Here in Perth, the City to Surf (fun!) run is less than a week away and I know of a quite a few people who have entered, some for the first time.
It has been great to watch and hear about their training and progress they have made as they prepare for the big event. It has highlighted the power of having a specific goal to achieve by a certain date.
They have become very focused on what they needed to do in order to complete the run or walk. They’ve done more than they would have otherwise and they have certainly pushed themselves harder.
That’s the real benefit of setting yourself a fitness goal or challenge. When you have something that you want to achieve, be it an organised event, a holiday involving an activity or something you intend to complete on your own, you plan your fitness routine around achieving that goal.
From my experience, because most people want the activity itself to be as enjoyable as possible, they push themselves that little bit harder in training. They are prepared to hurt more now for the reward of completing their goal without suffering too much.
What they are really doing is pushing themselves outside their comfort zone and as a result they are getting fitter. This will make completing the actual event either easier or you’ll go faster on the day, depending on how competitive you are!
Either way you will enjoy the result that much more and you will have got fitter in the process.
If you haven’t got a specific goal that you are training for like the City to Surf, make one up. It could be to do your normal walk/run 3 minutes faster or to complete a triathlon or do the Coast to Coast walk across England.
It doesn’t matter what the goal is, as long as it challenges you to work hard and get fitter to achieve it.
Set another goal
Once you have successfully accomplished you goal, be careful not to let all that hard work go to waste by stopping your training. Make it your goal to maintain your fitness until you set yourself another challenge to work towards. Remember it is easier to stay fit than get fit so keep your training going.
