Fitness Goals
I find that my goals shift often. Do yours? I am constantly adjusting the path I’m heading towards. Of course, one problem with this approach is that I don’t really know when I’ve reached a milestone. The upside, however, is that I keep adjusting them into more challenging goals.
Since it’s been a while between goal-setting moments, I think I’ll take the time to figure out my fitness goals for the last quarter of this year.
Weight: I want to lose 10 more pounds by 12.31.04. I think this is do-able, because I’m doing something to measure my caloric intake, and that by seeing my intake matched against my efforts of the day, I’ll realize and adjust appropriately. 10 pounds in 3 months is exceeedingly do-able.
Running: I’m going to keep with the races I have scheduled at present. That’s a 4.1 mile trail run in October, and a trail marathon in November. I’m going to continue to tweak the Hal Higdon version of my training, but still hit the mileage goals as best as I can. Ultimately, I’m just readying myself for the 2005 running season, which will be my breakout year.
Fitness: I’m going to do more to formalize my workout, as I’ve just been kind of ambling into the gym and hacking out a half dozen exercises on gym day. I want to focus on a few areas: multi-muscle movements (like squats), core strength (like ball exercises), and general cardiovascular improvement. I’m going to work out three times a week on those key areas, and I *might* work out extra specific to “bodybuilding” type shaping stuff. (Focus on the engine not the chrome, in other words).
As goals require measuring to determine their success, I’ll try a few measuring sticks here.
Weight: 10 pounds. Easy to know.
Running: Marathon in 5 hours or less.
Fitness: Solidly executed specific workouts w/results measured.
That’s it. I’ll just keep these goals in mind over the next three months and see how things turn out.
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Comments
Chris, I love you the way you think and once again you inspire me to re-visit my own approach to fitness and running. :)
I agree Reba. Chris is the motivation man! Seriously, goals and plans help us stay focused. Good for you.
Yeah. Goals are a funny thing aren’t they. Four years ago, I began running because…um, er, I was running away from something and I wanted to shed 30 pounds. After I lost the weight I was still running from something and it did not seem I could run far enough so I built up to running marathons.
Since then (yes, I’ve now run far enough!), my goals were static for a while in that I ran to keep in shape so I’d be healthy for my kids now and into the future. I did/do not want to be the kind of parent that can’t get off the couch and throw a baseball with my kids.
Lately, my focus has grown to include wanting to become stronger, more powerful and flexible. What I’m after is to re-capture some of the youthfullness of years past. I truly believe many of us lose speed, agility, flexibility etc because we slow down and don’t have fun with exercise. I also believe we can get those things back through hard work and increasing one’s range of activity in a playful manner.
blah blah blah?
Yeah, goals do have an interesting way of morphing and evolving. It’s never a straight shot from point A to point B, more like a meander. I figure the process of working towards a goal helps to clarify that goal and even change it into something that makes the most sense to you or that may even surprise you. All your goals sound very do-able and I like that you’ve put them into writing.
Looks pretty good to me! How challenging a course is your trail maratahon likely to be?