Monday, December 15, 2008

Motivational Monday (Dec. 14)

It's all about goals this week for me. I have set a goal or two for this week in terms of running but more importantly I've started to plan out my race schedule for 2009 and laying down the foundation of what promises to be a year full of runs.

I'll go more into detail about the actual races in a future post but I will say that the race list on the right side of the page will change dramatically. It's all because of the Mud Run as the dates have been set and it sort of forced me to plan around that.

In short, though, I've got at least four races planned - 5K, 10K (Mud Run) and possibly two half-marathons. Already, I'm getting excited about the possibility of training for such races and setting such goals.

That's really the best motivation for me: goals. When I have something to shoot for and something to plan around, I do my best. If I have something to aim at, it really drives me. Conversely, if I just tell myself 'Oh, I'll run so many miles this week' without a long-term goal in mind, it feels as I'm just running aimlessly. And I am to an extent, just running without a plan.

We all need goals, fitness goals and nutritional goals. Whether it's a 5K walk you want to participate in (for instance, one goal I'm trying to help my wife set for herself) or the monster of all races (a marathon), goals help you define strategies and plans to reach them, which forces you to decide on the necessary steps to meet them.

So what are my goals for this week: I'm running intervals today at the gym. I have games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so I want to get in a distance run later in the week, possibly on Thursday, and make another trip to the gym on Friday and/or run outside on Saturday. It's supposed to rain this week here to so outdoor runs aren't likely but if it clears up that would be grand.

And I'm just enthused though to have set some goals because now it feels like I'm running toward something.

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