Before you go setting goals, in any area of your life, you first need to understand where you're at right now and why.
Let me break this down, as it applies to running. If a runner sets a goal of being able to finish a 10k in less than 60 minutes, she needs to first understand what her running capabilities are like today. And then should evaluate what it would take to reach that goal. Spoiler alert: It's about a lot more than your workout schedule.
In our example, this runner's last race was a 5k and she finished in 40 minutes. She is able to run 10k but hasn't raced that distance in a while. There are a bunch of running calculators out there that can help you project what an equivalent race finish time would be based on a result from a different distance (1:22:47 for 10k in this example). Others can help you understand the difference in pace between a current finish time and a goal time. From there, an athlete or their coach can build out what kind of training is in order to improve the ability to run farther and run faster.
That's the easy part. The hard part is understanding that it might take years, yes years, for a newer runner to build up the aerobic capacity to be able to increase their distance and speed significantly.
All of these technical details such as pace and time calculators are important. But they don't address why a runner isn't there already. Is it because she is young (say 18 years old) and simply doesnn't have enough running experience behind her? Is it because she is a busy working parent with only 4 hours a week to spend doing formal exercise and that's insufficient to complete the necessary training mileage?
Maybe it is because she doesn't have access to a treadmill during particularly rainy / cold / hot days? Is it because injuries have led to training setbacks? Or more than one of these, or something else?
There are countless things that get in the way of consistent running and that make training plans difficult to execute. The best way to ensure success is to take a full 360 view of the athlete's life, taking into account work, family obligations, and other pursuits besides running. Even with the best intentions and dedication, we all are limited by the number of hours in a day and the amount of stress that we can handle (and yes, even a fun workout does put stress on the body).
Before an athlete begins a training plan I like to take a look at how this will fit into other areas of their life. Will it require waking up early before work in order to fit in training runs? Is the athlete ready to do that or does some preparation need to take place in order to make sure this is easy to execute. Is it likely to require a compromise on family or work obligations in order to carve out more time for training?
Get real, and get specific.
For example, an athlete may enjoy going out with friends to bars on Saturday night, but Sunday is the day that they go on their long run. See the conflict here?
A trap that many people fall into is to make false comparisons, to an elite runner, to a neighbor with a fast finish time, or maybe even to a previous personal result. As we go through life, we have to juggle a lot of factors that can significantly impact our training. A training schedule for someone who has been running consistently for 10 years can generally safely include a lot more volume than for a runner of the same age who began running regularly only months ago. A new mother who gave birth 2 months ago is still recovering from delivery and likely not sleeping well needs to have a running plan that includes lots of recovery time. A 45-year-old lawyer who works long hours and worries about an aging parent and runs to escape the stresses is going to have a different training plan than someone with more control over their schedule.
Before we go changing habits and lifestyles, which every honest person will tell you is NOT easy, we need to understand what is and isn't working for us about our current lifestyle and what we actually have the power to change.
Before asking an athlete to dedicate his or herself a training plan, I like to ask: How will your life be different once you reach your goal or change your lifestyle?
Once that is clear, then a person can more easily make a wholehearted commitment and be willing to make some potentially difficult sacrifices.
I like to help athletes navigate more than just the technicalities of training. I believe that it can enhance other parts of our lives and therefore needs to work within it. That means helping athletes learn how to manage their time, organize workouts around their other commitments and strategically think about overcoming obstacles that are within our control.
I believe that the best outcomes can be achieved when an athlete is brutally honest with themself and with their coach about what they are or are not willing to change at the moment. For one person, that may mean committing to run only 3 days a week even though 4 would get them to their goal faster, because they only have childcare early in the morning 3 days a week. Another person may be unwilling to give up on drinks after work with friends on Fridays, even though their Saturday morning workout is often lousy. We want running to enhance our life, not to cramp our style.
Here are some things that can help us adapt our lifestyles in order to achieve goals in running or otherwise:
Surround yourself by people who have similar goals. That may mean joining an online or in-person running group.
Hone in on the positive feedback. We are more likely to stick with something if it's making us feel good!
Set long term and short term goals. In the example we used at the start of this post, the runner has a goal that she is unlikely to reach in the next month or two. She might find it more motivating to set an additional shorter term goal, such as to run 100km this month.
Set process-related goals. An example might be drinking 1 cup of water upon waking every morning, adding in 10 minutes of strength training to the end of every run, or going to sleep 10 minutes earlier at night. These aren't as sexy as shaving minutes or seconds off of a finish time, but they really are just as important and they will help you improve!