Mini Goals - 18th March 2022
I went for a run yesterday and decided, for some weird reason, to do 30 laps of my local recreation ground. Each lap is about 400 metres, so I ended up doing about 7.5 miles in all.
On lap five things started getting boring, so I changed direction and did five laps that way. Then I turned back round and did four laps in each direction. Then three. Then two. Then one.
This approach meant that rather than concentrating on the bigger goal of completing 30 laps overall, I could focus on doing a few laps before I was allowed to change direction. This broke the run up, and definitely made it more manageable.
It got me thinking about how often I do this on longer runs. For example, I sometimes focus on just getting to the top of a hill, or just getting to the next corner.
And this can also work in races. For example, in a half marathon, I always worry about getting to the half way mark feeling comfortable. Then it's all about getting to ten miles. Then treating the final section of the race as a 5k.
Try it next time you're feeling bored on a run.
(I wonder what tricks these guys use)
Phil