Coaches Corner - Failing like a Pro: aka Goal Setting 101 for non-majors, aka How to Finish a Race Feeling Satisfied and Happy with Your Race Effort Instead of Complaining about What Didn't Go Right and How Your Training Didn't go According to Plan and blah blah blah.
(We're all guilty of that last one, and it's a bad habit.)
Set multiple goals with varying levels and measures of success.
People often comment that my running always looks effortless and easy. That's true on some (but not all) of my easy days. But that is not true when I am working hard. Track workouts, tempo runs, hills, and races are always hard. Just like you all, I have to put up with "pain" (I don't like using that word to describe this but whatever), discomfort, and the constant voice in my head that tells me to give up.
So, I give you exhibit A: my face in this picture that Katherine took while I was racing a 5k this morning.
If you look closely, you'll notice that my eyes are closed (why did I close my eyes?? Was I trying to escape reality? I think I was wishing that it hurt less...) and my neck is arched back due to fatigue and "pain" as I try with all my might to stop slowing down.
In the end, I continued to slow down. But overall I had a good race. 17:35 for a successful 5k. My goals were to...
Run a more evenly split race than usual
Run closer to 17-minutes flat than 17:30
Have a strong 3rd mile
More times than not, suppress the voice in my head that tells me to give up.
If all esle fails, don't run slower than 5:40 pace.
Embrace failure and learn from it!
I achieved some successes but also failed in many areas. I ran evenly for the first two miles, 5:30 and 5:34 (success), but then I started to fall apart in mile 3 and ran 5:55 (failure). I did not achieve my 2nd goal (failure). I also did not achieve my 3rd goal (failure). I partially achieved my 4th goal (success) but I would say that when the chips were down, I let the voice win (failure). And I achieved goal 5...barely (success).
Overall, I'm happy with the race! I mostly failed, and I'm happy! What?!? Why am I happy? I mostly failed!
Because I achieved success in multiple goals, to a certain degree, and most importantly I learned things that will help me grow and improve!
Failure is the best learning opportunity you have to become better or improve. Bcause it shows you how to get better or at least you have a better idea anyway.
Now, because I failed, I know what I need to do to improve. I've got two more 5k races over the next 6 weeks, and my goal in my training is to learn from these failures and show up a little better prepared next time.
Remember, failure is important! It tells you where you need to improve! It is a roadmap for learning! But if we don't learn from our failures then we've got some serious problems. And this is the main problem I see with a lot of runners. Little to no learning and improving. How do you do this?
Make sure you have multiple goals for races and workouts and make sure you reward yourself for your successes while also learning from your failures. It's okay to be simultaneously happy with a race that did not meet expectations as well as disappointed you did not perform at a certain level. It is okay to fail! I'll say it again. IT IS OKAY TO FAIL.
Your goals should encourage/promote your growth as an athlete (and a person).
In Fact, not only is failure okay, it is good to fail! If you're not failing then you're not really trying and growing as a person or as an athlete. But growth won't happen without intentional, thoughtful goal setting.
Good goals are intentional and growth promoting, bad goals are aribtrary and meaningless
Most people think they have good goals but in fact have arbitrary goals like running faster, running a new PR, qualifying for the Boston Marathon, or moving up to a longer race distance (like training for a marathon after running a half or training for a 50k after training for a marathon).
Can one of those goals intentional and growth promote? Of course! But for the most part, people don't really know why they do things. We're all guilty of this.
If you tell me you want to run a half-marathon, and I ask you why, then what would you say? You want to see if you can do it? Why? Most people don't have an answer beyond this level.
If you say you want to run a PR, and I ask you why, then what would you say? You probably wouldn't have much of an answer.
Takeaway: If you can't explain your reason very well, then you are probably chasing an arbitrary goal.
The Majority of Your Goals Should Be Within Your Circle of Control
When thinking about your goals, don't be afraid to set high goals and aim for improvement! Spoiler alert: you will fail to reach some of your goals. Sorry to drop that nugget of truth on you.
Did you notice that most of my goals were not focused on pace or finishing time? Did you also notice that I didn't try to run a PR? Not my goal. Time-based goals can be great, but make sure they are only one of your numerous goals. We can't control pace and finishing times as much as we like to think we can. Choose goals where you can control the outcome. By definition, a PR is a rare event and therefore largely out of your control. It can be a goal, but make sure it is only one of many.
If your goals depend on other people, the weather, your family stressing you out, getting the perfect night's sleep, or your schedule going according to plan (it never does, just admit it), then you are set up to fail, which, if you remember, is good...as long as you learn from it and fix these goal setting problems in the future.
Examples of goals outside your circle of control might be some of the following (this is a nonexhaustive list): a personal record or personal best, placing top 3 in your age group, finishing the race in a certain time, qualifying for the Boston Marathon, following your training calendar perfectly, hitting a specific weekly mileage number, running a perfectly evenly split race, running a specific pace for every mile of a race, etc..
Examples of goals within your circle of control might include the following nonexhaustive list: Be competitive with (which means try to beat or hang on to) the people around you in the race, successfully combat the voice inside your head that regularly tells you to slow down or quit for no good reason, run a more evenly paced race, finish within a window of time, keep a specific pace within +/- 5%, keep a specific pace within +/- 10%, if you do listen to the voice and slow down or give up, then get started going again within 10-seconds or 20-seconds or 1-minute, negative split a race in order to finish strong at the end, go out too hard at the start and find your limit, go out too hard at the start and risk blowing up to see if you have an amazing race, out kick more people than usual at the end of the race, hold off more kickers than usual at the end of a race etc..
And finally, a Word on Time-Based Goals
A word on the ultimate goal: a new PR or a time-based goal. I love time-based goals, and I have a time-based goal for every distance that I race. But the point I'm trying to make is that a time-based goal should be one tool in your toolbox. A new PR is a great goal, but don't let it ruin all of the other ways you can grow as an athlete (and a person). Remember, PRs are rare. Don't rely on them as motivation.
And as you get older, you will need to establish new age-group PRs because you will slow down. Don't deny reality and bemoan it. The point of a PR is that you have done your best ever in a specific setting. As you age, your setting changes, so you need to celebrate all the new PRs you run in your new setting!
Coach Ward out.