Habit #14

Calendar steps to your goal

Sorry once again for the extended absence of posting. The birth our third son in mid-July added a new dimension of chaos for my wife and I, but things are getting into a rhythm that appears to be sustainable for our new family of five.

The Why

As some of you might know, last year I embarked on completing my first marathon. And while my finish was somewhat expected for my first try, I will be the first to admit that I did not train sufficiently enough for the task at hand. This was evident in my pace drop off in the final 6 miles, as well as my inability to walk the next day. Being the sport I am, I wanted to pursue the same marathon this year as well, only this time with the preparation necessary for success. I’ve never been one to follow training plans, but there is something about taking the success of those who have come up with a system that produces great results that lured me to finally give into one. So I when through the rigor of googling “marathon training plans” and picked the first hit. In this case it was www.halhigdon.com. This site offers a plethora of different training programs for all kinds of distance races, and each race has plans to suit any ability level, from novice to intermediate to advanced. I selected one of the intermediate programs and pulled up the 18 week schedule that neatly laid out what types of runs or training to do each day up until the day of my race.

The How

Now that I had a training schedule in place, it just became a matter of taking my goal (Harrisburg Marathon on November 12th) and plugging in the regimen for each day so that the end of the program fell on marathon day. I have a 2017 planning guide in the beginning pages of my yearly planner, which displays the entire year on two pages. I was able to fill in each day’s run total from the end of July all the way to Mid-November. As I go through each day, I will cross off the days I completed the assigned run, or circle the days I missed, regardless of the reason. I like having this format, because while it’s satisfying to see the crossed off days accumulate, it’s equally agonizing to see a day circled as a negative reinforcement to not miss any days in the future. In any type of behavior change, consistency may be the hardest part for me, so having that paper accountability will hopefully work wonders in sticking to my assigned runs.