Metrics that matter?

01/21/2016 5:21PM

I would really recommend long term and short term goals, like total miles or total workout minutes. I have a goal for the year, also broken down to goals for the month, the week, the day. And I track them religiously. Believe me, if you have been on track for a few months and you notice that you start to slip up, threatening to miss your goal for the year after being on track for so long - it will motivate you to clean up your act! Even better: after a while you can compare yourself to your past performance and track improvements. So fun and so motivating! And a wonderful opportunity to set up big Excel spreadsheets and charts ;-)

JT likes this comment.

I used to do that for marathon running. Goal was to run 100 miles each month, and at least 1,100 miles for the year (cushion just in case bad summer month). It was great until I got injured. Then I (stupidly) tried pushing through runs so I can continue to hit my goals. May be worth while making a "just in case" goal (i.e., if can't run, then bike, swim, etc.).

Biking Syl

I completely agree. Hence my way of counting miles: actual miles count (any sport), or 1 mile for every 10 minutes of other workouts, like a DVD workout. When I got injured, I invented 'jogging' on a yoga ball, basically just bouncing on the ball while swinging my arms like I was running, sometimes with extra hand weights. I would do that while watching TV, so I got more miles in while resting my foot.