January: Nuts

   As the holidays ebb, calmer moments will find you contemplating the miles you've logged over the previous year, stirring tentative hope for the coming year's goals. Make it a point during these tranquil times to entertain thoughts of uncorked, feather-flying lunacy. Maybe this is the year you run an ultramarathon or make nationals in Masters competition. Ever thought of running the perimeter of Iceland? Go mad with ambition.

   No matter how outlandish the goal, notice how quickly your imagination tries to ground it in reality: the intensity of training required, the coaching you'd need, the costs, the number of extra workouts you could reasonably squeeze in to your week, the support you'd get from loved ones, and so forth. Remarkably few of life's endeavors yield to will and planned application as dependably as running does. After all, every workout reaps results.

   Within five minutes of this crazed deliberation, your smile will arch upward, recognizing a farce - it's best to forget the whole thing - or it will spread broadly, dangerously across your face in nervous possibility. If you're still mulling the goal after a day or two, perhaps you should take it for a run. You needn't commit to it (nor even admit it to anyone). Simply spend the next ten days working at the highest intensity you can sustain, keeping a dispassionate eye on the results you're getting and on the satisfaction you feel from working at this level.

   Progress isn't linear, of course; we all have weeks of performance dips and plateaus. Injury, illness, and crammed calendars hinder the best efforts. Until you begin training in earnest, how would you know what type of intensity is actually required? Forget these uncertainties and setbacks - and forget your ultimate goal, as well. Instead, focus on the training, on whether you can muster the time and the elemental desire to work at a very high intensity for weeks, even months. Can you run through the inevitable lapses of boredom, isolation, and disillusionment?

   As long as your family can have you carted away to the nut hut, you should probably stay mum about your ultimate aim. But you can begin sprinkling your calendar with a series of small goals that can be used as benchmarks to help you assess your progress. At each of these mini-goals, be willing to rewrite your training program wholesale. Use hard numbers - split times, weekly mileage, and so forth - to evaluate your advancement. These results will begin to blow away the smoke of a pipe dream, revealing a reality, even if it isn't the reality you want.

   Ability and determination don't make a sufficient alchemy to help you reach your ultimate goal. You also need the imperious hand of fate to push you forward. No matter: you will emerge from these months of training a different kind of runner - more capable and consistent, more aware of the pleasures and fulfillment that training brings you. Ultimately, goals are just focus points for training. They shouldn't diminish the exuberance you'll feel after completing a marathon or dropping 20 pounds of weight. Far more disturbing (and exciting) are the thoughts that run through your mind during the first workout after your goal is met.