Crush your 2024 athletic goals: The 5 step plan every female athlete needs!
Hi there all of my fellow female endurance athletes!
Here we are, the beginning of a new year! A time when many of us look back on our fitness journeys over the past 12 months, and when we look forward to what we hope to accomplish over the next year. For many, the new year signifies a new beginning, a metaphorical blank slate on which we can write our future. Although we don’t have to wait for New Year’s Day to start working on a goal, we tend to like significant days to start to work toward a goal. What will 2024 bring for you? What will you accomplish? No matter what you set your sights on, to accomplish the goal you will have work for the goal. Following these 5 steps will help you achieve what you want. The steps are:
Look Back
Look Ahead
Plan
Perform
Review
Look Back
The first two steps on goal setting is to look back, and to look ahead. Look back on what you have accomplished, on what you have tried to accomplish. What struggles did you face? What strengths, skills and supports helped you get through those obstacles. What struggles knocked you down? What skills do you wish you had?
Look Ahead
Now look ahead, at this time next year what do you want to look back on and say you did, you tried or accomplished? What do you want to say about yourself in 12 months? This is the foundation for your goal(s).
Have you heard of SMART goals? Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound. We are going to focus on specific, attainable and relevant. If the goal is specific, it is measurable and time bound.
How often have you heard people say (or maybe you have said yourself), “I’m going to be healthier.” or “I’m going to run faster”, or “I’m going to be happier” but what does that actually mean? How will you know if you have accomplished it? What metrics are you using to measure health? Is it lower blood pressure? Lower fasting blood glucose? How are you measuring “faster”? What is the actual pace or percentage faster do you want to run and over what distance? What does happier actually mean? What will that allow you to do? In December 2024 how will you know that you have achieved “happier”?
A goal’s attainability is determined by the big picture in your life. Do you have the time, skills, monetary resources, and support to achieve this goal? When a goal is not achieved it is because we don’t have skills, tools, opportunities or support to achieve it. When we plan to work toward a goal, our 1st stop is do we have the time, and do we have the support. If the answer is no, then it’s time to reconsider the goal. If the answer is yes, move on to planning to gain the skills, tools, opportunities and supports.
The goal’s relevance is looking at the “want” instead of “should”. Is this goal a want or a should. A “want” comes from you, a “should” comes from pleasing what we think others want for you. If you’re a triathlete who has done many sprint and Olympic distance events, you may think you “Should” do a half Ironman. Or if you have done several 5k or 10k races, maybe you think you “should” do a half marathon or marathon. If the goal is a should, the desire and the drive will be lacking. A want will get you off the couch when the weather is bad, a should will have you watching the next episode of whatever Netflix show you are watching.
Plan
Planning to meet a goal is your map to building the skills, tools, supports and opportunities. It is helpful to work backwards. Start at the end, what does success look like? Move back month by month, what steps need to be taken to meet the goal. If your goal is a 50k run, you will need to build to that. What will you hope to run one month out, two months out? These steps will be important when we get to our review stage of goal achievement. You will also think about what obstacles do you anticipate. Even though we will make a solid plan, obstacles will arise. Planning for these obstacles will either prevent them from happening, or will help you respond better.
Perform
Performing is where the rubber meets the road (literally if you are a cyclist). This is the step of following the plan. It is contacting a coach if you need support designing and implementing a training program. It is contacting a sports dietician if part of your plan is to dial in your race day and training nutrition. It is contacting me, or another mental skills coach or sports psychologist if part of your plan is to silence the self doubt or inner critic. It is meeting with a trainer at the gym if part of your goal is to get stronger. It is getting off the couch and going for the run that is planned.
Review
Finally, you will periodically check in to review the plan and your progress. Are you on track? What unforeseen obstacles came up? What skills, tools, opportunities or supports do you still need to develop? Is this still the goal you want to work on? Does the goal need any adjustments?
There it is, a 5 step process to set and meet your goals. Reaching our goals is a circular process, with planning, performing, reviewing and back to planning. To achieve our goals we have to be willing to pivot and adjust as needed. Good luck!! Use these 5 steps, and let me know what goals you will be working on. Schedule a free consultation with me to see how I can help you CRUSH your athletic goals.
