Think about any of the
successes you’ve had on the field, trail, or water. I’ll bet few, if any, of
those moments of greatness occurred by chance. Rather you achieved them because
you set a very specific goal and mapped out a specialized plan of steps to reach
it.
This is pretty basic
stuff, but often we don’t set our athletic goals far enough into the future. We
think in terms of training for a few months, not in terms of several years. And
that’s a shame. Because when you set goals that are a few years away, you’ll
find yourself capable of extraordinary feats. For example, if you just started
riding last month, it might not be reasonable for you to set the goal of doing a
five-hour century (100 miles) this year—a six-hour ride is more realistic. But
if you set your sights on ripping off a sub-five-hour 100-miler in 2008 and
start using the next two years to train for it, you improve your chances of
success dramatically. Move the goal to 2009 and, barring an injury or other
dramatic turn of events, you may even be able to guarantee
success.
This is exactly what
elite athletes do in the early stages of their careers. Junior-level bike racers
go to Europe not to win, but to expose their bodies to the much
faster speeds and physical demands found in European races. They want to do
well, but they’re not obsessed by results at age 18. They’re looking to build on
this training and help them excel five years down the road. The same approach
goes for marathon runners. It takes years for even a top athlete to develop his
or her body to be able to sustain a world-class pace.
I used this long-term
approach to goals when I was coaching the U.S. Paralympic cycling squad leading
up to the 2004 Olympic Games. After the 2000 Games had ended in a not-so-hot
showing for the U.S., the athletes, the other coaches
on the team, and I sat down and identified one goal for the entire program: win
the medal count in 2004. With everyone working toward this goal, we rode into
the 2001 racing season and got crushed. But in 2002, we picked up a couple of
medals in international competitions. Then in 2003, we started winning some
races as the athletes gained more experience and developed. By 2004, our mission
had paid off with world record performances and gold medals.
The amazing thing about
these athletes was that they were people with 9-to-5 jobs just like you. But by
working consistently over the course of four years and measuring their progress
month-by-month, they became some of the world’s best. Follow the same path they
did, and you too might find yourself capable of the
extraordinary.
The Carmichael Training Systems’ Keys to
Success
·Make your goal personal. It has to
be your goal, not one given to you. If the goal comes from you, you’ll commit to
achieving it.
·Keep the goal challenging, yet
realistic. Riding a sub-five hour century or running a 3:00-hour marathon in a
couple of years is realistic. Racing in the Tour de France or winning the Boston
Marathon next year is not.
·Maintain a combination of process
and outcome goals. Each month, you should be ticking off short-term goals that
build your fitness and confidence. By accomplishing these smaller steps, you’ll
be able to measure your progress. More importantly, you’ll stay in a positive
frame of mind.
·Share the goals with your support
network (training partners, family, or a coach) so they can help keep you on
task.
Jim
Lehman
is a Coach for Colorado Springs-based Carmichael Training Systems, Inc. For more
information on the latest in training, fitness, and nutrition go to www.trainright.com/newsletter.”
