Goal Setting Strategies that Actually Work - Coach Tip Tuesday

Today is the last day of 2024.  The last day of anything - a week, a month, a season, etc. - often prompts at least a little bit of reflection over the period of time that preceded it.  That being said, the transition from one year to another tends to prompt reflection more than any other time period.  

This is due to The Fresh Start Effect, which is a term coined by researchers at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, describes the mental accounting periods that are generated in humans at the onset of new weeks, months, years, or seasons.  Temporal landmarks such as these often cause people to broaden their view on their lives, and thus inspire them toward aspirational thoughts and behaviors, such as exercising, dieting, pursuing goals, etc.  In other words, the sensation of something new - including a new time period - mentally stimulates the desire for us to make big and broad “changes” to our lives.

Despite our enthusiasm to view new time periods so optimistically, New Year’s Resolutions are notoriously ineffective; only 9% of the people who set them feel that they are successful at keeping or reaching them.  This is one of the main reasons that I don’t think we should set them.  I do, however, embrace the reflectiveness that happens at this time of year, as I think engaging in constructive reflection can lead to some valuable insights that can positively influence some of the choices we do make in the coming year.

How to Set Effective Running, Cycling, Triathlon, & Swimming Goals

Not all people set New Year’s Resolutions, but most endurance athletes do set some sort of goal or goals for themselves.  While not the same thing as New Year’s Resolutions, the two things - endurance sports goals and New Year’s Resolutions - require similar things if one is going to be successful at reaching them.  And thus, endurance athletes would do well to embrace some of these in their own goal setting and planning.  As you reflect over the past season and year, you should consider what worked well for you, what could have been improved, what elements or moments challenged you, what moments or elements were the ones that prompted the most growth for you, and what you are most excited about in the coming year and season.

Whether your primary sport is running, cycling, triathlon, or open water swimming, the most important ingredient to a good goal is that it be authentic.  Goals that you set because someone else also set them, because you think someone else will be impressed that you set them, or that are rooted in other superficial reasons do not have the substance to last and to prompt the long-standing behaviors and habits that will be required to reach goals.  For the maximum probability of success - not to mention a higher probability of long-term enjoyment and satisfaction - athletes need to understand their true, authentic selves and to set goals that are in alignment with that.

Second, while it’s very okay to have “reach” goals that exceed your current capabilities (and therefore that you have to work toward, particularly over a longer period of time), it’s actually really important that goals be set pragmatically relative to where you currently are ability-wise.  If a goal is too far away from where your current abilities lie, it can (and almost always does) create problems down the road.  

When an athlete’s ability and their goal are too far apart from each other, it can lead to frustration and burnout.  Even if your heart wants something very badly, your brain will be able to detect if your goal is too far away from where you currently are ability-wise.  That will lead you to (consciously or unconsciously) engage in avoidance behaviors, including micro-quitting.  You will be unintentionally shutting down your internal drive and motivation before you start on the path to your goal.  Instead, athletes are more successful when they set goals that are just beyond their current capabilities.  Goals set in this realm feel attainable - albeit with a bit of work - and this helps contribute to athletes having a higher dose of motivation as they work towards them, which, in turn, leads to a higher success rate at reaching them.  

Outcome Goals vs. Process Goals

Most athletes who I’ve worked with over the years will default to setting outcome goals.  Outcome goals are goals that are based on the specific outcomes of a race, such as time or finishing placement relative to other athletes in the race.  Outcome goals are easily quantifiable because they are set around numbers, whether those numbers are numbers on a finish line clock, numbers that reflect an athlete’s speed or pace, or numbers that indicate an athlete’s placement in the race.  It is very clear whether or not an athlete has achieved an outcome goal, because they either hit the time, pace, or placement that they desired…or they don’t.  

This “all or nothing” nature of outcome goals can be - perhaps paradoxically - simultaneously comforting and heartbreaking for athletes.  There is comfort because having a number to work towards is tangible.  It is something that an athlete can easily gauge their performance relative to; they can use the data recorded from wearables (such as Garmin watches) and other fitness recording devices to see where they lie relative to where they want (wish) to be.  

That being said, outcome goals can be heartbreaking for athletes because there’s no middle ground; you either are meeting the standard that you set for yourself, or you are not.  Over the course of my career, while I’ve seen that some athletes do successfully achieve outcome goals, I’ve observed that athletes are often not hitting the time standards that they set for themselves in training and racing (often due to the fact that the numbers that they are aiming to hit are unrealistic given their current capabilities).  The fact that they are not hitting the time or number standards that they set for themselves can cause them to engage in unhelpful behaviors such as denial and to allow those numbers to dictate how they view and feel about themselves as athletes (i.e. “If I am not hitting [insert pace or speed here], I am not that good of an athlete”).

On the other hand, process goals are goals that are set around elements such as technique, skill, and mental fortitude (i.e. to nail fueling and hydration, to ride bravely on hill descents, to increase climbing skills, to embrace all weather conditions, etc.).  Process goals are not easily quantifiable, which is the main reason I’m sure that most athletes don’t default to setting process goals.  They are more nebulous and there are not clear metrics or markers to demonstrate to athletes that they are en route to being successful at reaching these types of goals.  It also honestly takes more time and mental effort for athletes to both set process goals and then to engage with their training to determine if they are making progress toward them than it does to look at the numbers and gauge their performance against an outcome goal.  The extra work required by process goals causes athletes - often unconsciously - to shy away from setting them.

In my experience, the willingness (and quite frankly, the ability) to set process goals is a learned behavior.  Very specifically, it is a behavior learned by athletes after experiencing the frustration, disappointment, burnout, and lack of motivation that often follows setting outcome goals.  It is only by experiencing these negative impacts that athletes see merit in valuing the process of what they are actually doing, versus just the end result.

How to Find Happiness & Contentment in Training

According to happiness expert Dr. Gillian Mandich, 40% of our happiness is determined by our everyday thoughts and behavior and 50% of our happiness is genetically determined.  The final 10% of our happiness is determined by our current circumstances…aka things like reaching an outcome goal.  The fact that a mere 10% of our happiness is determined by current circumstances explains why the arrival fallacy - which is the belief that reaching a specific goal will bring long-lasting and consistent happiness - is so potent.  

For athletes, they think that finishing a race within a given time, winning a particular race, or beating other athletes will make them feel good and will bring them sustained joy.  While it is really alluring to think that we’ll be happy and feel incredibly fulfilled once we reach a goal that we set (and this line of thinking can cause a strong dose of initial drive work toward our goals), the reality is that our best chance at long-lasting contentment and happiness comes from directing our focus to what we do behavior and habit-wise in our day-to-day lives, not just to a single outcome way off in the future.

It is important to note that the outcome - any outcome - of a race is never up to an individual athlete (and yes, that does include you).  Therefore, while you may think you do and/or feel like you do, you do not actually have control over whether or not you will hit outcome goals, especially if your outcome goals are dependent on the finishing places of other athletes in the race.  (An overall finishing place, placing in your age group, qualifying for a world championship, or qualifying for a national championship are all examples of goals that are dependent on the outcomes of other athletes.)  You are, however, completely in charge of how you execute any process goals you set for yourself.  What’s wonderful about this is that how effectively you achieve your process goals will absolutely impact your overall performance when race day does come.

Embracing the Process Positively Impacts Outcomes

This means that if you set process goals and commit to working toward achieving them, you will give yourself a higher probability of achieving outcome goals.  And this is important because while I am strongly advocating for process goals, I am not completely opposed to athletes setting outcome goals.  In fact, I think just the opposite.  Outcome goals are goals that matter.  When leveraged properly, they can define the path that we take to reach them, aka the process goals that will generate sustainable and longer-lasting habits and contentment.  Additionally, it does feel really good when we successfully achieve an outcome goal, and this cannot be understated.  The trap that most athletes fall into (and which falls under the umbrella of the arrival fallacy) is that they think that the achievement of the outcome goal itself - and only the achievement itself - will be what provides them with long-term satisfaction.

But how we spend our time and energy on a daily basis is what will provide us that lasting satisfaction.  For that reason, I think that athletes should set outcome goals that are in alignment with their current capabilities and that their process goals are oriented toward.  By doing this - setting a combination of process goals and pragmatic outcome goals - athletes will not only have a higher probability of successful goal achievement across the board, but they will find that they derive more contentment, happiness, and joy from what they are doing on a more regular basis, which will increase their overall happiness and joy that they get from endurance sports and from their lives as a whole.

Training effectively represents 99% of what endurance athletes actually do.  Therefore, in order to sustain endurance sports training for more than a few weeks or months, athletes would do well to find a mechanism to find at least contentment if not outright joy in what they are doing day-in and day-out.  This is especially true because progress - in endurance sports or in anything else in life - is not linear, no matter how much we might wish or imagine that it is.  In order to ride out the inevitable ups and downs that come with running, cycling, triathlon, or swimming training, athletes need to find an authentic, deep-rooted reason to keep being consistent and to keep putting one foot in front of the other day after day. 

Everyone likes to talk about motivation, but I honestly think that motivation is extremely overrated.  If I waited until I felt motivated to do a workout to actually do one, I would have probably completed about 30 runs, 10 bike rides, and 2 strength sessions instead of the 109 runs, 48 bike rides, and 92 strength sessions that I did in 2024.  Instead of waiting around for motivation to strike me like a lightning bolt, I needed to find something to look forward to in the process itself of these activities, and I needed to find something deep within me that was worth striving for and that was worth spending my most valuable asset - my time - on.  

I raced twice in 2024, which means that literally 99.9% of what I did endurance sports-wise was tied to my daily behaviors - aka process.  My endurance sports journey in 2024 was not rooted in or sustained by an outcome.  If I had only been focused on outcomes, almost all of what I did this year might have felt sub-standard or disappointing since it accounted for such a small part of what I actually did.  Instead, I feel that I had one of my best years since becoming an endurance athlete, and I don’t feel this way because of what the time on a finish line clock said or what my Garmin told me.  I found joy in the process.  And while we are all individuals and no two athletes will ever be exactly alike or have the exact same emotions surrounding training, I use the example of my own training this year to demonstrate that it is very possible to find the joy in the process that I’ve been talking about.

How to Set Process & Outcome Goals

The first step in setting either process or outcome goals is to take stock of where your current abilities actually lie.  Take a look back over your workout log for the last 6-8 weeks.  (If you don’t currently keep a good workout log, this would be a good time to start doing so.)  Ask yourself the following questions:

• How many workouts have you completed each week?
• How many unplanned days off from training have you taken each week?
• What is your average training volume?
  • Be sure to look at the overall average, as well as the average for each individual type of workout you complete (such as strength training, running, cycling, etc.).
• What have you average speeds/paces been in your key workouts each week?
• How did you feel over the course of the last 6-8 weeks, both in individual workouts and overall?
• Did you consistently include and/or complete supporting elements (such as stretching, mobility work, daily nutrition, workout fueling, hydration, etc.) in your daily and weekly training?

Asking yourself these questions and then (very importantly) answering them honestly will give you a very clear picture of where you currently are ability-wise.  Once you have this understanding of where you currently are, you can set outcome goals that are relative to this (if you have the desire to set outcome goals).  More aggressive outcome goals (such as big decreases in overall pace, a faster overall finishing time for a given distance, etc.) will require you to plan for longer training timelines, perhaps 2-5 years into the future.  Outcome goals that are just beyond your current capabilities will not require as long of a timeline, and may be able to be set within 4-12 months.

If you do decide to set outcome goals, you can then use those goals to set process goals that will help you achieve them.  Even if you don’t set outcome goals, you can still set process goals.  Here are some helpful questions to ask yourself to help guide process goal setting (though this is by no means an exhaustive list of the questions that could be useful as part of this process):

• What needs to be true about your training process and your abilities in order for you to reach your short-term and long-term goals?
• If you’re training for a goal race, what kind of conditions or terrain are specific to that event that you need to prepare for?
• Do you consistently do workouts on a regular basis?
• Are you able to consistently hit the planned parameters (i.e. durations, paces, etc.) of your workouts, and especially for your key workouts?
  • Are you significantly modifying your Annual Training Plan and/or your key workouts on a regular basis (aka for more than 1-2 weeks)?
• Is there an area of your sport where you feel that you would benefit from some additional skill work?
• Is there an aspect of your sport or a type of training for your sport that scares you?
• Do you maintain an adequate daily hydration status?
• Do you consistently fuel and hydrate your workouts appropriately?
• Is daily nutrition a priority for you?
• Is there a weather condition you shy away from doing workouts in?
• How is your sleep quality?

Asking questions like this can help shed light on some areas that you may benefit from setting process goals in.  If there is an area that you have been ignoring, shying away from, or being inconsistent with, that is often one of the best places to start when it comes to planning process goals.  

The Bottom Line

As you contemplate your goals for 2025, be sure to really do some thinking about what you’re seeking in your endurance sports journey in the coming year.  Don’t make the all-too-common mistake of setting an “easy” and/or superficial goal that takes you only a minute or two to state and/or set.  Do the hard work and actually spend time reflecting on this past year, learning from what you did and didn’t do this year, and set goals for the coming year that are in alignment both with what you really want and what is truly pragmatic for you in your current life situation.

If this means you do end up setting outcome and/or time-based goals, then that’s fine…just so long as they are truly tied to your authentic self and they are aligned with what you are actually willing and able to do to achieve them.  Don’t fall into the trap of only setting outcome goals.  Be sure to also set process goals that are rooted in your current abilities that can help guide your path to those outcome goals.  By taking the time to do a thoughtful reflection alongside thoughtful planning, your 2025 season might just be your best one yet.

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Sources:

Catalano, Gina. “Feeling Disappointed after Reaching a Big Goal? How I Overcame the “Arrival Fallacy”.” Fast Company, 4 Nov. 2024. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.

Dai, Hengchen, et al. “The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior.” Management Science, vol. 60, no. 10, Oct. 2014, pp. 2563–2582, https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1901.

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