Start Setting Your 2014 Goals Today! Part II: Medium Term Goals.

It’s an annual tradition: people set their New Year Goals. In most cases the goals are dashed off with only a few moments of thought. Rarely do they last more than a few weeks into the new year. This year let’s do it right. Let’s develop some good goals, and write them down, make a plan, and accomplish some real goals that we can look back next year and take some pride in what we have accomplished.

I’m going to do it. Come along with me?

I talked about identifying and establishing long-term goals in Part One.  Now I want to talk about making medium term goals.

2014 Goal – RUN MY FIRST MARATHON

I’ve run everything up to a half marathon, but that is not where I want to end up. No, my ultimate long-term goal is to complete the Comrade’s Marathon in South Africa, an 89+ kilometer ultra run on roads with lots of atmosphere and history. The sticking point is you must qualify to get into this run. I have to get a suitable time in a race of a marathon or longer. I’ve yet to run a marathon, so my obvious medium-term goal is to complete a marathon. I have to complete a marathon in a fast enough time to qualify to be on of the 18,000 Comrades starters.

Now the actual qualifying time is not the egregious – simply run a five-hour or better marathon. But I am in knee and ankle braces and cobbling around on crutches. How do I get from crutches to the finish line of a marathon?

That is why I need to make some short-term and medium term goals to get me there. Most marathon programs are 3-6 months long. The Comrades Marathon website even has a set of eleven-month programs to get a person ready for its event. But the Comrade programs are basically slotted in two stages: July to March to simply build general fitness and get ready for the heavy training. Then March to May looks to specifically build the fitness to complete and succeed at the actual event. A nine month off-season  preparation followed by a three-month training program.

What Will Be My First Marathon?

So I am now at the point that I really need to decide on my first marathon event. Coming off a leg injury I need to have enough time to build for it. So that means I need the training time plus additional time I need to rehab from my current crutches to at least jogging up to, say an hour. That surely means that realistically the early part of the year is out. The second half of the year, pushing out into the October to December time frame to be safe (in case rehab goes slower than I hope).

I also need to consider that since this is first marathon after a major leg injury, I probably want a race course that is fairly flat and easy, no crazy hills.

And I am actually fortunate to have a marathon that fits the bill right here in my home in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The 2014 version will be on October 5. It is a flat course that winds through the port city. It is a tropical location so it will be warm, but I am pretty well acclimated to the area. Since my main goal is merely to finish, this should work out well.

Other options would involve the expense and hassle of traveling, and about the only improvement I might find over the local marathon is cooler weather. I’m happy to stay warm and local.

2014 Goal: Run My First Marathon at the Maraton de Guayaquil.

While I am at it, the local race calendar has a Half Marathon on 6 July, which would be a good mid-year way point to aim for and test myself out.

Next post, I’ll start banging out some short-term goals and a plan to make this all work.