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This week's tip:
Setting Training Goals
How to Set Goals to Pump Up Your Training
Bont's Briana Kramer winning the 2009 Northshore Inline Marathon
(Photo-finish camera: Sports Management Associates, Inc.)
By Briana Kramer
Don’t just set one goal for yourself. Set a big goal, and then set smaller goals to help you on your way. These little goals will keep you focused and prevent you from getting frustrated.
Always keep your goals in mind when you train. They will fuel your training with purpose and intensity.
My current goal is to compete in the Olympics. I know I have a long way to go, so I continually set smaller goals for myself, such as posting faster lap times and earning a spot on the U.S. team.
I set the same kind of goals when my primary focus was inline skating. I was always chasing down other skaters, trying to beat them, picking them off one by one.
I kept my eyes forward and never looked back. If there was a girl that was faster than me, I'd chase her down. If there were only boys to chase, I was right there behind them.
Once I became fast, I would try to outdo myself, especially at Outdoor Nationals. People would say, "Making the team will be easy for you.” But rather than taking it easy, I would push myself to break records.
If my goal was to win at the World Championships, I wouldn't train for Indoor or Outdoor Nationals. I would train for Worlds so I would be ready for the extra intensity I would encounter.
My thinking was that if you train for Worlds, then making the team should be easy.
Another thing you have to be willing to do is fail. Sometimes you learn more by failing than by winning. Learn something even on your bad days, even if all you can say afterwards is, “At least I know what doesn’t work.”
That’s just one mistake you won’t have to make again.
One thing that has helped me through the years is something my first-grade teacher used to say: "Always try to do better than you did the day before."
I live my life by that.
Briana Kramer is one of USA’s top young speed skaters and the winner of the 2011 National Roller Cup. A Florida native, she trained under legendary coach Renee Hildebrand and was an A-student in high school. She races on inlines as part of the Bont USA team. She recently moved to Salt Lake City to become a part of the inline-to-ice training program of the US Olympic Committee. In her spare time, she enjoys painting and watching movies. And that’s not all. “I love music and Twitter almost as much as chocolate chip cookies,” she says. Aside from the Olympics, her goals are to earn an MBA, open a business and write a book about her experiences in the hope of helping “other girls like me.”
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