Calibrating Your Performance

I finally got my timing for the Newton 30K Run held on 10/10/10. This time, the results were sorted according to actual timing. I made the top-6 percent cut in the 30K Men’s Challenge category at 79^th position within a field of 1376 finishers. If I include the highly commendable performance of the women (which numbered another 304), I would have been promoted higher. I had a reasonable timing of 2:35:17 while recovering from a marathon.

Comparing how I felt, I believe that it would take less than a month to fully recover from a marathon. I am of the opinion that we can benefit from the secondary gain of a post-marathon peak. You can still register PBs for shorter distances which was what I was attempting during my month-long, evaluation process.

We evaluate and calibrate our performance with others and ourselves. In performance appraisals, both Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and Key Results Areas (KRA) are used to measure our performance. In industries, we call this benchmarking. You can compare your performance with previous results, or contrast it with others. You either measure for similarity or differences. Consider how you integrate your abilities, capabilities, skills, relationships, attitude and mindset into your total value and performance.

As an athlete, you can also calibrate your performance progress through your training. Each training session gives us a sense of how we feel at a certain intensity of effort. Certainly, there are low days as there are highs. It is difficult to stay at the top of the totem pole for a long time.

How are you calibrating your performance?