How far do you plan??

shels4ever

Just looking at a few logs here and posts here over the past few months and most focus seems to be on short term goals. How much time and planning do people put into a longer term plan of what they want to be doing 12,24,36 months down the line.

rainbow kirby

Honestly - not very much. Been running for 3 years now and have rarely planned anything more than 5-6 months in advance. That said, when you get injured as much as I do any plans can disappear at the drop of a hat.

Pisco Sour

shels4ever wrote: »

what they want to be doing 12,24,36 months down the line.

Sub 4 minute mile

huskerdu

I also plan about 6 months in advance. My goals in the last 18 months have been

1) run 10K again after an 9 month injury layoff.
2) run a half marathon
3) run 5K in less than 25 minutes
4) run 10K in <50 minutes.
5) run a half marathon faster than my first one ( PB 1.57)

I have done the first three and am working on 4. I personally find that a six month plan for a goal that seems realistic works for me,

If you asked me a year ago to aim for goals 2 and 3 above, I would have laughed, and said that there was no chance, but I managed both within the year.

Brianderunner

About a year max for me. The next 2 marathons essentially and the tune up races before them.

tHE vAGGABOND

Im the same as huskerdu - Plan about about 6 months in advance, and also if you had asked me what my goals were a year ago, and now - they are totally different - my time goals have been changed/tweaked gotten harder and more ambitious as I have trained more and things have gone better.

Right now I'm planned up to Dublin Marathon at end of October in terms of races Im doing and times I want and such like and nothing after that.

I have vague ideas in my head about what I would like to do next, but all hinges on how Dublin goes.

gerard65

I'm just happy to wake up every morning:D
Seriously, atm the moment my long term plan is for the track next year. In between, the XC season. My short term plan is the half-marathon just over 12 weeks now.

RoyMcC

gerard65 wrote: »

I'm just happy to wake up every morning:D
.

+1 If you want to make God laugh tell him your plans

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Always looking 12 months ahead but keeping the focus on the short term goals although this year all focus has been on the IM.

dna_leri

I make an annual plan with 1 or 2 key targets and a few interim ones.
Generally these are the ones I am happy to tell others about.
I have a more detailed plan up to my next key race with planned phases and getting more specific as I get closer.

I usually have a stretch target for the year if everything goes better than expected and also one for the following year.

I agree with the "fail to plan, plan to fail" theory but also being flexible with plans and adjusting up or down in line with reality.

Ruu_Old

About a year in advance, includes signing up for various races and getting them into my calendar. I run at least one competitive race every month with variety of distances. Those races sometimes fill up way in advance so I have to be prepared.

TFBubendorfer

Short term I usually plan ahead to my next marathon, 6 months ahead.
Long term I used to have a goal that took 6 years to complete.

ThePiedPiper

I've Dublin 2011 and London 2012 marathons, a couple of halves and the race series planned out for the next year or so.

However, I've also got a list drawn up of races and goal times for the next 10 years to include:

Sub 2:50 marathon somewhere.
Sub 1:20 half.... maybe
Sub 60 10 mile.... again, this is a bit of a push
Chicago Marathon as it will be my 5th and final major
Athens Classic marathon
Connemara Ultra with goal time of under 4.45
and the biggy
Silver medal (sub 7:30) in the Comrades.

Raighne

A life-time, as many a good author, I like to write the beginning and the end first, then take care of everything in between.

RacoonQueen

I have a couple of very long term goals, I just don't discuss them on here. :pac:

I did go through a (short)stage of goals for today, goals for the week, goals for the month, goal for 3 months time, 6 months time and a year. A bit too obsessive...

liamo123

At this stage I've all of 2012 planned out.. Thats presuming those events go ahead in 2012 :cool:

Rantan

04072511 wrote: »

Sub 4 minute mile

ha ha ! nice one...dont tell stamford bridge!!
theres a trail near my house that goes by the river along some of the nicest scenery in my part ofthe country - bout 40 miles in a loop - would luv to think i could do it.... so want to get a few more marathons in and build towards doing that some day next year or maybe 2013 -

Krusty_Clown

2011: 2:42
2012: 2:34
2013: 2:26
2014: 2:17
2015: 2:08
2016: Rest.
2017: 2:04
2018: Give up running. Breaking the WR would just be showing off.

shels4ever

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

2011: 2:42
2012: 2:34
2013: 2:26
2014: 2:17
2015: 2:08
2016: Rest.
2017: 2:04
2018: Give up running. Breaking the WR would just be showing off.

Ah Krusty, you run 2:08 make the olympics then rest in 2016 and don't run in Rio? tut tut

Krusty_Clown

shels4ever wrote: »

Ah Krusty, you run 2:08 make the olympics then rest in 2016 and don't run in Rio? tut tut

I'm not greedy. Let the young whippersnappers have a lash.

On a more serious note, the goal is 2:42 in October, and everything between now and then is just one step on the road towards that goal. Next year won't be decided until I meet or fail to meet that goal at which point I'll move onto the next hop, or try another tactic to get there. So one year at a time. I know which key races I'll be doing for the next three years, I just don't know what the targets will be yet.

Brianderunner

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

2011: 2:42
2012: 2:34
2013: 2:26
2014: 2:17
2015: 2:08
2016: Rest.
2017: 2:04
2018: Give up running. Breaking the WR would just be showing off.

Krusty, surely you can go faster than 2:42 for 800m at the moment

gmurran

7-14 days for me. I should plan more in advance but never really get around to it. I just pick my sessions at the beginning of the week and go with it.

couerdelion

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I have a couple of very long term goals, I just don't discuss them on here. :pac:

I'm pretty much the same. Have a few long term targets (3 year) that I would like to meet but I pretty much keep the figures to myself. I've split the overall target down into annual goals and am working now on achieving my year 1 goals.

I reckon planning longer term is essential but is useless unless you have shorter term goals to be able to judge progress against. I also think that you have to be willing to alter long term goals and targets as you improve either at a quicker or slower pace than anticipated.

pconn062

I generally have a rough idea what I will be doing for the year, I usually do a few of the same races every year, such as the race series in the park including the marathon and then a few other races that I like that I pencil in every year.

kingQuez

In general, even outside of this sport lark, I usually have some sort of long term goal in mind. Often I dont know how long it will take to achieve, so the plan isn't all that solid, it's usually something that I dont think I can do (so we're talking 3-4years or longer). I'd have a rough idea of what I want to target each year for the next year or two to move me closer to the goal, and a pretty good idea of what the intermediate steps are for the coming 12 months. I guess I have lofty ambitions that I think about once or twice a year, but then focus on the day to day stuff that moves me towards them.

ecoli

Normally sit down at the start of the year and try to lay out some key races throughout the year and time goals. try to keep these quite fluid though as need to take into account injury etc so if I have to miss a race I can adjust the plan accordingly likewise if you hit target early adjust it with you improvement

Never set them in stone but general layout would be:

Short term : list of races I wanna hit over the next 2 months (rough time goals based on fitness rather than targets)

Mid length goals: Time and key races in the next 6 months

Long term: Time goals for following year (again fluid enough)

thirstywork2

The last 6 months i have had structure and a plan and it works.
Races I will be flexible but my training geared towards 5k-half marathon in sept.
I get given a schedule to follow for 2weeks at most.

rovers_runner

Depends on the time of year for me.
Summer always busy between IMRA on a Wed and some 5k/5m/10k etc on most weekends.
Winters drag a lot with less to plan for so it's probably a better time to chase a goal.


So many events on this time of year it's hard to focus on anything. Just today I finally confirmed in my head I'm going to do a half marathon in 9 days time......