Don't worry, I'm not going to bust into "Too Sexy", and in fact you'll have to read or skip to the bottom of today's post to see what I'm talking about in my title....
TRAINING GOALS
This has been a week of introspection, and to be honest, too much of that is a waste of time. Sometimes it is best to just put your head down and plow ahead. I know it goes against popular culture, but I'm not convinced that staying in touch with your feelings is a good thing. I'll address that in tomorrow post, and yes it will be about running/training. For now, let's stick with Goals.
My favorite story to tell people who say they could never run as much as I do (which isn't really that much), concerns my introduction to running. A friend/mentor/pastor introduced me to running. To this day I'm not sure if it was a)An attempt to end our friendship, or b) a way to get me to spend quite time reflecting on the wisdom he imparted each Sunday morning. Regardless, my first runs were 1 milers that accomplished at the blazing speed of 16 minute miles. I vividly remember collapsing on the hood of my car the day I ran a 14 minute mile.
My story, and others I've heard relayed, should be a reminder to us all to set attainable goals. Here are my guidelines for goals:
1)Must be attainable and sustainable
2)Must Require work above you current level to obtain.
3)Must have a defined time frame.
4)Must be a building block for another goal or objective.
5)Must be "Reloaded" periodically. NO Jan. 1 year long goals. Reaccess monthly.
This week has seen me reorganize some of my goals. As related to fitness and running, here are my targets.
1)Reduce Body Fat % from 14.4% to 10.0% by end of November 07
2)Shift running training focus from endurance to intensity in preparation for Polar Bear Grand Prix series (Dec,Jan,Feb Races). All training runs under 5 miles at 8 min pace max.
3)Increase intensity of weight training.
4)Reduce Carbonated/Caffeinated drink consumption to no more than one serving per day.
My goal of "training for a marathon" became stagnant. The dates were too far in the future, the fact that I had accomplished that distance once, and the reality of my time constraints made the goal unsustainable.
So my encouragement to you is to reaccess where you are at. If you are not happy with your progress, or perhaps desire to push yourself a bit, reaccess and reset your goals. If you would like, comment on this post and let us know any new goals you set.
One last important note. Do not measure your goals against other people's goals. I'm learning to be more impressed by the people I see struggling to change their life each day at the Gym, than I am the elite marathoners who run those races at sub 6 minute pace.
...a while back I blogged about my "Old Lion Syndrome"(if you haven't read it, please do before drawing any conclusions about what I'm talking about). In it I relayed an incident in which I had driven my '88 Bronco to the gym and my only other options for impressing the young female sports car driver that parked next to me was my Chevy Cobalt or my wife's mini-van. Well now I can be sexy at the gym, at least my ride can be. My Cobalt was exchanged for a Trailblazer. I hit the gas pump this morning to fill it up for the first time. OUCH! $50 to fill it up. To be honest I don't think I could afford to be on the prowl again. ;>)
12 October 2007
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3 comments:
Y' know, some of us are introspective by nature. The challenge is to use that introspective personality to ask deeper questions of others in relation to the faith.
I'm not sure I have much in the way of goals. I am looking to teach on a college level one day. And I want to help develop the church I have the privilege to be a part of become more missional and less attractional. But those are more directional than goal-oriented.
Even with running, I just enjoy it and don't want to stop.
So my questions are (and I'm really not sure of the answer, I'm just puzzling through the issue): How much of goal-setting is biblical vs. American (business and sports) culture? Even if it is more cultural, does that make it wrong? And is it wrong not to be goal-oriented? How does that differ from Spirit-led?
If you prefer not to answer, that's OK, too! These questions are pretty subjective and could easily be rhetorical.
OK- see- you've done it again. You made me think. Stop that!
While I would agree that you're not likely to find "Setting Goals" in the topical index of your Bible, I think Biblical life contained as much goal oriented living as modern culture. Abram and Lot built large flocks, Solomon grew a nation, Paul grew a ministry.
We each set goals everyday. We seek to accomplish a certain number of tasks -goal #1. Typically we want to get done with those tasks so that we can do "x" -goal #2. We are setting goals, we just don't think of it in those terms.
To shorten this up, "Christ must remain our focus and all things should be done to honor him, but the only way we move forward is to set goals and seek to achieve them."
The question you've sparked for me; "Is Spirit-Led an excuse for not setting goals?" Is it ok to sit back and wait for God to bless, or does he expect us be active participants?
Don't worry, I'll answer questions. I've got an opinion on just about everything, and if I don't I'll make one up just to play "Devil's Advocat".
Al Pacino was perfect in "Devil's Advocate" by the way! Pretty much how I picture the enemy.
I think truly being "Spirit-Led" would involve anything but laziness. As the term implies- being "led" by the Spirit. In my experience, he doesn't often lead us to lay on the couch for long periods of time :-)
But you're right, James. Some would use that as an excuse.
I'm really just puzzling through it myself- I'm not a very "driven" person and I like to consider where I may need to make changes.
Thanks,
Brian
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