PART 2. GOAL SETTING
Outcome, Performance, and Process Goals
Before setting your goals, let’s start with some background on different types of goals. You will then use these ideas to formulate your own goals in the practical applications in this section.
Outcome Goals (race places)
Outcome goals are the outcomes or end results of competitions that an athlete is targeting. Outcome goals typically involve a particular place in relation to other competitors, such as finishing in the top 10 or qualifying for an event.
We have the least control over outcome goals, especially as it relates to comparisons with others — no matter how well we’ve prepared, we cannot control race conditions and the performances of competitors.
Outcome goals may or may not apply to you depending on your motivations for racing. Not all athletes are focused on external competition. Some endurance athletes set goals purely based on personal achievement — such as finishing a race or hitting a time goal — without concern for placement. If this is you, your primary long-term goal may be a performance goal rather than an outcome goal.
Examples of outcome goals:
- Place in the top-10 at the Local 10K
- Qualify for the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc
Performance Goals (race times, training benchmarks)
Performance goals are the specific, task-related benchmarks that an athlete attempts to meet — whether during training or racing. These are self-referenced goals that focus on your own individual achievement or progress, rather than a comparison to others.
For example, a runner attempts to hit a time they’re targeting, such as running a marathon under three hours. Or a runner attempts to meet a performance benchmark during training, such as completing a certain number of key workouts during a training block.
We have some control over performance goals, especially if we put in the necessary training and practice to set ourselves up for success.
Examples of performance goals:
- Run a sub-3-hour marathon
- Finish the Leadville Trail 100 under 30 hours
Process Goals (smaller executable steps)
Process goals are the actions, techniques, or strategies that underlie performance or outcome goals. For example, a runner focuses on fueling and hydrating at designated intervals during a long run — these are executable actions involved in the process of running well during a long race.
We have the most control over process goals since these represent process-oriented steps we can take on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to support our performance or outcome goals. Not surprisingly, research has shown that process goals are the most important type of goal. Even if you don’t have specific performance goals (or outcome goals), focusing on process goals will help set yourself up for success as an endurance athlete.
Examples of process goals:
- Sleep at least 8 hours each night
- Eat a good meal the night before my long runs
- Hydrate with a sports drink every 20-30 minutes during my long runs
- Do 15 minutes/day of mobility work at least 5 days/week
- Consistently follow my training plan

Performance Standards (how you “show up”)
Another aspect of performance — both during training and racing — involves the performance standards you set for yourself. Performance standards are the principles that guide how you show up as an athlete during training and racing regardless of the obstacles you may encounter. Think of these as the expectations you have for yourself in terms of attitude, effort, preparation, and mindset. Performance standards may be thought of as a sub-set of process goals, but with a particular focus on how you regularly conduct yourself during training and racing. Performance standards are always with you, whereas other process goals change and vary depending on what you’re trying to achieve during any given training session or race.
Just like process goals, we have control over our performance standards if we train to implement them, but implementing them is not automatic without practice. So develop your performance standards and practice them every day during training, alongside your process goals. You want your performance standards to become your default settings for how you execute as an athlete regardless of the condition you encounter in training or racing.
As with your goals, your performance standards are specific to you. They should reflect who you are and what you want to achieve. In an upcoming practical application, you will have the opportunity to set your performance standards.
SMART Goals
Defining your goals is a personal endeavor. Your coach, friends, and family can provide input and act as sounding boards, but you ultimately need to identify what is important to you and what you want to achieve. Goals that are personally meaningful to you will be more effective and fulfilling.
Choose goals that resonate with you, align with your interests, and develop your trajectory as an athlete. Goals do not always have to be based on finishing times or places. The longer the event, the more challenging it becomes to log a finish, which may be the goal you’re primarily after. You may also approach “races” more as “events” where you focus on eventing — participating in them largely for fun and for the camaraderie without the pressure to perform that may come with racing.
Whatever your goals, when devising them keep the SMART acronym in mind. The SMART acronym acts as a mnemonic device for a set of criteria underpinning effective goals. Creating SMART goals leads to better results.
SMART goals are:
- Specific. What do you want to accomplish? For example, designate a specific race with a specific goal.
- Measurable. How will you know when you’ve accomplished the goal? For example, indicate a time or distance that can be measured.
- Achievable (or attainable). Is the goal achievable while still being challenging? The goal should be neither too easy nor unrealizable.
- Relevant (or realistic). Is it relevant to your interests and motivation? Do you have the time and ability to realistically pursue the goal?
- Time-bound (or timely). When do you want to accomplish the goal? There should be a timeline or deadline associated with the goal.
Take, for example, a goal statement from an athlete who wants to run their first marathon next year. It might look something like this:
- Next year, I want to finish the Boulder Marathon.
Let’s see if it’s a SMART goal. In working through the criteria, I’m going to start with S-M-T since these three criteria are explicitly included in the goal statement, and then discuss how to ensure the A-R criteria are met.
Is the goal specific? Yes, the goal specifies a particular race so we know exactly what’s being targeted. If the athlete simply said, I want to finish a marathon, we would want to know more details. Being specific helps make the goal tangible.
Is the goal measurable? Yes, although many goals often involve race times (measured by the clock) or places (measured by race results), it’s easy enough to determine whether you finish a race or not. The goal of finishing a marathon may be appropriate for this runner since it’s their first marathon. Developing some target times to aim for could be useful motivators going into the event, but that could come closer to the race based on feedback from their training; their primary goal may still be to log a finish.
Is the goal time-bound? Yes, we know it’s next year’s Boulder Marathon, which occurs on a specific date. This date provides a definite timeline associated with the goal. The athlete may have said, I want to finish a marathon at some point in the future. This could be a valid “someday” goal to act as a motivator for long-term development, but it’s not yet formulated as a SMART goal.
The remaining two criteria — achievable/attainable (A) and relevant/realistic (R) — may not be written directly in the goal statement, but they are crucial aspects of a SMART goal. Here’s how to think through these two elements.
Is the goal achievable/attainable? SMART goals should challenge you while remaining within the realm of possibility given your background. When developing your goal, rather than simply thinking about this, write down 1-3 highlights from your previous experiences, whether specific to your past athletic pursuits or other relevant life events, that give you confidence your goal is achievable/attainable.
For this particular athlete, they might write down something like this:
- Last year, I finished the Boulder Half-Marathon.
Although finishing a half-marathon is not a necessary prerequisite to entering a marathon, it’s a valuable part of this athlete’s past running experience that gives them confidence their marathon goal is achievable/attainable. They might also identify other aspects of their progression as a runner, such as recent mileage, that give them confidence they can reach the marathon goal.
The point is to articulate these past experiences while defining your primary longer-term goal. Then keep these confidence statements in writing next to your goal and return to them as a reminder that you’re capable of achieving the goal, especially when you encounter difficulties and setbacks along the way.
Is the goal relevant/realistic? This is another aspect of the goal that must be considered. The goal may be achievable/attainable based on your background and progression as an athlete, but you may not be in a position to pursue it right now due to other commitments. Maybe, for example, this athlete just started a new job that requires working late hours and weekends, making it difficult to fit in the long runs needed to train for a marathon. In that case, targeting a marathon in the upcoming year may not be relevant/realistic to where they’re at right now; but a different goal might make more sense, such as returning to the half-marathon they did last year with the goal of lowering their time.
To assess whether a goal is relevant/realistic, answer these questions:
- Does the goal align with and resonate with your current athletic interests?
- Does the goal represent something you truly want to do and freely choose to do (versus something you feel you “should” do to check a box or because others want you to do it)?
- Considering your other life commitments (work, family, etc.), financial situation, and the training you will need to do to realistically achieve the goal, are you in a position right now to pursue this goal?
If you answer yes to each of these questions, then you have yourself a SMART goal. The next step is to outline the intermediary goals you need to achieve to set yourself up for success.
Connecting Your Long-Term Goals to the Present
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”
— Goethe
When setting goals, you always want to start with the big future goal you want to achieve, and then work backwards to outline the intermediary goals you need to hit to reach that objective.
Goal setting can reach as far into the future as you’re interested in planning for — or you can simply focus on the upcoming year or season. Even if you haven’t yet thought much about your athletic goals beyond the upcoming year, it can be helpful to consider where you want to be at least a few years down the road.
For long-term goal planning, you can start with an unspecified “someday” goal — a big, ambitious dream goal that you want to achieve more than 10 years into the future. Since this is further removed from the present, you don’t need to designate a specific end date yet; but you will need to develop intermediary goals with specific time frames that put you on the path to achieving your “someday” goal. As “someday” gets closer, you will assign a more specific timeframe for meeting it. You can also start with a 10-year goal or 5-year goal. Or, to develop your goals for the upcoming year or season, start with that time frame.
In setting goals for your upcoming year or season, you typically will have 1-3 main A-priority races/events that you design your training plan around. You may also have some races/events that are important to you but you plan to do without a full taper while working them around your most important races/events — these are your B-priority races/events. You might also decide to jump into some “training races” that effectively act as fun workouts or to practice race-specific skills in an authentic setting without the pressure to perform associated with a higher priority race/event — these are your C-priority races/events. With your A-priority race(s)/event(s) comprising your main goal(s), your B-priority and C-priority race(s)/event(s), if any, provide some of the intermediary goals that act as stepping stones to those main goals.
Similar to B-priority and C-priority training races/events are other key milestones positioned at different points on your timeline. These goals are key workouts or other actions you need to take in the lead-up to the main goal. If your big goal is to finish a marathon, then this might be a particular long run mileage or duration you want to achieve by a certain date.
Finally, consider the monthly, weekly, and daily actions you want to achieve. These are the regular actions that you want to become habits — your process goals and performance standards. As sports psychologist Bob Rotella emphasizes, “Success comes from patiently and persistently doing the right things over and over. Process goals are the ‘to-do lists’ of players striving for excellence. The process is what gives you a chance to find out how good you can be.”
Let’s return to the athlete looking to finish their first marathon. Recall that they wrote down a SMART goal statement that looks like this:
- Next year, I want to finish the Boulder Marathon.
Working backwards to connect that future goal to the present via a chain of intermediary goals, here’s what the athlete’s goal sheet might look like for the upcoming year:
Main Goal: Finish next year’s Boulder Marathon on September 22 (A-priority race)
Training Races/Key Milestones:
- Long run of 18-20 miles by August 25
- Rocky Mountain Half-Marathon on August 3 (C-priority)
- Bolder Boulder 10K on May 27 (B-priority)
Monthly Actions:
- Talk with my coach about the past/upcoming months of training
- Get in for a bodywork session
Weekly Actions:
- Do my long run each weekend
- Assess my training plan consistency at the end of each week to understand what barriers exist and how to address them in the upcoming week
Daily Actions:
- Start each day with a 20-minute mobility spin-up
- Consistently follow my training plan and record workouts in TrainingPeaks
- Sleep at least 8 hours each night
Everything below the main goal are performance benchmarks or process goals that contribute something to achieving the main goal. They all represent realistic actions that this athlete can commit to doing. Notice that the goal sheet keeps things fairly simple. You can add as many intermediary goals as you like, but no more than you can realistically commit to getting done. You can’t do everything — even if you’re a professional athlete that trains full-time. Prioritize what’s most important and consistently execute those actions to move yourself along the path of your goal-achievement journey.
As you progress along the path, keep your process goals visible and regularly evaluate your progress. The end destination may be fixed, but you’re in control of the path you take to get there. Adjust your process goals as needed to navigate around obstacles that come up and keep yourself on track to get to your final destination.
✍Practical Application: Set Your Performance Standards
“Some days it just flows and I feel like I’m born to do this, other days it feels like I’m trudging through hell. Every day I make the choice to show up and see what I’ve got, and to try and be better. My advice: keep showing up.”
— Des Linden
“I went through a rough time last fall and debated whether I wanted to keep doing this or not. But I stopped thinking about the overall picture and just thought about each day individually — thinking about right now and showing up for this moment. If you can show up for that, then you have a chance. But if you don’t show up, it’s just automatically giving in.”
— Des Linden
How Do You Want to Show Up?
Answering this question is key to establishing your own set of performance standards. Remember, these are standards you’ve set for yourself in terms of attitude, effort, preparation, and mindset. These principles guide how you show up during training and racing regardless of the obstacles you may encounter.
Everything in the world could be going wrong during a particular race or workout, but your performance standards provide a way of acting in line with the expectations you’ve set for yourself. You want these to become your default settings that you automatically implement regardless of the conditions you face. These standards will allow you to consistently align your regular performance with the type of athlete you want to be.
Establish Your Performance Standards
In a notebook or in the workbook, write down your performance standards. Consider how you want to show up as an athlete during your training and racing. These are specific to you and your goals. Keep the number manageable (no more than a handful) to make them easier to remember and implement.
Workbook
The workbook provides templates for all of the practical applications in the guide. Download here if you haven’t already:
- Practical Application Workbook (Google Doc)
Example
To illustrate what these can look like, below are the performance standards I developed for myself when I did this exercise. I strive to implement these in my daily training and racing. I’ve labeled each performance standard with a short title that makes it easy to remember, allowing me to quickly run through each one in my mind to facilitate implementation.
Examples of my performance standards:
- Mindfulness. Pay attention in each present moment with purpose and without judgment.
- Gratitude. Be grateful for the opportunities and challenges that arise while engaged in endurance activities.
- Curiosity. Be curious when facing challenges and probing your limits.
- Growth mindset. Use setbacks and obstacles as opportunities for learning and growth.
- Best effort. Do what you can do in each moment with what you’ve got on that day.
- Fueling/hydration. Consistently monitor and maintain consistent blood sugar and hydration levels to keep a clear mind and support performance.
✍Practical Application: Set Your Primary and Intermediary Goals
“Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.”
— George Saunders
Begin with the End in Mind and Work Backwards
Goal setting involves identifying a future goal you want to achieve and then working backwards to outline the intermediary goals needed to reach that future destination.
Detailed Instructions
- Write a future goal you want to achieve using the SMART guidelines. Ensure that the goal statement defines a goal that is: Specific, Measurable, and Time-bound.
- Write 1-3 highlights from your previous experiences, whether specific to your past athletic pursuits or other relevant life events, that give you confidence that your ambitious, challenging goal is Achievable/Attainable.
- Ensure the goal is Relevant/Realistic by considering these questions:
- Does the goal align with and resonate with your current athletic interests?
- Does the goal represent something you truly want to do and freely choose to do (versus something you feel you “should” do to check a box or because others want you to do it)?
- Considering your other life commitments (work, family, etc.), financial situation, and the training you will need to do to realistically achieve the goal, are you in a position right now to pursue this goal?
- Work backwards from your future goal to outline your intermediary goals. These process goals include:
- Training Races/Key Milestones
- Monthly Actions
- Weekly Actions
- Daily Actions
- Now that you have your goals outlined, go do the work and evaluate your progress on a regular basis. Adjust your intermediary goals as needed to keep moving toward the primary goal.
Workbook
The workbook provides templates for all of the practical applications in the guide. Download here if you haven’t already:
- Practical Application Workbook (Google Doc)
Example
Below is the finished goal sheet for the athlete seen throughout this section whose goal is to finish their first marathon. The lsection that follows provides a more in-depth case study of the goals I used to train for and finish a 100-mile trail ultramarathon.
Main Goal
- Finish next year’s Boulder Marathon on September 22 (A-priority).
Confidence Statements
- Last year, I finished the Boulder Half-Marathon.
- I’ve run long runs of 2 hours for over a month this year.
Training Races/Key Milestones:
- Long run of 18-20 miles by August 25
- Rocky Mountain Half Marathon on August 3 (C-priority)
- Bolder Boulder 10K on May 27 (B-priority)
Monthly Actions:
- Talk with my coach about the past/upcoming months of training
- Get in for a bodywork session
Weekly Actions:
- Do my long run each weekend
- Assess my training plan consistency at the end of each week to understand what barriers exist and how to address them in the upcoming week
Daily Actions:
- Start each day with 10-20 minutes of mobility work
- Consistently follow my training plan and record workouts in TrainingPeaks
- Sleep at least 8 hours each night
Case Study: Goal Setting as a Journey
“It’s really looking at the vision, the history, the roadblocks, and obstacles, and then setting and mapping — through the discovery process — a strategy to move forward.”
— Michael Gervais
As noted earlier, the final step of goal setting is to execute those intermediary goals and make adjustments as needed to stay on target to reach the main goal. The goal sheet acts as a starting point and a roadmap for the goal-achievement journey, but there will often be obstacles along the road that require navigating around before reaching the final destination. In this case study, I share with you my own personal journey toward a goal of finishing my first 100 mile trail ultramarathon. Many things went according to plan. But one big thing didn’t. That’s often the case with ultramarathons, but it’s also indicative of the goal-achievement process more generally.
Early in 2022, I decided that 2023 would be the year for me to run a 100-mile trail ultramarathon. As a SMART goal, I felt the goal was achievable/attainable given my past experiences as a mountain runner — I was ready to take on 100 miles. I was also in a good place in my life. That year, my other life commitments provided enough flexibility and support to allow me to dedicate the time for training. So it was a relevant/realistic goal for me to pursue at that time.
I just needed to pick a race. I considered both the Leadville Trail 100 (LT100) and the Run Rabbit Run 100 (RRR100) in Steamboat Springs. In June 2022, I volunteered at the Leadville Trail Marathon to earn preference in the LT100 lottery and set myself up for a spot (a key early goal). I found out in January 2023 that I got in, so my goal of wanting to run/finish a 100 miler gained specificity and timeliness to round out the SMART criteria. I had a specific race and a time-bound date to go along with my measurable goal that was achievable/attainable and relevant/realistic for me at that moment in my life, as seen below in the SMART goal worksheet.
Specific, Measurable, Time-Bound
Write a future goal that is specific, measurable, and time-bound.
- I want to finish the Leadville Trail 100 in August 2023 (A-priority race).
Achievable/Attainable
Write 1-3 highlights from your previous experiences, whether specific to your past athletic pursuits or other relevant life events, that give you confidence your goal is achievable/attainable.
- I ran around Mont Blanc from Chamonix to Courmayeur in both directions in one week in 2015 (runs of ~44 and ~53 miles, plus other recovery training on the days between).
- I have several years experience of long days moving swiftly through the mountains to summit peaks (including all ranked summits in the IPWA, all of the Colorado 14ers, Mount Rainier, etc.), plus related objectives like trekking to Everest base camp and running the Mount Everest Marathon.
- I’ve developed a substantial running base from 40+ years of consistent running and other endurance sports (Ironman triathlons, biking, XC skiing, etc.).
Relevant/Realistic
Evaluate whether the goal is relevant/realistic by answering these questions.
✔ Does the goal align with and resonate with your current athletic interests?
✔ Does the goal represent something you truly want to do and freely choose to do (versus something you feel you “should” do to check a box or because others want you to do it)?
✔ Considering your other life commitments (work, family, etc.), financial situation, and the training you will need to do to realistically achieve the goal, are you in a position right now to pursue this goal?
A key early goal, as I noted, was doing the volunteer work over a year in advance of the race to help me qualify for a spot. This wasn’t a training milestone, but it was nevertheless an important step in the process of being able to achieve my goal. So this is included in the goal sheet.
The 100 miler was my only A-priority race of the year. Some people love to race frequently and do well integrating “training races” into their training plan. I’m the opposite. I love to go off on my own and just focus on training. I had considered using the Leadville Trail Marathon and Silver Rush 50 miler as training races, but opted against it knowing I often do better just focusing on training for a big objective like the LT100. I did have several skimo and cross-country ski races during the winter months, but once I transitioned fully into run training by April, the rest of the summer was focused on training without any more races. Instead, I had some key milestones that I used as important intermediary goals.
I also worked out the regular actions I would need to take on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis. This included focusing on consistent mobility work to deal with a long-time knee issue that mobility work helps keep at bay, a consistent sleep schedule including at least one nap each week to ensure I was recovering from the increased training load over the summer months, and a focus on proper eating.
These intermediary goals can be seen in the goal sheet below.
Main Goal
- Finish the Leadville Trail 100 on August 19, 2023 (A-priority race).
Confidence Statements
- I ran around Mont Blanc from Chamonix to Courmayeur in both directions in one week in 2015 (runs of ~44 and ~53 miles, plus other recovery training on the days between).
- I have several years experience of long days moving swiftly through the mountains to summit peaks (including all of the Indian Peaks, all of the Colorado 14ers, Mount Rainier, etc.), plus related objectives like trekking to Everest base camp and running the Mount Everest Marathon.
- I’ve developed a substantial running base from 40+ years of consistent running (and other endurance sports, including Ironman triathlons, biking, XC skiing, etc.).
Training Races/Key Milestones:
- Dial in drop bag logistics in early to mid August
- Max mileage/vert training block from June 19-30
- 10+ hrs running and 5-10,000 vertical ft per week in June/July
- Run each section of the course 1+ times in June/July
- Frisco Gold Rush 10K skate ski race on February 11 (B-priority)
- XC ski races at Frisco in Jan/Feb (5 races from 6-8 km) (C-priority)
- Skimo races at A-Basin in Nov/Dec (2 races from 1-2 hrs) (C-priority)
- Volunteer at Leadville Marathon in June 2022 to earn LT100 spot
Monthly Actions:
- 3+ runs/month on sections of the LT100 course in June/July
- Assess past/upcoming training and adjust as needed
Weekly Actions:
- Follow training plan for back-to-back long runs
- Follow training plan for threshold/tempo workouts
- Take one or more naps per week as needed
- Assess past/upcoming training and adjust as needed
Daily Actions:
- Start/end each day with 30 minutes of mobility work
- Sleep at least 8 hours each night with consistent bedtime
- Ensure adequate calorie and protein intake with meals
Even the best laid plans can encounter obstacles and setbacks.
My training moved along like clockwork as I consistently hit my intermediary goals on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. During June and July, I surpassed all of my training milestones and the coaching tools I use on TrainingPeaks to monitor training and model training load/form helped me peak right on schedule for the LT100 on August 19.
I lived at 9,400 feet less than an hour drive from Leadville, so I did many of my longer training runs on the LT100 course. I was also able to sprinkle in mountain runs of the type I usually spend my summers doing with ridge scrambles and plenty of summits over 13,000 feet.
I thoroughly loved the journey of training for this goal and I was set up well to get it done on August 19. Only I didn’t.
Heat is a nemesis of mine and race day was particularly hot, hotter than any of my training runs on the course. Having trained all summer at altitude, I wasn’t heat acclimated. It was also my first time racing an ultra of that distance and I made every mistake I could have made. Ultimately, I wasn’t able to get all the fluids I needed between aid stations early in the race and severely overheated with my body shutting down, physically and mentally. I DNFed at mile 50.
I allowed myself a day to be disappointed, but then went back to my performance standards, one of which is to use setbacks and obstacles as opportunities for learning and growth. When I got home from Leadville, I sat down and recorded in my notebook everything I learned from the day. Several pages later I had a roadmap for what to do differently on my next attempt. When would that be?
The next day, I checked the Run Rabbit Run 100 registration page and found a few open spots remaining. I signed up for one and adjusted my goals. Now, my main goal for the year was to finish the Run Rabbit Run 100 — four weeks away — and the LT100 attempt became just another 50-mile training run, another intermediary goal for the RRR100. The timing worked well so that I could adjust the goal and use the LT100 attempt as an intermediary goal. I carried forward enough unused fitness from Leadville that peaking for another 100 miler attempt four weeks later was feasible.
I may not have been in as great a condition physically for the RRR100 on September 15 as I had been for the LT100 on August 19, but I was certainly better prepared mentally and strategically. I went back to my personal “why,” applied the learnings from the LT100 DNF, successfully navigated the ups and downs of the RRR100 (without encountering any problems with heat on a much cooler day), and achieved my main goal of finishing a 100 miler. Relying on my performance standards and process goals — while keeping my big “why” in sight — ultimately allowed me to get it done.
I was lucky to have a second opportunity during the same season, but sometimes the goal-achievement journey can take longer than anticipated or result in not achieving the desired goal. That’s part of the process — and, ultimately, it’s the process that sustains life, not the final destination.