Okay, so a few post back I started talking about Goal Setting.  I started by explaining about all the data I collect for my dogs.  Then I talked about a training run that went funny.

But what does this have to do with goals setting?  And why is that even important?

Well, mushing is a long term planning commitment!  It takes years to put together a good dog team, train them, train yourself, and be ready to compete.  You HAVE to set goals- long term, short term, and everything in between.

Then you have to monitor your progress and adapt to changes!  All the data I desrcibed in my last post helps me do that.  And the big picture goals help me determine what the goals for individual runs should be... and then I have to stay aware, because the world is fluid and dynamic, changing all the time...

So, I am blathering on a bit here, back to the basics.

This is what I have done.  It started in 2007 when I scratched from Iditarod.  That was a BIG goal that I failed at so I evaluated all the pieces that went right and all that went wrong.  I drew a line down the middle of a balnk piece of paper, on side was the "right" things one the "wrong." And across the top I wrote "How to be competitive in Iditarod" I did this right there in the checkpoint as I waited for the little plane to take me home!

I used that as a master document for my planning.  Set out a timeline based on the changes I felt I was going to need to make, then started braking that down into smaller and smaller junks.

For me it was a 5 year plan. 2012 race iditarod again, 2011 competitve in mid-distance, 2010 competitve in short (under 100 miles races), 2009 puppy training, 2008 breed faster team/get family involved...

With each year goal defined, I set out to define seasonal goals for each year. Then montly goals for each season, weekly goals for each month, etc, all the way down to individual training run goals!

Of course I didn't do it all at once! Each year I evaluate the seasonal goals, each season the montly goals, each month the weekly goals, each week the daily goals, each run the minute to minute goals!

All the data I mentioned 2 posts ago helps me.  And the big picture goals help me decide what to do on individual runs when things start to go wrong.

So what goals do you have?  How are you anyalizing them?