Written by Miss January 2014, Whitney Sutherland

Where will you go in 2014?

It’s a new year and if you are like many of us then you are working on resolutions that you want to accomplish for the year.  For me when I think about a New Year beginning, this Thoreau quote has always inspired me. As an athlete, my dreams usually have to do with a race or performance goal.  Here’s how I will be putting together my racing goals for 2014.  

I start with an old school spiral bound calendar book.  This lets me lay out race ideas on the monthly pages.   I research online for different races and also lay out any personal commitments like the annual Arkansas Women Bloggers conference or professional obligations like travel or meetings.    Here’s a fun link to a 2014 calendar download to get you started.  

Once I have races penciled onto my calendar, I start looking at the timing to build a training plan.    There has to be realistic timing to train for a specific goal or distance which is why I make sure that my calendar is a mix of races for fun and goal races. This helps me protect myself from injuries and ensure that I allow for the safe buildup of mileage or speed as well as recovery after big races.  

Finally after I have done my pre-work, I’m ready to start putting together specific goals for the year. I usually like to give myself goals that are measurable but not necessarily finite.  I might set a goal that is for a race finishing time within a time range or I might set a goal for how I run a race.  No matter what my goals is though, I make sure to lay out a plan for how I’ll tackle thegoals for the year through a training plan. My calendar helps keep me accountable to the plan and track my progress towardseach of my goals.  

If I do the pre-work and set realistic goals and follow my training plans then when I reach the starting line for my goal races I can treat it like my victory lap.  The race becomes a celebration of all the work that I have put into making it to that starting line instead of a nervous mess of stress and pressure for the race. Baron Baptiste speaks of this in his book Being of Power.  “Set the intention for growth, but hold it lightly.  Often we get caught up in a goal, which can get very serious.  We add heaviness and significance to it, and then this leads to all kinds of stress.” I have definitely learned this lesson the hard way and it helped me change the way that I lay out my racing goals for the year.  I see lots of others get caught up in rigid training plans and then if they miss a workout or don’t hit a time in a workout then they become overcome with a sense of failure.  I’ve been there before too and thankfully after making some tweaks to my process I have finally found a system that allows me to accomplish my goals with flexibility.  

So you are not a runner, don’t worry these tips can still apply for you.  No matter what type of goal you want to tackle in 2014, you should take time to plan.  I recommend that you research and understand what is involved in taking on your dreams.  Make sure that the plan you lay out for the year is realistic and that you have the resources necessary for the journey.  I hope these tips can help you as head in the direction of your dreams in 2014.