With our Annual Indoor Aerobic Power 3km coming up this week, the talk between athletes and coaches and athletes themselves is," so what are you shooting for?" Safe to say those that say, "I don't know... see how it goes", will not hit or miss their target, and for some that's a safe way out.

There will not be any chance of missing the goal, but unfortunately for them there's also no chance for positive reinforcement of their work through the acheivement of their goal. Missed targets are not so bad either. If we never missed our target we would never learn anything and improve ourselves. Reflection and adaptation based on the missed target will only make an athlete better prepared and increase likelihood of success at the next goal. 

It's scary to show up for a race or time trial having to commit to a target. Besides the chance of failure there is also the need to commit to the target and resulting plan which will hurt very much. But this is one of the reasons a target will bring about success. The mind is an amazing source of power, and what the mind wants the body usually achieves. 

Something like a 3km Time Trial makes for a simple race plan, yet just as important as a race plan for an Ironman. One needs to know how fast to start so they don't go off too fast, then to know what to settle in at and finally based on that strong race plan, they should know what they plan to bring it home in.

If you don't believe me on how important this type of goal setting is, ask a couple people at your next event what their target and plan is. The ones that have an answer will hit their target, and if they don't they will at least know why they did not and at their next event will find success.