Goal Achievement

Too much is said about goal setting as opposed to goal achievement. All through my life I have heard about goal setting so it just becomes second nature to think that way. But in reality there is really too much “setting” and not enough “achievement.” After achieving my goal of returning to triathlon competition in the time frame I set, let’s give this a second look and see why it worked:

a. The first step was to set the goal of returning to triathlon competition and this was done the day after the crash. So, it gave my mind instant reasons to start thinking “well” and feeling that healing process going on.

b. The time frame given to me by the doctors was 8 weeks for recovery, so I decided on the Tall City Triathlon since it was 9 weeks out. It also gave me something to visualize since I know the course so well.

c. The sprint distance race was suited for the first time back and was not an extremely long course, so again it was a realistic approach to the come back.

d. As I began to work out I took it very easy to see how the body was going to respond. When I started feeling good in one area, i.e. the swim, I just started increasing the distance in work outs. While the distance did increase the intensity did not, since I did not want to chance more injury to an old injury. My first swim was for a 1,000 yards and it was very painful on the rib, so I backed off the next time in the pool.

e. When the swim, bike and run workouts started to come around with no pain I increased the distance and the intensity. This happened on the bike first, then the swim and later the run(I guessed the run would be the toughest and it was).

f. When showing up for the actual race I went through the normal pre-race warm up agenda for me and it felt good. When the swim started I felt very very normal and well, so full speed ahead on the bike and the run. Bottom line: I felt great and actually beat my time from last year by 2 minutes, with the same course and similar weather conditions.

In conclusion, goal achievement in anything is a step by step process but the following must exist: A goal must be realistic(I would not have chosen an Ironman distance race for the first competition back), and it must be set as soon as possible so that the mind can start visualizing the success or achievement. It should be so rehearsed in the mind that when you show up for the actual competition it just comes naturally.

Mike Greer