January: Education

   If it's true that we learn more from failure than from success, I am a scholar at running. My boo-boos would be fewer if I could learn the secret to setting good goals. I set bad ones. As you contemplate where you want your training program to take you in the coming year, perhaps my blunders can help educate your ambitions.

   The most common mistake all athletes make is in letting last year's goals dictate this year's. The paradox of training is that the fitter you get, the less room you have to improve. Sooner or later you'll hit the limits of your abilities or of age. If last year brought great leaps in improvement for speed, distance, weight loss, or any other yardstick for running, you'll want to refine or change your sights this year.

   This brings up a second common mistake: the failure to bring your goals up for periodic review. Ultimately, training is about change, not only in your performance, but in your physical being, your desires, and your essential abilities. You will be a different person in July than you are in January. Your goals should accommodate this new you in all of its nuances. Any competitive event makes a good time to reassess. If you don't compete, plan to revisit your goals at least twice a year. Thrice-annual reviews are even better.

   While you're at it, don't confuse dreams with goals. Running the Maui Marathon, dropping 20 pounds, achieving a new personal best time in your charity's 10K event are dreams. The workouts that will make these dreams happen should be your goals. They're the progressive reality you'll confront every time you put on your running shoes. Over the weeks and months they'll show you little by little whether or not your dreams are within reach. Goals are specific: times, distances, sets, workouts in a week. They can be measured and counted.

   But don't let them become a tyranny. Even Olympic runners have plateaus and lingering dips in performance that arrive and leave with mysterious caprice. There will always be unforeseen demands on your time. The flu doesn't care about a nearing marathon date. Your job will invariably grow more demanding at a terrible time. Setbacks are inevitable and the discipline and focus that good goals require also need a little humanity. Otherwise, your training plans are likely to go up in smoke.

   Meanwhile, it helps to hedge your bets. Diversifying your goals – changing speed to distance goals, for example, or developing your skills as a trail runner while also training for a street race – may sound like you're planning for failure. Quite the opposite: variable challenges keep enthusiasm alive. They also help reveal your true talents as a runner.

   Finally, be willing to seek help if you're struggling. Help comes in many forms: coaches, the support of a running club, the companionship of a running partner (including the kind that run on four feet), even Internet chat rooms. A few words from kindred runners can keep you right on track.