QT: It’s OK to Reset Your Running Goals at Any Time

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How are you doing with your 2022 running goals?

Kicking ass and taking names? More or less doing alight?

My year has been a bit of a mixed bag so far, to be honest.

A few areas? Straight up killing it.

A few others? Not so much…

It’s OK to Reset Your Running Goals

Big goals, especially big annual goals, are often a bit of a crapshoot.

So many things can happen between January and December that can ruin even the best-laid plans.

Injury. New opportunities. Changing family dynamics. A new job. Moving to a new state.

The point being, as I may mention on occasion, life can happen.

And when life happens, sometimes we can just keep on keeping on with our goals.

Other times?

If life has properly fucked your goals this year, that’s not a reflection on you in any way/shape/form.

It sucks, but it happens to most of us on occasion.

If that’s happened to you, you can (should?) think about adjusting your running goals for the rest of the year.

Lord knows that’s what I’m doing.

My Pseudo-Dumpster Fire Scenario

If you remember back in January I laid out my running goals for the year.

• Run the Year
• Strength Training
• Cross Training/Yoga
• Foam Rolling
• 7:30 MAF Test

So far, so good on the strength training and the cross-training.

And the foam rolling is going pretty well too, though I’ve kind of changed the focus on that one to be a mobility focus as opposed to straight-up foam rolling.

The other two?

Thanks to a case of the itis and whatever is currently going on with my foot, I can’t see a scenario where I’ll be able to get back on track and get even close to 2022 miles and I’ve only done one MAF test for the year.

So yeah, time to reset my running goals for the rest of the year.

My Revised 2022 Running Goals

Life happens.

Not ideal, but it’s the way it is.

And when it does, we adjust as needed.

For me, that means my targets for the year have to change.

Mileage Goal:

I want to average 150+ miles for the last 4 months of the year.

Instead of setting a revised mileage goal for the year, I’m only focused on my average from September through December.

Why?

I don’t want to feel any pressure to rush myself back from this foot injury before my body is actually ready.

This gives me 4 months to take my time, allow my body to heal, and rebuild my base back up.

Strength Training:

Keep on keeping on.

It ain’t broke, I’m not going to fix it.

Cross-Training/Yoga:

More of the Same?

This one is, quite frankly, a bit of a question mark for me.

Thanks to the itis and my bum wheel, I’ve spent a fair bit of time in the saddle already this year.

So I’m going to overshoot my cross-training/yoga goal this year but a lot.

This is fine, but I’m not entirely sure how to adjust this goal right now because I don’t know how long it’ll be until I’m able to run regularly again.

I think my tweak here will simply be to keep the consistency of #norunwednesday in my schedule once my foot is good to go and just let the time in the saddle take care of itself.

Foam Rolling:

10 min of daily mobility work is the new target.

The fact of the matter is that I believe that taking care of my body is important if I want to keep running for the rest of my life.

And I can no longer convince myself that half-assing it for 5 minutes on the foam roller a few times a week is really doing much to keep me healthy.

See the itis and my bum wheel as supporting evidence of this belief.

I’m going to talk more about the book Ready to Run at some point soon-ish, but this may be the most important running-related book I’ve ever read.

Perhaps. But I think this book could be a massive game-changer for me.

And the premise the author makes is that if we want to stay healthy as runners we need to make sure our bodies can move naturally.

That requires a daily commitment to working on mobility, both by lengthening the muscles and by working the joints through a fuller range of motion.

10 minutes a day? I can do that.

I need to do that.

7:30 MAF Test:

To be determined…

This was always going to be a reach, even before the injury bug bit me.

I mean, I’d still love to be able to throw down a strong MAF test before the end of the year, and with all the work I’ve been forced to do on the bike who knows.

A 7:30 could still happen.

But if I can end up with my best ever MAF this year, I can live with that even if it isn’t quite in the sub-7:30 range.

Your Goals are Your Goals

When it comes to your goals, all that matters is that they work for you.

What I’m doing? What your running partners are doing? What people on social media are doing?

If your goals from the start of the year are still working for you? Awesome!

Keep on keeping on.

But if you feel the need to reset your running goals for 2022? Do it.

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Do you need to reset your running goals for the year? If so, there is no time like the present to do so! #runchat Click To Tweet

How Has Your 2022 Been So Far?

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