It’s the end of 2022 already! The focus is now on 2023 and how we can become a better version of ourselves next year.

People make New Year’s resolutions. They go on diets, join the gym, drop the chocolate, go alcohol free for a month, start a meditation practice, buy some new trainers and get back into running.

Everyone you talk to has something they would like to work on in 2023. To give you a clear focus of what to put your energy into during the next twelve months, I’m here to offer my professional advice on how you can maximise your running and make 2023 your best one yet!

INTRODUCTION

I’ve put the common running injuries episodes on hold for this last episode of 2022. It has been a very successful year for the podcast, thank you for joining me on this journey. This podcast is listened to in over 30 countries with the main countries being the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, France and Germany.

As we are at the end of the year, I am setting my focus for this podcast and looking to develop it further in 2023, so stick around for some interesting things I’m going to start to add to this podcast.

At this time of year I start having conversations with my clients about what it is in 2023 that they would like to achieve.

As you are part of my community, I thought it would be helpful to share some of the tips and targets that I believe will give you a clear focus for your running and lifestyle changes in 2023.

In this episode we will explore how to understand what it is you would like to achieve, how you can structure that into targets or goals and what to do when the plan goes a bit wrong. Taking the time to give yourself a clear focus will save you lots of mental stress when you feel underprepared and you find yourself wishing you would have done more, more challenges, more races, more running with friends, more longer easier miles etc etc. Whatever it may be for you.

This more structured approach to your running will help you develop as a runner. If you can start to see yourself as a running athlete and change your perception of your routine you will grow deeper connection with running, your relationship and connection with your body will improve also.

You don’t have to be setting the world on fire with record times for your age category, winning local races or smashing Ultra Marathon after Ultra Marathon in week after week to see yourself as an athlete.

When we develop our running knowledge and allocate time to planning our running and workout routine it encourages us to take more of a holistic approach to your life. You will understand how lifestyle factors affect your running, you may have the luxury of being able to mitigate some of these. If you have children that can be quite difficult as children always take priority and everything changes quickly and unexpectedly when you have kids.

You are also naturally spending more time thinking about running which keeps you in a healthy mindset. Neuroscience shows us that making time to prep and plan workouts or runs creates positive habits. Valuing our exercise routine increases adherence. This means we are less likely to give up our running routine when motivation goes wandering.

HOW CAN I SET RUNNING TARGETS/GOALS FOR 2023

Firstly you need to understand where you currently are, what you feel like needs to improve, what running dreams you have and what your lifestyle factors are.

When you know where you are at now and where you want to be, you can see the gap. This gives you an indication of the things you need to do to work on closing that gap.

I’m going to give you a simple but very effective visualisation exercise to do. Get a pen and paper the find somewhere comfortable when you’re alone, sit and close your eyes.

Begin to get a visual of yourself as you are at this moment. Think about your running. Maybe you see yourself going out for a run or doing the races you’ve done this year. See how much enjoyment, headspace, physical nourishment, a sense of belonging to a community that running brings into your life.

Now notice when you think of heading into 2023, the start of a fresh year with lots of opportunity ahead. What are the things that your mind starts to focus on?

FOR EXAMPLE: Is it wanting to improve your 5km time? Do you want to run your first half-marathon? Maybe you want to run an Ultra? Maybe you want to improve on the total miles you’ve done in the year? Maybe you want to get physically stronger so you don’t keep getting injured?

These are examples. What is popping up into your mind? How many things pop up? Write them all down, every single one. Even if something seems so BIG that it’s unachievable or so SMALL that it probably doesn’t matter. You should have a list.

Now, looking at your list. Circle the three most important things that you would like to achieve in 2023. Label these as PRIORITY. These are definite things to work on. This has come from within you, so you are telling yourself to focus your energy on these. These are intrinsic to keeping you motivated as well as stimulated by running.

The remaining things on your list, label them in number order. 1 is highest priority, 2 is then the next priority, 3 is then the next priority after 2 and so on and so on.

Numbering the things on your list in this way will then give you a clear indication of what there is to focus on after you have completed or have the time to complete along side the THREE MAIN priorities that you have circled.

Does that make sense? So you have circled THREE MAIN priorities which are the most important to you. Then you have a list of remaining things to work on starting at priority 1 then 2 then number 3 etc etc.

You can literally work your way through your list. Don’t have unrealistic expectations that you will get everything done or achieved in 2023. That’s the point in prioritising them. You can put your time, energy and efforts in to the things that matter most and be happy if you complete the three main things. Anything else is a bonus.

Perfectionism can creep in and leave you feeling overwhelmed if you have unrealistic expectations. I know this from personal experience. So be ok with not achieving everything.

I HAVE MY LIST, HOW CAN I MAKE GOALS AROUND THESE?

So you now you have what looks like goals or targets for 2023. But how do you actually go from paper to making these a reality?

There is an effective framework for creating goals called SMART goals. This framework will help you create clear focused goals that are achievable.

I will explain what SMART goals stands for and how to apply that to a generic goal of wanting to run a half-marathon.

So, SMART goals means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time. I will use the example of attempting your first half-marathon in applying SMART goals to this target.

S stands for Specific. This means, what is the specific goal you would like to achieve. In this example I am using, run a half-marathon. I will run 3/4 times a week for 16 weeks to take part in and achieve a half-marathon distance.

This is where you THREE priorities come in. Create SMART goals for each one of these.

M stands for Measurable. So, how are you going to measure this goal? How will you know if you have achieved it? In the example, I will know that I have achieved it by running the half-marathon. I will also have weekly total mileage goals to know whether I am on track to achieve this goal or not. I will be able to evaluate how my body is feeling. I will be able to feel if my body is adapting to the increasing mileage.

Apply this to your goals, how will you know if you have achieved it, what is the measurable aspect? It may be a set challenge or set time etc.

A stands for Achievable. Is is achievable that I could run a half-marathon. For example you may say something like: I am committed to running, I have completed 10km distance and will dedicate time each week to achieve this goal so yes it is achievable.

R stands for Realistic. Is it realistic that I will be able to run a half-marathon. If I complete the weekly mileage, my body feels good and is adapting well to the training load I believe it is realistic to achieve this goal.

T stands for Time-related. Specify the key time points that will help you clearly set out how this goal will be achieved. So for the example if my goal was to run a half-marathon. I would create weekly mileage goals that gradually increase in a kind, progressive way not an aggressive way so that my body would adapt. This would show me if I was on schedule to hit the goal. I would also have the overall goal of running the half-marathon in 16 weeks time or the specific date of the half marathon.

This is the trackable element that you can breakdown into daily, weekly, monthly time frames. Breaking down the overall big goal in this more manageable way will show you that the goal is not as daunting as it may seem at first.

Use this framework to detail the THREE priority goals that you have written down. Find as much detail as you can about each section. I have being quite brief and general in the example I have shown just for the purposes of trying to make you understand how to use SMART goals as a framework.

WHEN IT DOESN’T GO TO PLAN

When life gets in the way and you pick up an illness, your work schedule takes over your life, you have to look after the kids more than you thought you would or some other life event. It’s important to be adaptable, as I have spoken about on this podcast numerous times.

Being adaptable will mean that you can counteract the things that may go wrong in a better, more prepared way.

Using the example of the half-marathon. If that was my goal for next year it would be very helpful to build in a bit of leeway into your plan. Make sure your goal is not so tight on time to achieve it. This leaves very little room for error.

Always give yourself a week or two longer than needed to train for the half-marathon. If it’s a time goal, I like to set clients a Gold, Silver and Bronze time goal. For example, say you wanted to run the half-marathon in under 2 hours. I would say the Gold time is between 1hr 55 mins and 1hr 59 mins, the Silver time would be 2hrs to 2hrs 2mins and the Bronze time would be 2hrs 3mins to 2hrs 5mins.

This automatically reduces the pressure on yourself. It gives you a 10 minute window to aim to hit inside that. You can then feel like you have achieved something if you hit a Bronze time. So it becomes more of a healthier goal. Because we can get in the habit of beating ourselves up for not ‘achieving’ especially in this world of social media perfectionism.

How can you be adaptable with your goals?

SUMMARY

• Use the visualisation technique to understand what it is you would like to achieve in 2023.

• Write those things down. CIRCLE the three most important ones. These are priority. They need your attention.

• Create SMART goals for each of the main three goals.

• Work on the other things in number order starting with number 1, then 2, then 3 etc etc. Only when you have achieved the three main goals or you have the time and space to add in to the three priority goals.

• Build some level of adaptability into your plan. When life happens, you have given yourself some wiggle room.

• If you need help with creating your goals for 2023 message me.

I’ve tried to keep this episode as general and as wide reaching as I can because each one of you will have a completely different set of goals for 2023. If you would like to talk more specifically about you and your goals, looking at ways we can make them happen. Contact me through the following details:

Email: ashfoster1983@gmail.com

Instagram: @runbetterwithashfoster

Online: runbetterwithash.com

I hope you have an AMAZING 2023!!

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Thank you for listening to this episode of the Run Better podcast with me Ash Foster. I shall speak to you in the next episode my fellow runners!