A Longer Goal Isn't a Better Goal

A big fallacy in the world of endurance sports is that longer is better.  But longer races are not inherently more impressive, meaningful, or significant.  Don’t fall into the trap that you must always do something “bigger and better” when it comes to setting goals for yourself.

Read this Coach Tip Tuesday: 

https://www.fullcircleendurance.com/blog/coach-tip-tuesday-a-longer-goal-isnt-a-better-goal 

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Disclaimer: The information shared in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or health goals. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you heard on this podcast. Reliance on any information provided is solely at your own risk.

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening
• 0:16 What The Olympics & Paralympics Taught Me
• 1:05 A Gold Medal is a Gold Medal
• 2:05 The Fallacy That Goals Need to Be Longer and Bigger
• 6:09 What Makes a Goal Significant
• 7:50 Talk to Yourself Like You Would Talk to a Friend
• 9:22 Longer Also Isn’t Inherently Bad
• 11:41 The Bottom Line
• 12:01 Closing

Transcript

(0:04 - 0:19)
Hello, and welcome to the Full Circle Podcast, your source for insights into the science and art of endurance sports training and racing. I'm your host, Coach Laura Henry. Today is Coach Tip Tuesday.

(0:20 - 1:00)
Before I ever imagined that coaching endurance athletes would be my full-time career, I worked as an assistant editor for NBC at the cross-country skiing venue of the 2006 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Torino, Italy. With the final Olympic trials currently taking place to determine who will be on Team USA representing the United States of America at the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, France, I've been thinking a lot about my time in Italy. Working at the Games was an amazing experience on so many levels, but one of the most important things I learned while I was there is what makes an event, and by extension, any goal that an athlete sets significant.

(1:00 - 1:17)
Spoiler, it is not how long or how quote-unquote big the race is. Literally dozens of different sports are contested at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Under the umbrella of those different sports, there are several more different disciplines being contested.

(1:17 - 1:37)
And finally, within those different disciplines, there are dozens of different events. I think we would all likely agree that a gold medal is a gold medal. Therefore, someone who wins a gold medal and is declared to be the Olympic champion in one event is just as awe-inspiring as an athlete who wins a gold medal and is declared to be the Olympic champion in a different event.

(1:37 - 1:55)
The length of the event where the gold medal is won is rarely something that registers on our radar. For instance, in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, Sydney McLachlan-LaRone won the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles. In those same games, Elliot Kipoje won the gold medal in the marathon.

(1:55 - 2:24)
Would anyone listening to this consider Sydney's gold medal to be less significant or less impressive than Elliot's because her event was literally 99.99% shorter? I ask this question because all too often, I observe age group athletes placing tremendous value on the length of a race or an event. This is especially true as it pertains to an athlete's own personal training in racing. But honestly, they assign value to the length of whatever event their age group peers are doing too.

(2:25 - 2:49)
Whether they are aware of it or not, by doing this, athletes then devalue shorter events. I cannot even count the times that an athlete has told me that they will not travel, quote unquote, just for a 5K or, quote unquote, just for a sprint triathlon. Additionally, when athletes set goals, a common reason that they set a particular goal is simply because it is the next distance up from what they have completed before.

(2:49 - 3:04)
When this happens, it is not uncommon for athletes to think less of something shorter and or not to want to set a goal for a shorter event. A common pattern that unfolds goes like this. Once an age group athlete does a 5K, they want to do a 10K.

(3:04 - 3:22)
Once they have finished a 10K, they want to do a marathon. After a half marathon, their next goal is often to do a marathon. Then once that same age group athlete finishes a marathon, it's not that uncommon for them to look to an ultra marathon or to switch sports entirely, perhaps going to triathlon or gravel racing and cycling.

(3:23 - 4:03)
Why? Because when there isn't something longer to do in a particular sport, athletes often struggle with setting goals. Whether they are conscious of it or not, when considering what goal they should set next, an athlete's internal dialogue often goes something like this. What's longer and bigger than what I've already done? As athletes progress through the lengths of a given sport, such as going from the 5K to the marathon distance in running or from the sprint distance to the Ironman distance in triathlon and finish each distance, they are often left feeling at a loss or even bereft, especially when they complete the longest or the most reasonably long distance of a given sport because then there isn't something clear that is quote unquote next.

(4:03 - 4:18)
I've discussed in the past how goals and races are actually two different things. A goal is an objective or a thing that you have deemed to be more important to you than other things. Races are the settings where athletes seek to accomplish their goals.

(4:18 - 5:00)
This is a nuanced distinction, but it's a very important distinction. While there are some limited circumstances where the race may actually be the goal because of the experience of it, and this was the case for me when I ran the Great Wall Marathon in China, I've learned that this is actually the exception for most athletes, not the rule. Goals are accomplished at races, but the race itself isn't and shouldn't be the entirety of the goal. 

All too often, athletes do set goals that are based entirely on what distance a race is, meaning that the only goal that they're setting for themselves has to do with the distance that they'll be covering on race day. This method of goal setting is flawed and problematic because it's honestly not an authentic goal. It's not tied to the athlete's authentic self.

(5:00 - 5:26)
It is based on a superficial aspect of the race, its distance, and not on something that truly has meaning and truly has significance to an athlete. Quite frankly, setting a goal that is based entirely on the distance of a race is easy because it doesn't require an athlete to do the thoughtful, time-intensive, and hard work of examining their own selves and determining what drives them or what is significant and meaningful to them. What's next in terms of the goal that they're setting is laid out for them.

(5:27 - 5:45)
The athlete isn't coming up with a self-initiated or creative goal for themselves outside of the distance of the race itself, or the athlete is coming up with a different goal, but it's a secret goal. A secret goal is when an athlete has a goal that they don't vocalize or tell other people. They keep it to themselves.

(5:45 - 6:06)
A lot of athletes have secret goals. Many, many athletes have told me, I just want to finish over the years in response to my asking them what their goal is, but my experience has shown me that they don't usually actually mean that. Again, they're keeping their real goal to themselves and they're saying something a bit more superficial or generic as an answer just to say something.

(6:06 - 6:24)
It's almost like they're afraid to say what their real goal is. I want everyone listening to hear me loud and clear. Contrary to what has become popular opinion, being longer does not make a particular event or race inherently more impressive, valuable, or significant than another event or race.

(6:24 - 6:41)
Your goals do not have to be set around a race distance that you haven't done before or just because an event is long. After all, just because there is something long or longer that you could do does not mean that you should do it. A 5K is just as significant as a marathon.

(6:41 - 6:53)
A 10K is just as significant as a half marathon. An Olympic distance triathlon is just as impressive as an Ironman. Here's what makes something valuable, what it means to you.

(6:55 - 7:13)
The reason that races and events are significant is because of what they mean to the athletes who are racing at them, not because of the distances that athletes are covering. Every athlete is a unique person and thus has unique goals. What makes a goal significant is what it means to the individual athlete who set the goal.

(7:13 - 7:27)
Sydney McLaughlin-LeRone's goal was to become the Olympic champion in the 400 meter hurdles. Elliot Capoje's goal was to become the Olympic champion in the marathon. Both of these goals are meaningful because of what they meant individually to Sydney and Elliot.

(7:27 - 7:59)
It doesn't matter that Sydney's event was only one thousandth of a percent of the distance as Elliot's. So both in the professional and in the age group world, when an athlete has an important goal that they are seeking to accomplish at a 5K, that means that that goal and that 5K are just as significant, meaningful, and important as an important goal that a different athlete has set to accomplish at an Ironman triathlon. If you find yourself thinking that shorter events are, quote unquote, not good enough, I encourage you to consider what you would say to a friend or fellow athlete who was saying the same thing.

(8:00 - 8:30)
Would you tell a friend that they need to set a goal oriented around a longer race because something shorter isn't good enough? Or would you give them different advice? Would you say something different to them? This practice of considering what we would say to a friend is a really good one to help increase our own self-awareness, one of the big things I always talk about, and to give ourselves a healthy dose of perspective. It forces us to get out of our heads for a bit, zoom out, and consider something from a different viewpoint. If we wouldn't say something to a friend or to another person, we honestly probably shouldn't be saying it to ourselves.

(8:31 - 9:07)
It's hard and it's uncomfortable to admit, but if and when we ourselves devalue something because it's just a certain distance or it's short, then what we are saying, unless we believe that we are better or superior to everyone else, is that anyone who achieves something in a short race isn't as good as an athlete who achieves something in a longer race. Would we really say that out loud to someone else's face looking at them in the eyes? No, we would not. And why wouldn't we say that? Because in our hearts, we know that that thought process, that something is only valuable because it's longer, isn't actually true.

(9:08 - 9:30)
You will never have more conversations with another human than you have with your own self internally. As such, it is important to be aware of how we are talking to ourselves and to make sure that we are being kind, compassionate, and honest. While I am saying that longer events are not inherently better than shorter events, I am also saying that longer events are not inherently worse than shorter events.

(9:31 - 9:40)
The distance of a race is neutral. It may be true that you actually prefer the training for and the doing of longer races and events. If that's the case, that's totally fine.

(9:40 - 9:58)
I myself am one of these athletes. I really, really, really enjoy long rides and long runs, and I miss them when I am not regularly including them in my movement practice or in my training. However, collectively, I've observed that age group endurance athletes have a tendency to value or revere longer events simply due to their length.

(9:58 - 10:23)
My point here is that something is not automatically better, more impressive, or more worthwhile simply because it is longer. If your goals are oriented around races that are longer, it's actually of particular importance that you enjoy the training for these events. All too often, athletes choose races and goals to accomplish at those races because they like the longer distance on race day itself and or how they feel emotionally after covering that distance on race day.

(10:23 - 10:55)
But duration-wise, race day is a very small slice of your overall training. If you don't actually like or have time for the training in your day-to-day life that longer events like this necessitate, it's really important to be honest about that and to choose goals and event distances that do align with both what fits into your life with your available training time, and most importantly, what you enjoy doing in training. If you do decide to pursue longer events, you may find that the training for them isn't enjoyable for you, doesn't fit within the scope of your life, or just isn't your jam for any number of reasons.

(10:55 - 11:15)
And if you find yourself in this situation, it's really important for you to embrace and understand that quote-unquote going back to doing shorter events or distances than you've done before isn't less than. The most important thing always is that you are doing something that brings you joy. If you're someone who doesn't have interest in doing longer events, that's also very okay.

(11:15 - 11:41)
That being said, it is so important not to compare yourself or to measure yourself against athletes who are choosing to set goals that are accomplished at longer events. If you really enjoy doing sprint triathlons and don't have the drive or desire to train for anything longer, that doesn't mean you're any less of an athlete than someone who has goals that are accomplished at an Ironman 70.3. If you enjoy half marathons, you do not need to do a marathon. Do the distances that you enjoy and set your goals accordingly.

(11:41 - 12:00)
As you consider what resonates with you, what brings you joy, and what you have the time and mental energy to train for, remember that goals do not need to be long in order to be significant. Choose goals that are in alignment with your authentic self and that excite you. That is the true path to joy, excellence, and contentment as an athlete.

(12:03 - 12:18)
That was another episode of the Full Circle Podcast. Subscribe to the Full Circle Podcast wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. If you like what you listen to, please be sure to leave us a rating and review as this goes a long way in helping us reach others.

(12:19 - 12:36)
The thoughts and opinions expressed on the Full Circle Podcast are those of you who listen. As always, we'd love to hear from you and we value your feedback. Please send us an email at podcast at fullcircleendurance.com or visit us at fullcircleendurance.com backslash podcast.

(12:36 - 12:47)
To find training plans, see what other coaching services we offer, or to join our community, please visit fullcircleendurance.com. I'm Coach Laura Henry. Thanks for listening.