A Goal Is A Dream With A Plan

So wrote Macca in his book ‘I’m Here To Win’.

Goals are the basis of motivation and motives. Goals give us a purpose to advance and progress in our lives. Which are some of your recent goals?

Here are my collaborative marathon race strategies my runner model and pacer, Melvin How; we interviewed him a few months ago on aging athletes.

Plan A: First 2km at 5:00-5:15 minute/km pace to ease into a race pace. Hold the heart-rate at 155BPM +/- 2% for 30km, then open up in the final 12km and ignore the spike in HR. We hope to hold our pace and heart-rate for a race-day average of 4:42min/K as many factors can affect performance.

Plan B: If Melvin’s heel condition flares up, then we switch to damage control and attempt for a target of a revised Boston Qualifier (BQ) instead of the 3:20:00 goal. For our age group, a BQ has to be 3:24:59 and faster. As of 2013, all BQs have been reduced across the board by five minutes.

Plan C: If it is too painful for Melvin to continue, I will be on my own while he just attempts to finish, or target the SAFRA CRT time of 3:45:00 for veterans.

I am thankful that Melvin agreed to pace with me, as I believe that this may allow me to pace with more discipline. I have a tendency to race with my heart instead of my head in the initial portion of my races. If I aspire to earn a negative split on my second-half, then it will involve me sticking to my plan and not just sticking to my guns.

I posted on the Facebook forum that I am tapering for next weekend’s marathon. Actually, it is business as usual as this 42.195K is part of my preparation for IMNZ 2012. This is my final A-race for 2011, and a time trial in itself. Next week is my second training block after my Build Phase. My Endurance building block is next, focusing on managing a higher workload.

New Goals, New Strategies and New Commitments

I have seriously reviewed my endurance training system while evaluating my fluctuating racing results over the past year, and decided to realistically go back to fundamentals. Parallel to this, I have evaluated and reviewed my current training and racing strategies.

Fundamentals include the basics. These are foundational knowledge and applications that can help enhance our capabilities. If we stick to them, we seldom go wrong. Despite calling them the basics, we still need to get them right and execute them correctly. For instance, develop proper technique before speed and be injury-free before performance.

I have worked on recovering from minor injuries due to overuse and weak core muscles. My (first-ever case of) plantar fasciitis is clearing up with my diligence and discipline doing core stability workouts, circuit training and kettle-bell workouts for strength building. I have resumed running on Vibrams Five Fingers (VFF) to strengthen my ankles and soles although I read that Barefoot Ken still thinks that any footwear (however minimalist in properties) is still supported, as your feet do not have a complete feel of the ground. I am still experimenting with his approach of: ‘Start barefoot, then transition into shoes.’

My running is coming on strong, however I have reduced it to allow my riding and swimming fitness to be brought up to speed. My new schedule for this racing season include:

1)    Three rides a week (comprising two higher intensity rides, and one long ride).

2)    Focus on swim-specific drills, mainly on exact form especially flotation, gliding, breathing and sighting.

3)    Include one or two, twice-daily, split sessions for one of the three disciplines.

4)    Observe better nutrition of a natural diet, supplemented with protein shakes and antioxidants.

5)    Train with a fast group or squad once a week (for all three disciplines).

6)    Sleep at least 6-8 hours a day, and earlier.

7)    Race selectively, and select my A-races with more discernment (Bay Run 2011; Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2011; Ironman New Zealand 2012; Boston Marathon 2012?).

How do you put your expensive wetsuit on correctly? Carelessness and ignorance can cost you when you damage it with improper suiting up methods. You may even reduce your cost of using additional accessories just to slip into something ‘more comfortable’.

This is a very good blog by M. Rameshon, Singapore’s current record-holder for the full marathon. You get scientific insights with tacit wisdom and experiences of a seasoned, and still very active and capable competitive runner. He is the coach of some of our fastest age-groupers in the marathon.

Have a good week!

Leading with Good Business Goals

Why would you start a business? Would it be because you get to print name-cards that read important titles like ‘Managing Director’, ‘CEO’, ‘Business Owner’ or ‘Entrepreneur’? During the Dot Com (or Dot Bomb) era, young would-be entrepreneurs had job titles that read ‘CEO’, ‘CFO’, ‘CIO’ and ‘Evangelist’.

Having established your business, how long do you intend to operate it? Established large companies have elaborate goals described as Mission and Vision statements. They may include Core Values that describe their philosophies behind their business.

It is necessary to set goals, or expected outcomes for your business. Goals create impetus and motivation to be fulfilled. Well-designed goals provide business-owners with clarity and a sense of relevance about their business. Annual revisions to these goals create a sense of progression and renewed purpose.

What could be useful goals for business?

1)    My business has to be meaningful to me and to others.

2)    My products and services that I provide can benefit others.

3)    I like to build a business that I can pass on to my staff.

4)    I like to be profitable so that I can assist greatly my philanthropic goals.

5)    I like to realize my potential as a creator, entrepreneur, and self-starter.

6)    I want to live behind a legacy that others may be inspired by, and resume my goals when I expire.

7)    I want to scale up to the next level of significance.

8)    I want to promote our brand so that it deserves a wider audience.

9)    I want to make my company attractive enough to be considered for purchase.

10) I want develop rich relationships and experiences of worth with my business partners and alliances.

Leadership Lessons: Take the time to review your goals: evaluate their achievability, relevance, meaningfulness, and if they are contemporary. This helps us reset our compass and bearings if results do not appear as expected.