My Distal Goal
5km in 25 minutes or bust!

As we have been discovering throughout this course, goal setting is an important and worthwhile endeavour in both our personal and professional lives. Part of this course involves setting and working toward a distal goal, and it took me a while to decide that my goal would be about running.

My History with Running

I have a history with running. As a high school student, it was the one sport I could manage. Stop a hockey puck from entering the net? Not usually. Score a three-pointer in basketball? Not likely. Hit a quickly approaching baseball out of the park with a skinny baseball bat? Not a chance.

But run in a circle over and over without stopping? Yes! I could do this one! And so began an obsession with track and field that lasted for all of high school as an athlete, and then for the next 10 years as a coach. After a while, telling people to ‘go run another lap’ became much easier to do than to actually run one myself! And besides the inevitable lack of mobility that comes as you age, those years of competing in long distance cross country running, along with specializing in the high impact disciplines of hurdles and triple jump have left their mark in the form of creaky hips and ankles.

I now have two teenagers, one of whom (my son) is extremely athletically inclined. Besides getting all the sports genes that I never had, he is just really active, and if I want to keep up with him, I need to get back into shape. And though I have a history with running… it’s definitely more history than present.

The greater danger for most of us isn’t that our aim is too high and miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

Michelangelo

My distal goal is as follows:

I will be able to run 5km without stopping, in 25 minutes or less, by August 15^th.

I believe this goal obeys the principles of SMART goal setting: it is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant/reasonable, and timebound.

It won't be easy

According to Locke and Latham (2006) “ . . . studies showed that specific, high (hard) goals lead to a higher level of task performance than do easy goals or vague, abstract goals such as the exhortation to “do one’s best”” (p 265).

I know that this goal is going to hurt. A lot. But I also know that it's going to hurt a lot more if I don't put in the required practice, and if I don't follow my training plans and proximal goal monitoring plan. By choosing a hard goal, I anticipate that achieving this goal (or at least coming very close!) will be much more rewarding than achieving an 'easy or vague abstract goal.'

One step at a time

I have planned out a series of proximal goals to help me monitor my progress toward achieving my distal goal. My proximal goals are a series of small, yet still challenging running and time goals that are measurable, and will also provide targets along the way to my sub 25 or bust distal goal. These may be altered along the way if/when necessary.

According to Zimmerman (2002) "students who set specific and proximal goals for themselves displayed superior achievement and perceptions of personal efficacy."(p.64)

This short video is a great overview of the importance of setting proximal goals.

Come along for the run!

Follow me on my journey to the past, as I try to revive some (very) latent running skills, and meet my proximal goals along the way.

One step at a time I hope to delve into and explore running-related topics such as stretching and warmup, injury prevention, running and diet, running and mental health, cross-training; as well as goal-relate topics like finding motivation, dealing with procrastination and boredom, dealing with setbacks and challenges, and the importance of celebrating successes along the way!

Click the following link to see the journey, and whether I am successful in achieving my goal!

References:

Locke, E.A., & Latham, G.P. (2006). New directions in goal-setting theory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(5), 265-268

Zimmerman, B. J. (2002). Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. Theory into practice, 41(2), 64-70.