Out with the Old, In With the New - 2009 vs 2010 Goals

The key to goal-setting - make them quantifiable, both in magnitude and measured time to achievement! 

But first, let's review.  I set 3 New Year's Resolution Fitness Goals at the beginning of 2009:

1. STAY ACTIVE - Run at least 3 half marathons - I had completed 3 half marathons in 2008 so my goal was to complete at least as many in 2009.  I ended up finishing 8 half marathons this year.
2. GET FASTER ON SHORTER DISTANCE - Get to 32 minute PR on the 5K - With a previous PR of 35 1/2 minutes going into 2009, I thought this was ambitious.  I had a phenomenally great run at the Mardi Gras Run in Dallas in January 2009 and suddenly found myself with a 32:19 PR!  In late September, I finished a 5K training run with exactly 32:00 showing on the Garmin GPS.  No 32 minute 5K in a race yet then, but I did PR, even if it was in training!
3. GET FASTER ON LONGER DISTANCE - Break 2 1/2 hours (PR) on the half marathon - I started 2009 with a PR of 2:54, set at the 2008 Dallas White Rock Half Marathon.  So this was my most aggressive goal - to shave 24 minutes off of my half time.  I ended 2009 sadly not completing this goal.  I PRed 5 of my 8 half marathons this year and as of 12/13/2009, at the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon, have a PR of 2:32:51.  I am not disappointed as I knew what a hard goal this would be and am very proud of the progress I made in one year!

Also, late in the year, end-of-October or early-November, at about 360 miles for the year at the time, I added the goal of hitting 500 miles for the year.  A bad cold in the second half of December seriously derailed that plan and I ended up with around 460.  I'm not disappointed, as it's something to improve upon for next year.  Every 3 months I ran more and more miles, so it's setting up for a good 2010!

On to 2010...  since 2009 was my first time to make goals for my fitness, for next year I am ready to add more goals...  These are only my fitness goals, I will keep my personal goals, well, personal.

I separated my goals into Distance Goals and Speed Goals.  I further limited some goals to only the first half of the year or segmented the process into checkpoints of mid-year and end-of-year.  This allows me to adjust over time while still having a "drop dead date" on some measurable level of progress.

2010 Distance Goals

• Complete at least 10 half marathons in 2010 aka "10 halfs in '10" - I completed 8 in 2009
• Run 500 miles by June 30 - I ran about 460 miles total in 2009, but only about 70 were in the first half of the year.  Over the course of the year my weekly mileage did increase.

2010 Speed Goals

• Complete 3 half marathons in 2 ½ hours or faster - Since I did not reach the 2009 goal of breaking 2 1/2 hours in the half (current PR: 2:32:51), I am not ready to set a new specific PR goal.  Instead I thought the focus should be on improving to the point of somewhat consistently breaking the 2009 goal over several races!
• Finish a 5K in 31 minutes (10 min/mi pace) or faster by June 30 - current PR is 32 minutes and only accomplished once.  Rather than be unknowingly too aggressive, or, conversely, giving myself way too much time to shave one minute off my 5K time, I chose to choose a reasonable, unintimidating goal - just take one minute off - over a 6 month period.  After which I can reassess and either try to maintain that 31 minute 5K or further improve it.
• Run a mile in 9:30 by June 30, run a mile in 9:00 by Dec. 31 - Current PR: 9:56. I'm not great at going "all out" on runs so I've added a goal to focus on a harder run for a shorter distance. This is an incremental goal to seek process at six-month intervals.

Next up... I'm trying to finalize my Spring 2010 Race Calendar, so I can start working toward "10 halfs in '10", so I will be posting that shortly!