Goal vs actual finish time.

I've been all over the place. My last HIM I was off the time I had in my head by almost 30 minutes due to the heat on race day.

Time goals are tough because you're so dependent on conditions beyond your control. Weather, course conditions etc.

Now I try to set goals of placement in my Age Group.  Everyone has to race under the same conditions and I figure that the range of performance abilities is similar from one Sprint/Oly/HIM to the next.

Garry Bjorkland Half Marathon goal 2007 = sub 1:20  actual = 1:17

Fall 50 ultramarathon 2007 goal = sub 11 hours   actual = 8:52

IM WI 2007 goal: sub 10:30    stomach shutdown   actual = 13:00  (not fun)

'ya take what the day gives 'ya

Last year I went into Eagleman thinking I could easily break 5 hours ...... I barely broke 6.

This year I went into it with no cares or expectations and just went the best that I could with only a silent goal of liking to still try and break 5, but not really focusing on it.  I went under 5 hours by a few minutes.

At my sprint I wanted to break an hour and place well, I did .......

At my oly. I wanted to be under 2:20 and closer to 2:15.  I was close to 2:15 ......

At my IM tomorrow?  Finsih with my head up and enjoy the experience.  It would be nice to finish in the daylight (going to have to be under 11-ish to do that).  I have a silent goal that all hinges on how I come off the bike and my overall time at that point, but it is not my focus at all, just a "what if?"

If you know your abilities well and stay within yourself, then you can make reasonably good predictions barring any unforseens like health, injuries or mechanicals.

For my first HIM, i just wanted to finish.  However, I did the math based on my current level and figured a really good finish time for me would be 7:30 assuming my first goal of finishing was met.  I ended up with a finish time of 7:29:43 

My goals are ALWAYS "finish, and have fun."   Sometimes I've added to that: 

FIRST TRI: run the whole run - DONE!

First half-marathon: run the whole thing - DONE!

Second Olympic-distance tri - under 4 hours (sounds easy but it was a "getting back on the horse" experience after the one race that nearly made me quit) - DONE, by 12 minutes!

Second half-marathon - 2:30:00 - missed it by 1:14

Goal for 1 tri this year:  finish in the top 90%  ... DONE!

geeeeez...there goes Bryan, showing off again....I did such and such at Kona...yadda yadda yadda  (I'm totally kidding of course   )

Oly 1:  Goal of 2:40, actual of 2:39:42

Oly 2:  Goal of 2:35, actual of 2:35:23

HIM: Goal of 5:45, actual of 5:46:41

1/2 Mary 1:  Goal of 1:45, actual of 1:45:44

1/2 Mary 2:  Goal of 1:40, actual of 1:40:38

Marathon:  Goal of 3:45:59, actual of 3:47:30 - this was the worst cause I was trying to pace my wife to a BQ and we missed by 91 seconds. 

I'm pretty good about predicting, but as bryancd says, "its just math."  As you train, you can get pretty well dialed in on what you're capable of.  However, you never know what's going to happen on race day.

Edit:  Make sure you stretch yourself, especially if its not your 1st race at that distance.  I sometimes feared that my goals may hold me back.  So, as the race days approached, I often upped the ante to myself and nearly delivered each time.

ohiost90 - 2007-11-02 3:05 PM

PennState - 2007-11-02 1:46 PM Like Rick says, I have silent time goals, but I try not to be too upset when I don't meet them

 

Can you explain what a silent time goal is and how that differs from just a regular time goal? I make a time goal. I tell people.

Very simple, one you have in your mind but don't share.  If you are honest with yourself and your abilities (for me) then it is one you could hit on a perfect day knowing what you are capable of.  But "telling" these goals out loud has set up expectations both in my eyes and others that when I didn't live up to them made me either upset or put off.  Like my Eagleman race last year ....... I was really bummed about my result and the demons of my past crept back into the foreground (dropping out of races when they started to get tough).  So this year has been all about having the best I can with what the day brings while going as hard as I can for that distance.

Tomorrow is my first IM ever.  I have the must do goal of finishing.  Everything after that is just gravy!!

Now for Lake Placid next year I will take what I learn tomorrow and adapt it with more training to attempt to earn a Kona slot.  There will be no doubt about what my goals will be there, I just need to hit the benchmarks to get them done!

I personally find that I do much better when I go into a race with no pressure or expectations of myself and just "run what you brung."