 10km running plan with yoga check out AthletaChi.net. It's a really unique plan cause it calls for a series of yoga stretches daily.

Coachhrd said...

Thanks for the helpful comments, Rachel!

Sara said...

Let the training begin! See you at the gym, Joe! ;-)