As the future of endurance events continues to be unclear, its important to explore other types of goals that can positively impact your fitness and keep you motivated. Coach Brady shares his experience setting a unique goal for last month:

In the month of February, I set out to accomplish a fitness goal.  This was not like any of my previous personal fitness goals.  Power metrics were not a concern, percent improvement was not factored in and there was no event at the end of the block that was being considered.  This goal was focused on returning to a consistent routine with an overarching goal of increasing future training.  

My goal was simple: Increase consistency in my cycling routine by completing a minimum of 1 hour per day through the month of February.

In the years of helping athletes select goals and prepare for events, I have learned that it is important to challenge yourself but to also remember that life happens and reality needs to be factored in. Sometimes workdays get long, kids have events, motivation is low, weather sucks, or I have to travel. Because of that, I added an alternate way to meet my daily goal, not to make things easier, but to help increase efficacy. 

Alternate: If I was unable to ride for 1 hour, I could substitute a 5k run.

It sounds simple, but there were days that lacing up shoes and getting out the door was TOUGH… but knowing this option was there made things manageable.

Ultimately, the goal was accomplished and I was active every day except for one, where I found out I was potentially exposed to COVID-19. (I tested negative!)

Even though we are early in the month of March, I have found that creating this consistency in my activity has reinvigorated my desire to not only ride but also to train. It has even resulted in some improvements in fitness. Much like interval work and focused training, there are often carry-over benefits from simple goals like this one in other areas of our physiology and or personal life that are positively impacted. 

Curious about setting goals that aren’t event-focused? If you’re ready to get back into a routine, build base fitness, or simply explore new ways to approach you training, send us an email so we can chat with you about non-event goal setting!