Articles

New Year New Goals?

Rachel Atherton

2020 is upon us and the New Year is an ideal time to start looking ahead and planning your running for the year.

Everyone is different and we all want to achieve different things in our running, whether that is to get a new 5km personal best, complete a marathon or to complete a 10km run without stopping.

No matter who we are and what we want to achieve we can all loose motivation some times, and let’s face it 12 months is a long time. We have come up with some tips that will hopefully help to keep you motivated and help give you some direction to your running.

 

Set a goal

It might seem obvious but setting a goal can help to keep us a track and give you something to work towards. If it’s wet and cold outside and you’re struggling to make it out of the door, having something in the back of your mind that you want to achieve can be the extra push that you need to get you out running.

Goals can be as big or as small as you want, but try to keep them realistic and relevant to yourself.

 

Enter a race

This might be linked to your goal or separate, but having a date in the diary can help keep you on track and committed to your training – especially if you have already paid the entry fee!

You could create a list or spreadsheet with the races that you would like to enter throughout the year, as this will also help you plan your training.

 

Be consistent

Consistency is key and improvement in running is largely linked to being consistent. The longer you can stick to a plan the better.

Try to build up a weekly routine, this could be to run a certain amount of miles per week, or to get out running a certain number of times a week. Once you’ve established your routine try to stick to it.

Keeping a training diary, or tracking your training on things such as Strava is a great way to help keep track of what you’ve actually done that week.

Remember – if you do increase your amount of running make sure you do it gradually to avoid injury!

 

Try something new / challenge yourself

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result – insanity!

Sometimes we have to challenge ourselves if we want to see a change. This doesn’t necessary have to mean running an ultra-marathon, it could be something such a doing more trail running. Again challenges are personal but keep your goal in mind when setting them.

A good tip is to combine short and long term challenges together. If you commit to a longer term challenge you can use the short term challenges as stepping stones to help you reach that goal.  

 

It won’t be plain sailing!

Plan vs Reality

Just remember as with any resolution or new goal it won’t always be easy or straightforward, but try and preserve as much as you can. When you achieve your goal all the hard work will be worth it.

 

A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action becomes a reality.

 

Happy Running in 2020!