It’s been a whole month since my lovely dad died and I’ve passed that milestone and my first Father’s Day without him and it feels good.
It may be a strange thing to say so early on in the journey without dad but he was never one for going backwards, he was very much a ‘move on inside the bus’ kind of person.
The same feeling applies to where I’m going with training.
Like almost everyone the world over who likes to race, there are no races and no competitors and motivation is in short supply as a result. and it feels like something is missing all the time.
I love setting goals, even if they are little ones so it made sense to start making some more specific fitness goals.
Last week I tried to get 20,000 steps in each day as a start. I failed to manage it with only 18,649.8571 per day! Does it matter? Not really, and in many ways, the ‘failure shows us the way by showing us what isn’t the way‘.
The number of steps each day was arbitrary, there was something more substantial needed for it to feel I’d achieved something worthwhile. So, it’s time to get smart, well smartish.
Good old-fashioned short-term SMART goals
- 20,000 steps a day but with the caveat that each week at least 33% has to be done as run sessions.
- Complete the 40km Cairns Half IM cycle course in one go on the wind trainer.
- Get out on the bike at least once for a ride no shorter than 40km.
- At least one 2km swim in the pool.
- Get in the harbour baths pool just down the road regardless of how cool it may be. All of the above are specific to triathlon, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound because this is to be done in week one of my month-long quest to get SMART.
Mid-term SMART goals
- Two swims in the pool of 2km including drill sets and some short speed work.
- Two-hour trail run.
- One, 1km TT to set the bar on a month long goal to bring down the time by at least 10% over the next month.
- Ride the Port Mac half IM bike course in one go on the wind trainer.
- 20,000 steps with at least 30% as run steps.
The long-term goals are maybe not quite as long as they should be but they are going to get me out of my comfort zone.
One goal I want to complete before I turn 60 on the 5th October is to cover the full Ironman distance, 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42km run over a seven day period.
Since I took part in my first Ironman race in 2006 I’ve completed 17 in total and if Covid 19 had not bought everything to a standstill I had hoped to have made that 18 by now if IM Canada had gone ahead.
Í’m not setting any time goals on the Ironman challenge, I’m just going to enjoy the journey and celebrate the fact that I can get in the pool and swim, get on my bike and ride and run.
The challenge is specific to my desire to move forwards, it’s measurable in the simple distances that are laid down, it’s certainly attainable and relevant and has to be done before October 5th.