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BECOMING A WINNER
Goals - Setting Yourself up to Win
The first step to success is learning how to set goals. We have asked hundred of runners in our marathon clinic what got them out the door to do the required training. Over 90% answered that they had committed to the marathon and, thus, needed to do the training.
These goals need to be multiple, achievable, reasonable and definite. We often have runners come to us with too many and too disparate goals such as in the next 2 months I want to run a marathon, set 10K pr's, race every weekend and only run 10 miles a week. We suggest that you spend some time on a seasonal basis setting up goals. Look at the race calendar for the year, decide how many and what kind of races you want to do. Determine which races are most important to you. You can run a marathon, set 10K pr's and finish many races, but not all of these at the same time and not in 2 months.
In a training program, the easiest way to set goals is to lay out a written training program with long term goals, (6- 12 months), medium term (4-12) weeks, short term (1-4 weeks) and daily goals. Break the year and the race schedule into training and racing seasons; no one can race well either physically or mentally year round. You can run races year round, but plan to run them only for fun or as a training run during the training season. Next set goals for shorter periods of time. Most runners get into ruts of using mileage and pace as their only goals. Some runs are easy days, so the goal should be to run, relax and enjoy it. Other goals could be to run a different route or to run with a friend. The goal could be to be in control of the pace and run an even effort workout on both hard and easy days. The pace goal for a training run should be within a time window which has a maximum and a minimum. This way, if you stick to your training plan, you will guarantee being a winner if you run the workout within the planned times.
Keep a training log that has space for planned and actual runs. Record how you feel during each run.
To help you with goal setting you may want to join a training group like Team Oregon or get some private coaching.
Talking about your running and training with others runners is a way to maintain commitment. It is important for your family and friends to understand your level of commitment. Communicate to them what your running gives you, how it makes you feel, and , most important, your goals. That way they can understand when you go out the door when time is short, when the weather is bad or when you feel the need to run every day.
Vision - Making Things Happen
Vision is a very powerful concept. It has been called various names such as "mind over body" and, more recently, "feedforward". Routinely our existence is within a comfortable action/reaction loop where we are either performing (Action) or appraising(Reaction). Appraisal provides the knowledge or basis for action. If our actions result in positive feedback (ie we enjoy the action), we will approach performing the action or activity positively the next time. One very strong way we achieve enjoyment from a task is by being successful at doing the task. In other words, success breeds a positive approach to an activity. This positive approach is called confidence. Failure, on the other hand, destroys confidence. To maintain and improvement commitment, it is imperative for you to be successful, to feel that you are a winner and to build self confidence.
With increased levels of self confidence comes the ability to "push back the envelope", take risks, extend our horizons. This is always preceded by forward thinking, what we call vision. You can run 2 miles every day, then wake up one morning and think "what if I run 5 miles today". This is vision. Its the courage to extend beyond previous performance levels.
Note again, that our appraisal provides the knowledge or basis for action. A researcher, Maxwell Maltz, showed that appraisal takes place even when we are visualizing, just thinking about an activity and not performing it. Since appraisal drives performance,a positive visualization of a performance will help promote success in an actual performance. This aspect of sports psychology is called "feed forward". Its effectiveness has been demonstrated many times in Olympic training programs of the last decade.
The first step in improving your psychological performance is becoming aware of your feelings, thoughts and sensations while you are running. Leave your walkman at home and, instead, tune into your own body while running by yourself. Take note of what you are seeing, how you are feeling, and what you are thinking. You will be surprised ar the range of your thoughts and emotions.
If you want to control your own destiny, you need to know in advance what is expected of you and how you are going to produce it. This requires visualization. If you have planned your workouts in advance, this is the next step.
Before each workout, find a quiet place where you can relax and spend 5 - 10 minutes considering the workout. First, acquaint yourself with the workout's requirements : times, distance, etc. Then consider the goals of the workout and what it should do for you physiologically and, possibly, psychologically. Last picture yourself running the workout smoothly over the entire course and, finishing within you time window and getting any reward you have planned for yourself. As you get better at doing this, make the visualization as detailed as possible with colors, sounds, smells, and physical sensations of your experience.
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Writer Profile
OVIE ISRAEL E. OMANUDHOWHO
I am Israel 4 Christ, a young Motivational Speaker/ Writer. I am a citizen of the great country Nigeria. I have always believes that "Understanding the word of God Almighty is what it takes to be great in life."
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Comments
thanks Israel ISRAEL EWOMAZINO OMANUDHOWHO | Feb 22nd, 2008
Reall you have a vision for this generation
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