When it comes to setting your racing goals simply remember your ABCs. Before the season starts, identify the main races you want to target and prioritize those races using these ABCs: A-priority races: The one to three most important races of the season. Training will be designed around these races to allow you to peak for them. Ideally, these will occur together in a … [Read more...]
After Setting Your Goals, Now What?
Establishing an ambitious set of goals for the season can sometimes feel like an accomplishment in its own right. But setting your goals is only the first step toward achieving those goals. So what’s next? 1. Make those goals a priority Once you’ve set your goals it’s time to make those goals a priority. That means eradicating those attractive (but inevitably misleading) … [Read more...]
Begin it Now
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” These lines, often attributed to Goethe, seem particularly appropriate as the calendar turns the page into the New Year. If you have had your sights set on a dream you have never quite been able to act upon, heed the call. Begin it. Begin it now. Here are three … [Read more...]
Visions of the Big Race
Visualize Yourself Running in the State Meet Although this article is geared to high school cross country runners, the general point is applicable to athletes of any age preparing for a big race. Before you reach for a goal, you must first imagine what that goal looks like. If you’re a high school runner looking to run in the state championships, it is helpful to know what … [Read more...]
Three Details to Make You a Better Multisport Athlete
This video discusses three details worth paying attention to as multisport athletes: functional strength work, running drills, and recovery. Attention to these details will help you become a stronger, fitter and faster athlete. … [Read more...]
Ten Guidelines for Effective Goal Setting
“The longest journey begins with a single step.” —Lao Tzu Whether we make formal New Year's resolutions or not, most of us find the beginning of the new year to be a time of reflection about what has passed and what we want to achieve now that we have a "fresh start". It's a time of setting goals and for athletes, many of these goals relate to training and racing. When … [Read more...]
10 Things You Should Know About Attitude
1. Having a good attitude is a choice. As such, a person’s state of mind is what that individual makes it. An attitude is nothing more than a habit of thought that is acquired. In that regard, individuals can determine only what they will think about or how they will act in response to their circumstances or events. In other words, individuals choose their own attitude--good or … [Read more...]
Mental Skills Training: Keeping Your Head in the Game
"There's nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." —Shakespeare Given that optimal performance relies as much on psychology as physiology, the best physical preparation in the world can only take an athlete so far. As anyone who has ever engaged in a performance activity knows, the situation can induce a significant level of mental stress in addition to the … [Read more...]
Goal Setting Guidelines for the New Season
How to Use Goals to Achieve Desired Results "The longest journey begins with a single step." —Lao Tzu Although the start of the new year is associated with new year's resolutions, the goal setting process involves much more than simply resolving to finish in the top ten of that target race next season. Yet when properly implemented, goal setting can play a central role … [Read more...]
