Goals

This one step - choosing a goal and sticking to it - can change everything

In a recent survey listed on the Team FAST site the question was asked, " Do you follow a detailed daily training and nutritional plan?" 67% answered yes, and 33% answered no. We can assume those who have a daily plan also have goals within that plan... or do they? Perhaps a follow-up question should be "Does your plan include goals and are you achieving those goals set for yourself?" I wonder what the answer would be... how about a test? Stop what you're doing right now and go grab that list of goals... hah. I bet most of you don't actually have a list!

Goals are an important part of a skating career. They can be useful for several reasons:

1. Goals counter boredom. By continually aiming for something just out of reach, you can keep your day-to-day routine challenging. Studies have suggested that the best way to be "in the zone" is to be involved in a task that is neither so routine as to be boring nor so challenging as to be frustrating.

2. Goals can motivate you. They keep you from taking the easy way out. They encourage you to train a little harder, to push a little more--not because it's comfortable to do so, but because you look forward to the results.

3. Goals act as a measurement. As you set goals, accomplish them, and then set new ones, you gain a sense of satisfaction and the realization that you are making progress.

Thinking about Goals

Whatever your goals, they are legitimate. Whether or not it's attainable is another matter. For now, what's important is to decide what speed skating means to you. Think about what you want to accomplish as a speed skater, both in the short-term and the long-term.

For every goal, there are a variety of ways to achieve it. And for every effort, there are a variety of possible outcomes, all of them worthwhile. In other words, you can approach speed skating so that every experience will be enjoyable and positive. You will feel good about the effort you've expended and you will feel good about the results. This approach to speed skating is not what many skaters are taught. Most serious skaters are encouraged to single-mindedly pursue a goal. If they don't achieve it, they are pushed out of the spotlight and told they aren't good enough or they've reached their capacity as an athlete... some eventually quit because of this perception that's been thrust at them. The message they receive throughout their skating careers is that winning is everything. Winning is winning competitions and setting records and very little else. Coaches who embrace this type of thinking and pass this perception onto their skaters (in my opinion) are narrow minded and are probably in the sport more for their own personal gratification than they are for wanting their skaters to succeed at simply performing their best. Does this sound like your coach? If so, BEWARE... he or she probably does not have your best interests in mind. Regardless of what type of reputation they have for "creating champions," you're better off finding a coach who sincerely cares about your efforts and not necessarily the ultimate outcome. My advice... fire them! You don't need them!

There's a place for everyone in speed skating for anyone who really wants it. This means that you can find a place for yourself, too. Start by thinking about what you'd like to accomplish as a skater. What do you want to do by next week, by next month, in the three months, in six months, a year, two years, five years, and so on.

Anyone can achieve significant improvements in performance if they set realistic goals. Goal-setting is a powerful technique that works by providing a direction for our efforts, focusing our attention, promoting persistence and increasing our confidence (providing we achieve the goals we set ourselves). While goal-setting is an easy concept to understand, its application needs more thought and planning than most people realize. One of the main problems is that not all coaches are aware of the principles of goal-setting and how to apply them effectively.

It’s always good to have a vision of what you want to achieve – whether this is related to overall fitness, weight loss, winning a National Championship or achieving a set standard of performance; but you also need a plan for how you are going to attain this goal. Dream goals inspire us and give us a target to aim for, but in order to deliver the goods they must be specific and realistic. Most new year resolutions are dream goals that will never be realized because people fail to plan realistically the day-to-day process required to make such dreams into reality.

If you only focus on your dream goal, you can easily become overwhelmed when you think about what it’s going to take to achieve it.

Short-term goals – the key to success

It's the day-to-day "short term" goals that provide the key to success. Goals can be classified into three types:

Dream goals are the ones that seem a long way off and difficult to achieve. In time terms, they may be anything from six months to several years away; An example of a dream goal might be making the World Team or switching to ice and winning an Olympic Gold Medal.
Intermediate goals are markers of where you want to be at a specific time. For example, if your dream goal was to place at Indoor Nationals, an intermediate goal could be placing in the top 3 at all League Meets. Or, it could be improving your lap times at each competitive event as the season progresses.
Short-term or daily goals are the most important because they provide a focus for our training in each and every session. Past research on Olympic athletes found that setting daily training goals was one factor that distinguished successful performers from their less successful counterparts. An example of a daily goal might be sticking to your meal plan or giving each drill at practice 100%.

For every week and each training session you should decide what you need to do in order to take another small step towards the next intermediate goal, and ultimately towards your dream goal. Don’t just set goals for competition: we all spend more time practicing and training, so setting targets for these periods is even more important than the targets you set for competition.

Short-term goals direct our immediate focus. This is very important... Lance Armstrong states this concept very well in his book entitled "Every Second Counts." So what's it take to set effective goals?

1 - First, you need to decide what you want – develop a vision;

2 - Secondly, you must be committed, so your goals must be worth striving for;

3 - Thirdly, you have to believe that the goals you set are achievable. Goals that are too easy to achieve provide little motivation; but, on the other hand, unrealistically difficult goals can lead to loss of confidence and eventual rejection of the goal. To avoid these kinds of problems, coaches and skaters should work together to reach an agreement on goals and should not be afraid of adjusting goals to optimize their potential effect.

4 - The fourth pre-requisite for successful goal-setting is to focus on one step at a time.

In beginning the process of setting goals, it’s important to be specific and realistic about what you are striving to achieve. While tempting, don't set vague goals such as, ‘to get fit’ or ‘to do my best.’ Goals should be measurable... objective goals allow the speed skater and his/her coach to measure progress and re-evaluate the goal if targets prove either too difficult or too easy. The types of goals set in speed skating and training typically reflect what has been referred to as outcome, performance and process goals. All three are valuable in guiding skaters towards higher standards of performance, although you need an awareness of some of the potential pitfalls with these goals.

Outcome Goals

Here's an example to demonstrate the differences between these three types of goals. If the coach and skater agree on a goal of winning a medal at the Indoor National Championships, this is an ‘outcome goal’. Outcome goals tend to focus on an objective competitive result, such as winning a medal or beating another skater, but they can never be completely under your control since the ability and form of your opponents on the day of the event can influence the result. You might even run a personal best but still fail to achieve your specific goal and so damage your confidence. Outcome goals can provide motivation, but focusing purely on the result can lead to increased anxiety.

Performance Goals

Alternatively you could set a ‘performance goal’, such as skating 100m in under 10 seconds. With this type of goal you are competing against yourself independent of other skaters. As such goals are set in the context of comparisons with your own previous performances, they tend to be more flexible and within your control. In the event of injury, performance goals can be easily readjusted to provide meaningful and realistic targets.

Process Goals

‘Process goals’ are to do with the actions or techniques that are required to achieve success. A skater who has a tendency to become overly concerned with the position of his/her competitors during the start of a race might set a process goal of focusing on a point beyond the start line to ensure focus is retained until the line has been crossed regardless of clicking skates, etc.

I personally have a preference for performance and process goals, since these can be more easily and precisely adjusted than outcome goals, although all three types of goal should be used as appropriate to the skater and situation.

In the planning stages of a goal-setting program, you should think carefully about factors that may hinder your progress. For example, most people set goals that are too difficult rather than too easy, which commonly leads to the rejection of those goals. Once rejected, the goals no longer direct our efforts or our focus. It is also important to avoid setting too many goals. Instead, focus on one dream goal, perhaps two or three intermediate targets and two short-term goals for each day's training session. That’s enough to start with, but be sure to give your short-term goals the highest priority. Through achieving these you will naturally progress towards the intermediate targets. You should always evaluate your goals, and charting your progress can be an effective way to do this and to boost your confidence and motivation as you see progress being made.

Goal-setting is a smart move for skaters who want to develop their self-confidence, increase their levels of motivation and achieve higher standards of performance. Remember that time spent in preparation is worth it and can prevent disappointments.

So What's the Secret in Using Goals Effectively?

Start with SHORT-TERM goals. Set ones that are very achievable. They should be training goals that require skills within your ability to accomplish.

If you cannot reach them, it is probably for one of two reasons:

1) Your expectations are unrealistic or 2) you've hit a temporary or permanent training plateau. When the latter happens (and it does, sooner or later, to every skater), you will be forced to question the wisdom of what you are doing. Should you change your program, should you keep trying, or should you accept your limitations?

There's no correct answer. Much has to do with your age, whether or not you still enjoying your training, and whether or not you can afford to stay involved in the sport.

INTERMEDIATE goals usually center around competition. Perhaps you want to place in a certain event, or you want to beat a particular event time, or you want to move up a competitive level, and so on. At this point, it's good to have a primary goal, several secondary goals, and perhaps even a worst-case scenario plan.

For example, let's say you decide you want to win a competition three months from now. And you are willing to pursue that goal with everything you've got. But since there's a chance you might not win (there's always a chance you might not win), set up several other goals as well. These might include: 1) performing better at your upcoming competition than you did at your previous one, 2) learning how to control your nerves or learning how to focus under pressure, 3) improving overall times, and so on.

The point of this exercise is to help you set up ways to pat yourself on the back, no matter what the outcome of your efforts. This insures that you don't feel like you've been wasting your time.

On the other hand, plan for an occasional reality check as well--especially for those times when everything is a disaster. Granted, coaches usually want skaters to visualize themselves winning, but periodically you do have to make sure you're still on the same path as when you started. If it is increasingly obvious that you're not doing well in your Division, you must sit yourself down and re-evaluate what you are doing. If you still enjoy it and it's okay with you if you aren't winning and probably never will win, then by all means keep at it. But if winning and performance are important to you, you need to examine if you can do anything more to achieve success or whether you should consider making some changes--even to the point of switching your training methods. Maybe you're better at outdoor racing than you are indoor racing... maybe you're better at sprint races than you are endurance races...

Finally, DREAM GOALS goals include both your dreams ("what-if" goals) and your schemes ("I can make it happen" goals). Both are necessary and important. The first set of goals make you aim high; the second set make you plan ahead.

The "what-if" goals often depend as much on luck, opportunity, and perhaps even fate, as they do on you. They are usually the wonderful outcomes we daydream about: winning Nationals, winning a spot on the World Team, setting a world record, making it to the Olympics.

The "I can" goals are also ambitious, but they are the ones that we have more control over: landing a sponsorship, placing in certain high-level events, etc.

The "what-if" goals are probably what will motivate you to train hard. But the "I can" goals may be the ones that you are realistically able to achieve in a shorter period of time. Therefore, you can't focus on the first without also pursuing the second.

You've got to keep your eyes, ears, and mind open for the ideas and events which will make the "I can" goals come true. This means meeting other skaters, asking questions, educating yourself, keeping yourself healthy, and building on all your experiences so that some day you have a successful skating career.

How Do You Set Goals?

Your coach plays a very important part in helping you set goals. Good coaches will help you set challenging, but achievable ones. In fact, this ability is what separates great coaches from merely good ones (or a coach that has a sincere concern for his or her skaters progression versus one who won't give a skater equal attention just because they aren't winning everything). Great coaches know how to help you achieve more than you ever thought possible and how to do it without hurting you in the process. Bad coaches simply tell you to train hard and expect you to win... win whatever, just win.

A great coach once said, "I think most of us sell ourselves short or are afraid of setting high goals. It's OK to set high goals and really work toward those goals, and that you're not a failure if you don't accomplish what you've set out to do. In fact you're not a failure at all, unless you're afraid to set a high goal."

If YOUR coach can't help you set goals, you've got the wrong coach.

The reason coaches are good at helping skaters set goals is that most of them have years of experience to draw upon. They have watched many skaters train and know what is or is not achievable. They can usually predict which skaters will have outstanding skating careers and which ones will, for one reason or another, drop out.

The other person to help you set goals is yourself. You know your own desire and how hard you are willing to work. You are the one who must decide what you want out of life and whether speed skating is the best way to achieve it. You are the most important factor in realizing your own success.

Setting goals is a little more involved than what you thought huh? Now... about that list of goals...

Coach Steve