Developing Your SMART Goals

Your first step in the creation of an annual training plan is the identification of SMART goals.  SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (for a detailed explanation of the SMART Goal process, review my earlier posts Setting Goals for Exercise Part 1 & 2).  Your SMART goals should embody what you most want to accomplish as a cyclist.  SMART goal development includes two steps: evaluating your performance from the season that just ended, and identifying objectives based on this evaluation.  For example, I had the following goals for the 2009 cycling season (in order of importance):

1. Complete a 40K TT in 1:04:30 (23 mph).  I accomplished this twice during the season with a 1:04:01, and a PB of 1:03:57 at the Indiana State TT Championships (2nd place in my class).
2. Finish in the Top 15 at the Hines Park TT.  I finished 3rdin my class and won my first medal!
3. Complete a 10 Mile Personal Achievement Time Trial in 25:00 (24 mph).  I rode a PB of 24:46 in the penultimate event of the season.
4. Complete a 20K race in 31:00 (24 mph).  I rode a PB 31:14 in the only 20K race I did all season (the Hines Park TT in very windy conditions).

Upon review, it is clear that I had an outstanding season that included 23 races (all time trials), 15 of which resulted in a personal best at the time of the race.  I improved my PB in the 40K by over 5 minutes!  I improved my 10 Mile race time by more than a minute (those High Impact Cycling Workouts really work)!  That leaves me confident that I can take my performance to a much higher level in 2010.  Therefore, I have the following goals for next season (once again in order of importance):

1. Complete a 40K TT in 1:02:00 (24 mph)
2. Complete a 20K TT in 29:45 (25 mph)
3. Complete a 10 Mile TT in 24:00 (25 mph)

Notice that these goals meet the SMART criteria.  They are specific & measurable (I’ll know if I have achieved them or not); achievable (based on my progress during the 2009 season, these objectives seem challenging yet reasonable); relevant (they’re focused on my specific discipline of time trialing) and time-bound (they’re targeted for the 2010 cycling season).  You can use the same process to create SMART goals for your 2010 cycling season.  One final note.  All of the aforementioned goals are outcome goals.  Feel free to select process goals as well that focus on the implementation of your training program.  For example, you may have a goal of riding at least 5 days-a-week for 50 weeks during the calendar year.  Another example of a process goal is performing 2 high intensity interval workouts per week for each of the 12 weeks of the Intensity phase (for more information, review my earlier post on process and outcome goals).  

NEXT POST – October 12, 2009

Understanding Periodized Training Programs: Macro, Meso & Microcycles