Revising My Goals

When coach SZ assigned me a goal setting exercise at the beginning of off-season, I only knew where I stood and where I wanted to be in five years. However, goal setting is about breaking down my dream goal into smaller milestones so I can have a clear road map of reaching the ultimate goal. As I improve my skating from season to season, I can compare my progress against what I have planned.

It only makes sense that my road map evolves to reflect my actual progress and in the last month, I have given much thought about revising some of my milestones. The majority of my milestones are finishing time for various distances. However, racing is as much about measuring against other skaters as about challenging my own personal bests. Naturally, I do have some placement goals along the way.

When I finished my season last year, I started to "dream big" (that's my lingo of goals that are beyond my reach now but may not be entirely unrealistic). One of them is to crack top 5 in my age category (30-34) at Duluth in 2008. I was 11th last year so given a higher starting wave, top 5 in my category is a reasonable goal to strive for. In light of the improvement I made since off-season, I am dreaming big again. I did a bit of analysis of the results from last three years and I want to really challenge myself. I am aiming to place top 10 in the open women category, not just my age category.

To get there in September, I have a few intermediate steps to take, of course. Let's work this out backwards. Cracking top 10 means I need to finish the race at JoS's pace or faster.  For that to happen, I need to qualify for wave A. My finishing time in Montreal is enough to do that. However, I need to know that it was not a lucky coincidence. So, I will have to prove to myself that I am capable of a sub 1:30 finishing time in Detroit in less than two weeks.

But there is a twist (of course there is a twist)! Both CC and ShH from my club are planning to race in Duluth this year. I have yet to race either of them in a marathon this season but based on club practices, I am currently slower than them. However, there is a good chance we will end up skating in the same pack. There are two sides to this equation. I would like to think that it means I will have teammates which is a novel and exciting idea to me at this point of my skating career. On the other hand, it also means I will compete with them for that top 10 spots.

As of today, I have my eyes set on Detroit on May 24. That will be where everything begins.

Comments

[Michael]

ha, ha, and so the addition to speed begins! Nice start in your video, better than mine! Keep up the good work!

(^_^)/
mike.