The other day, I was reading the Running Room magazine, and there was an article about setting
S.M.A.R.T. goals. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) Strangely enough, that evening, Laura brought home a pamphlet from school about SMART goals too - the acronym works in English and French (Spécifique, mesurable, accessible, réaliste et bien défini dans le temps.) So that got me thinking: time to set a smart goal for the marathon.
I will complete this year's Ottawa marathon in a time of _________Ah, there's the challenge, what is my goal time? I've never done a marathon, and have no clue what to expect for finish time. I have done well in 5K, 10K and half marathons before, so we'll play with numbers via
McMillan.
| Distance | Best Time | Projected Marathon |
|---|
| 5K | 0:20:53 | 3:23:35 |
| 10K | 0:44:56 | 3:30:52 |
| 21.1K | 1:42:51 | 3:36:55 |
Are you F-ing nuts? Call me defeatist, but I think we can all agree those times are "Whack".
Let's work backwards. If we are willing to lend some credence to the McMillan tool, let's plug in an arbitrary 3:45, and see what kind of effort that relates to in the 5, 10 and half...
| Distance | Estimated Time | Based on Marathon |
|---|
| 5K | 0:23:05 | 3:45:00 |
| 10K | 0:47:57 | 3:45:00 |
| 21.1K | 1:46:41 | 3:45:00 |
Way more reasonable... I think. I could probably manage those times right now (save the half) on a good day, with proper conditions.
Let's expand the search to 4 hours...
| Distance | Estimated Time | Based on Marathon |
|---|
| 5K | 0:24:37 | 4:00:00 |
| 10K | 0:51:08 | 4:00:00 |
| 21.1K | 1:53:48 | 4:00:00 |
Ahh, now that I could probably do.
Goal 1 - Make it through training!
Goal 2 - Finish
Goal 3 - 4:00
Goal 4 - 3:45