sensible goals

[Tuckervill]

So I've signed up for this lifetime fitness class at my college, and now I've reviewed the class description again...

It says: "Upon the selection of a physical activity, you will choose a goal that you want to achieve by the end of the semester."

Of course, I will choose cycling--since I am a cyclist -- as my physical activity. I have not been riding since November because of my car accident, and then because of the cold. But I have been walking on the treadmill and doing the PT exercises for my shoulder (on both sides, so it's more like a total body workout).

I won't be starting totally over this season--I'll have better cardio fitness. I plan on doing a lot of strength training at the gym, and using cycling as my cardio. edit: I think, since the class orientation is at commercial gym, not the school's gym, that I will be required to check in there a certain number of times per week.

What would be an appropriate goal for cycling for the end of the semester? (In May). I'm not really looking to do a century this year or anything like that...just be consistent in riding and working out and watching my food intake. But I need to be able to indicate something measurable for this class.

Like, by the end of the semester I want to be able to ride 25 miles under a certain amount of time or something like that. Help me out here. I don't have any goals for cycling except to DO it.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Karen

[Geonz]

Twenty-five miles in 2.5 hours would be a reasonable goal (or faster) - but you could also think bigger and shoot for being able to ride 70 miles in a week, or 150, or 225

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Karen,
Don't forget that the number and degree of hills in a 25 mile route will certainly effect how fast or slow one is capable of riding it. It's good to ride a certain route you like, make notes, and then keep riding that same route once in a while and record whether you have gotten faster or whether it feels easier. Basically, comparing yourself to yourself, not to other people. Another goal is to make your rides longer, or as Sue mentions, to raise the weekly number of miles you ride.

[RoadRaven]

Hey there K, you have this goal of 25 miles (approx 40kms I think)

But what kind of speeds have you been riding? What kind of terrain would your 25 miles be over? More details would be useful please.

For me a goal of 16kph would have been too slow on a flattish course when I first started. But it would have been a good challenge on a course with rolling to mild hills.

Great that they encourage goals, and that you are thinking about realistic ones. My biggest problem in my first year of riding was getting way toooo enthusiatic with my goals and then being disappointed.

[GLC1968]

Can your goal be measured in ways other than speed?

Like having a goal of completing a certain organized ride in your area (maybe one that happens to be longer than you've ever gone before)?

Or perhaps a certain number of rides per week consistently...or like Sue suggested, miles per week?

Or, to make it more impressive sounding - say you have 16 weeks in the semester...if you plan on riding (on average) 4 times per week, that would be a total of 64 rides. You could say your goal is to ride 65 times before the end of the semester and then you could do a count-down to keep track. Then you could translate that into miles...say an average ride for you is 10 miles...you could shoot for 10x65 or 650 miles before the semester is out! That sounds REALLY impressive and yet it's do able (if you use your own averages, of course).

[crazycanuck]

Pssst-happy birthday Tuckervill!

[Kedwards]

Pick a goal that is measurable, specific, reasonable, and moderately challenging. But, just as importantly, pick a goal that resonates with your personal ambitions. Do you want to get faster? Put more miles in? Build endurance? Be more consistent?

Some examples of possible goals

1. You could train for one ride of a particular distance, it could be a solo ride or a scheduled/organized ride. A full or metric century could be an example, but pick whatever distance suits your personal ambitions.

2. If you want to get faster, you could aim to get a certain speed in a "time trial" of a certain distance. If you know what your current personal best is on a particular 15-mile, 25 mile, or whatever, course, you could aim to increase your speed by a certain amount. Perhaps 1 or 2 miles per hour increase might be realistic if you plan to add some speed work to your training and really up your intensity.

3. If you want to increase time on the bike, you could aim for ride a certain number of miles over the course of the semester. For example, you could try to get 500 or 1000 miles on the bike (or whatever distance seems suitable to you).

4. A take-off on the above would be to set a weekly mileage goal that focuses on consistency rather than overall mileage. For example, your goal could be to complete 75, 100, or 150 miles per week, each week over the semester.

[Tuckervill]

Or, to make it more impressive sounding - say you have 16 weeks in the semester...if you plan on riding (on average) 4 times per week, that would be a total of 64 rides. You could say your goal is to ride 65 times before the end of the semester and then you could do a count-down to keep track. Then you could translate that into miles...say an average ride for you is 10 miles...you could shoot for 10x65 or 650 miles before the semester is out! That sounds REALLY impressive and yet it's do able (if you use your own averages, of course).

Yeah, see, this is why I asked here. This is the kind of thinking that wasn't occurring for me.

All have been good ideas, and Geonz, thanks for the info on the 25 miles. I hadn't thought of it that way, either. I did a 25 mile ride in October, but I have no idea how long it took. I believe it was less than 2.5 miles, for sure.

I really won't be able to ride regularly until about the first of March (hopefully), so I will have to allow for that, too.

Thanks!
Karen

[Tuckervill]

Oh, and thanks for the birthday wishes!!!

Now I'm going out to catch a glimpse of the McNaught Comet.

Karen

[LBTC]

Are you able to count time at all activities instead of just cycling goals?

If so, you could have an increasing scale of how much time you'll put into cardio and include your time in the gym before cycling season; based on your own current schedule now, say 90 minutes a week during the start month; but 3 hours a week by the end of the semester....

There are sooooo many ways to cut it, have fun! And, as someone else said, make sure you always compare you to you and nobody else!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~