WHAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK? . As we approach the end of the year, many people begin to think about 2023 racing plans. Before we dive into signing up for all the races, we believe it is important to assess your 2022 progress and set yourself up for success in 2023 by setting goals. If we don’t assess the past mistakes we can be doomed to repeat them again! No one had a perfect running year in 2022 even if you PRed in every single race distance, there is STILL something you can learn from this year and bring into 2023 to become a better runner. Weekly mileage: was it too much? Too little? Workouts: did you do them? Were they too hard? Is that they you skipped them? Were expectations too high? Did you run easy enough on easy days Did you get injured? Seasons of life & routine What season of life are you in? Will it change in 2023? Is it realistic to train more or less next year? What did your routine look like in 2022, will you be able to keep it or will changes need to be made? Are you getting enough support? Races How did your races in 2022 go? How can you improve mentally? How could you improve physically What is your long term goal Define a goal 5-10 years out and then narrow down on a benchmark to get there My long term goal is to run a 100 miler some day Bite sized goals in 2023 that are challenging enough to motivate you to train but not so ridiculously that it throws you off Set a goal 2-3 years into the future Set a goal for next year Break 2023 into 2 parts Part 1: first half of the year Part 2: second half of the year