2012 Goals

I’ve never been a big resolution person. Setting unspecific goals such as “conserving energy” or “working out more” isn’t going to motivate me to change. That’s just me. I need concrete, specific, goals. I think the reason I did so well with P90X was that I had a set goal to work toward and a plan to follow to achieve that goal. I also knew that I would be posting my before/after pictures on my blog and that was definitely a big motivator when my will power was waning or I didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. Setting goals is important but perhaps equally important is expressing those goals to others so that you can hold yourself accountable.

With that being said, I’m going to set my goals for 2012 here on my  blog so that I can hold myself accountable. When I want to give up, I’ll think about how it will feel to tell everyone that I failed. Although I’ve learned this doesn’t always work (aka back in 2010 w hen I wanted to break 2 hours at the AFC half marathon and told everyone and their mom about my goal and then failed by 1 minute 59 seconds), but at least it’s a good motivator! I can pretty much guarantee that setting goals will at least get me a bit closer to achieving them even if I ultimately fail.

So here they are (in order of importance):

1) Finish Ironman Couer D’Alene. I’m not going to say in XX hours because really the goal here is to finish. Deep down, I’d love to rock this Ironman and pull out some awesome finishing time like 13 hours, but really I know that is unrealistic seeing as it will have been about 1 year since I learned to ride a road bike on race day. My B goal at CDA is to finish before dark, which in the Northwest in June will  be around 10 p.m. (ie 15 hours into the race). But really, I just want to finish, even if I do it in the lonely darkness.

2) Run a Sub 1:45 Half Marathon. In January of 2010 I achieved my goal of a sub 2 hour half with a time of 1:59:23. In April, I dropped more time with a 1:54 and in August I went 1:53. Dropping 8 more minutes seems possible and I hope to do it in August at the AFC Half Marathon. If not, I’ll probably race the VERY flat Silver Strand Half in Coronado in November.

3) Complete P90X2. I already have a copy of P90X2 in my possession but because of the Ironman and all my other goals, this one is going to be put on the back burner until the Fall. I already miss strength training! I’ve been trying to get push-ups and plenty of core work in during Ironman training but it’s just  not the same as weight lifting. After I did P90X the first time I said I’d never not include 3 days of strength training in my routine but with the Ironman it’s impossible to get it in without affecting my swims, bikes and runs.

4) Run a Sub 3:50 Marathon. I’m hoping to go under 4 hours at Surf City in February and have been running my Yasso 800s in 3:50 intervals hoping to achieve this goal, but it may not happen at Surf City. If it doesn’t, I may just have to sign up for another marathon in the Fall. We’ll see how long of a break I need after CDA.

5)Podium at a Triathlon. Last year I placed 3rd in my age group at my 1st Olympic distance triathlon, the TriRock San Diego Triathlon. As this was a smaller race, I’m not confident that I can podium at another one, but I want to set it as a goal for myself. Ideally, I’ll podium at the Solana Beach Triathlon in July, but the competition is pretty fierce there and the past winners have run wicked fast 5ks (ie in 20 minutes) so I’m not sure it’s possible for me. I also have my 10 year high school reunion the night before this race so that could put a dent in my plan. If not here, then I’d like to podium at another local race, perhaps and Olympic distance again.

I will be happy if I just achieve #1 on my goal list, but the others would be nice too. Some more “resolution” type goals include spending less money on triathlon gear (which should be easy since I spent several thousand in 2011), stretching and foam rolling frequently, and maintaining a 90/10 ratio when it comes to eating healthy food vs. treats.

Did you set goals for yourself this year?