Planning and Goal Setting Part 2

My scheduled workout for today was a 12-14 miles long run. I felt great when I started this run this morning. Around mile 8, I started not feeling very well. My body felt achy all over. I slowed down for mile 8, thinking I maybe should just slow my pace down a little bit. It didn't work. I started feeling worse. At mile 13, I decided it was time to stop. I've been fighting a cold, and I really think that's what made me feel so bad. I had never felt so bad after a run. After about an hour, I started feeling better.

Next, it was off to the gym to do a brick on the exercise bike and treadmill with Tara. I decided it was best to take it easy, so I just pedaled easy on the bike and walked on the treadmill while Tara did her workout. Got 12 miles in on the exercise bike and a little bit of walking.

Totals for the week: Swimming 0 yards, Biking, 12 miles, Running 38 miles, 1 core workout

Goal Setting - Many people have probably heard that your goals should be "SMART," which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. I think these are good rules to follow when you're setting your multisport goals. Setting goals is very important, as your training plan can then be designed to help you attain these goals. Additionally, goals help you to stay focused in your training, stay motivated, and make you feel a sense of accomplishment when you achieve them. It's important to note, that your goals don't necessarily have to be based around a race. For example, it would be possible to have a goal that says: "To swim 1000 yards,in a pool in under 20 minutes without by June 2009." The number of goals you have is up to you, but I would recommend keeping it to a reasonable number of challenging yet attainable goals. If you achieve all of you goals for a year early in the season, you can always set more. Tomorrow, we'll look at how to integrate your goals into your training plan.