Setting Goals:  John Shelp, SCS Multisport             

The time has once again come to make resolutions, “forget old acquaintance” (what does that mean anyway?) and start thinking about the coming season of multi sport.  In preparation for the upcoming year of racing you will no doubt be thinking about your goals.  Maybe you plan to be the next age-group winner for the Midwest Multi-Sport Series. Perhaps you’re thinking a Team USA slot is within your grasp.  It could be that you’ve taken a step off the deep end and signed up for your first Ironman race.  Whatever it may be you will undoubtedly spend massive amounts of time, money and energy in pursuit of such quests.  However, before you drive over to Gear West and buy all the latest and greatest be sure that your goals are the right goals for you and more importantly you have an idea of HOW these goals will be accomplished. 

Let’s review the basics of setting goals.  Some will say the SMART (specific, measurable, action oriented, realistic, timely) principle is to be followed.  This is certainly a solid way to look at things.  Basically this means a few important things.  Make your goals specific. “I want to improve” is too vague and can contribute to lack of focus in training and racing.  Make it something you can measure such as a certain time, weight or place.  Make them challenging but realistic. Winning the Ironman World Championships next year is probably out of our reach for most of us. However, being in the top 10% of your age-group at Pigman ½  may be well within you ability with proper training.  Making your goals timely can mean many things. In short have a time frame to do them in. 

Most goals will need a deadline.  If a goal is race oriented that’s an easy one. However, it’s great to put a time frame on intermediate goals. Have some goals that will be more immediate and attainable such as losing 5 lbs of winter weight by February. Other goals along these lines may include strength, speed or distances of long, easy training.  These goals can certainly be labeled “short term” but I like to refer to them as very attainable. These goals are challenging but certainly within your grasp and in the near future.  The next step in goal setting will include season goals such as completing 10 races this season or finishing in the top 10 in an age- group at every race. Lastly, I like to have what can be called “life goals” or the end all be all of goals.  These goals will be long term, perhaps over a span of a career, and may be things such as qualifying for Ironman Hawaii, going to Olympic trials, raising a grand total of $100,000 over the next 10 years by yearly participating in Team in Training, still be racing in 20 years and the like. 

The goals have now been thought through, decided on and written down.  The next step is, in my opinion, the most important part.  Planning out the HOW!  If your goals are performance based you’ll need to inventory your strength and weaknesses to address the issues that are holding you back from accomplishing them already.  It may be as simple as setting a goal of swimming twice a week in the off-season instead of taking 3 months off. It may possibly be only gaining 5 lbs of winter weight as opposed to 20 lbs of warmth.  Regardless you’ll need to find some key components to your success and set “sub goals” in these categories.  As I stated before the how of goals is by far the most important part.  How many times have we all made grand goals and had no idea or plan of how we were going to accomplish them? I know it’s been many for me. Hence the thousands and thousands of unresolved New Year’s resolutions. 

I have created a set of goals for a fictional Elite amateur Triathlete as an example of one way to set up goals and sub goals (the how) to help accomplish objectives for one season.   

Joe Triathlon’s 2008 Goals (Written down and put on the fridge)

  1. Place top 5 overall at Manitou Triathlon
  2. Win age-group in Multi Sport Series
  3. Qualify for 70.3 World Championships

How

  1. Race weight 165 lbs
    1. 175 by February, 170 by March, 165 by May
  2. Power to weight ratio of 5+
    1. 6 min. bike TT 375 watt average
  3. 500 yard Swim Time Trial in 5:30
    1. Swim at least 4 times a week in Jan.-March
    2. Participate in 2 masters swim meets by May 1st
  4. Sub 16:00 5 k
    1. Speed once a week
    2. 4:40 mile run time by June
As you can see, having some type of benchmark test can be a wonderful way to keep track of the “how” your goals. This can also help determine training zones, the effectiveness of training to that point and certainly help you realize things such as over training, unrealistic goals or just how great you really are doing!! 

In conclusion the “what and how” of your goals is certainly up to you. Take it upon yourself to make your goals challenging but attainable. Make your goals measurable. Give yourself a time frame in which to accomplish important pieces to your goal puzzle and use benchmark tests to help you determine how accurate your goals and preparation are.  If you know where your going and how you’re going to get there the chances of your arrival are greatly increased. To quote Casey Kasem “keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars”.  

We’ll see you out there, 

John Shelp
USAT/CSCS Certified Coach
SCS Multisport Director of Operations
763-639-3805
www.scsmultisport.com