With smart goals and Tredict into the new year

Once again, a year has flown by. At the turn of the year, many of us review. Did I achieve my goals and fulfil my wishes? What could I do better or simply differently? That is precisely the opportunity that the new year gives us. Ready for 2023? Not quite yet? Then we have a few good tips for your healthy and sporty sustainable year in this article.

Smart goal setting: Don't rely on resolutions!

As soon as a year comes to an end and the new one begins, they are on everyone's lips: resolutions. It never hurts to set goals for the new year, but resolutions have a low success rate. This is primarily because the goals are often set too generally. So instead of just saying: Maybe I'll run a marathon, you should title this goal S-M-A-R-T.

Specification
The more precise the title of your goal, the more motivated you will be to achieve it. So formulate your goal in a way that is easy to understand and as precise as possible.

Measurability
Now make your goal measurable. Whether quantitative (e.g. the number) or qualitative (e.g. time target) - measurability is a decisive criterion for your goal fulfilment.

Attractiveness
What motivates you to reach your goal? Maybe it's a certain event you've been looking forward to for a long time?

Realism
Choose the goal in such a way that you don't get bored, but you also have to challenge yourself a little to achieve it. This keeps you motivated.

Termination
Now determine by when you want to reach the goal. Congratulations! Your smart goal is set!

The Haspa Marathon Hamburg was defined as a goal in the calendar

Now that you have set your goal, enter it directly into your calendar. This way you can prepare and plan your training in the best possible way.

Reach your goals in a healthy and sustainable way

You have taken the first step. You have defined exactly what you want to achieve in 2023. Now it's time to level the path for your goal, but not by force, but with structure and system.

Your training should always include the following building blocks:
Foundational training, tempo training, technique and regeneration.

In most cases, polarised training is recommended, i.e. your training is largely (~80%) in the basic endurance zone 1 and is supplemented with hard tempo units (~20%). In individual cases, a few percentages may shift, but your training should never be largely based on speed. In the long run, the strain on your body would be far too great. In addition to too little or no recovery, the risk of injury increases enormously. So always keep an eye on the balance of power in your planning.

The monthly intensity distribution of heart rate

In Tredict you always keep track of your intensity distribution.

You should also plan targeted recovery weeks. After two or three weeks of stressful stimuli, give your body a week with reduced volumes. During this time, you process the past weeks and become stronger, but also give your body the chance to prepare for the coming weeks.

The training planning

With Tredict you can plan your entire season or plan your training for individual events. In addition to the overall overview and evaluation, it also calculates exactly how your form is developing.

You can then simply transfer the planned training to your watch (with Garmin even at the touch of a button).

With the form trend you are on the right track. The performance increases.

With each planned or completed training session, you can see how much effort is required for this unit and how many days you need to recover in order to restore your previous performance. This way you can always evaluate how best to distribute your training. Planning is also a good way of predicting whether your form and performance will be at their peak on race day. Of course, planning is always based on the ideal case. So if you get sick or can't do a session, your training can be adjusted quickly and easily.

Please note: If you are absent for a longer period of time, you should revise your goals and subject them to another reality check.

A training plan that has 5 kilometres as a goal

With the right planning, your fitness, as well as your performance, will culminate on race day. This can only be good.

In top form: always keeping an eye on your progress

Congratulations, you are ready for your season, ready for the competitions. And in 365 days at the latest, you'll be sitting here again thinking about what you want to achieve next year. The Tredict evaluation offers you a great overview of your performance. You'll get detailed stats on your monthly balances, form progress, records, competitions and pretty much every metric you've ever recorded.

The evaluation is not only fun, but also helps you directly for your next season. Have fun!

Patrick Romer
Patrick is host of the running podcast ENDSPURT, running coach, but above all has been an enthusiastic runner for many years. For him, running is balance, lifeblood and passion. With this passion and well-structured training, he would like to convince the whole world that running is the best pastime of all time.