Set a Goal. Make a Plan. Follow It. Achieve Success.

Hey there!  If you've read my past few blog posts, you'll know that I set my 'big running goal' of the year to be the Fort4Fitness Triple Crown (10k followed by a half marathon followed by 4 miles).

This has been my trend for the past few years.  I'll set one big running goal for the year and train for it in various forms throughout the entire year, maybe running a random 5 or 10k along the way just for fun.

That is step number one for me, to help keep me on track all year long.  It gives me focus for the entire year.  The Triple Crown being a test of speed, it follows that my focus this year will be to improve my running speed to be able to pull off this challenge.  It would be a struggle right now, but that's the point of a goal, isn't it?  To stretch ourselves beyond our current capabilities?

Step number two is to break the big goal down into smaller chunks.  I started off the year with a round (60 days) of Les Mills Combat.  Toward the end, I've thrown in a couple of runs for the pure fact that I miss running.  I also miss yoga.  And I know I want to continue with Combat workouts.  And so, as I come to the last couple of weeks of Combat Round 1, I've taken some time to forward-plan the next 12 weeks.

On February 2, I'll be starting Hal Higdon's Intermediate Half Marathon training plan, and infusing it with a weekly yoga practice, as well as a once-a-week visit to Combat-land.  I'm very much looking forward to this new blended schedule.  A rough sketch of the next twelve weeks looks like this:

Monday:  yoga
Tuesday:  easy run
Wednesday:  speed run
Thursday: Combat workout(s)
Friday:  rest day or easy run day
Saturday:  pace run day
Sunday:  long run day

This means I get up and put in my daily workout, it's all scheduled out for me through April 26, and a couple of weeks prior to this, I'll begin planning and scheduling my next workout plan... and so on and so forth until the BIG RACE DAY.

MAKE A GOAL.  CREATE A PLAN.  FOLLOW IT.  SUCCEED.  {click to tweet}

It's really and truly THAT simple to achieve a goal.  Set your goal.  Make a plan for how to achieve that goal.  Follow the plan, without giving up, stay persistent and determined... and SUCCESS is yours!

Tell me, what are YOUR big goals for 2015??

P.S. YOU ARE INVITED!!!  In February 2015, I'll be celebrating my 5 year running anniversary (my RUN-iversary, lol), and I wanted to celebrate it in a big way.  So, I'm hosting a virtual 5 mile run/walk to raise money for charity.  Full details can be found HERE.  I hope you'll join me in celebrating AND supporting a very worthy cause all at the same time!  :)