Goal Setting for 2025
2024 is almost in the rearview. One habit I started in 2023 was to make a list of goals for each year. While some goals were running-related, I’ve applied the same idea to a running-specific goals list this year. I’d encourage everyone to spend the next few days thinking about a list of running-related goals for 2025, and to help you out, I’ve offered some tips and rules to guide you. As a coach, the first question I ask when I’m taking on a new athlete is “What is your goal?” Most of the time, this becomes the first coaching project, and I enjoy shaping goals with my athletes. I’ll follow it up with an example of two good goals lists.
Rule #1: I’ll be a dictator here and say your #1 goal should be to stay healthy. I do mean mentally healthy here, but I’ll focus on physically. If your goal for the year was to run 100 miles a day, and you only ran 1 mile a day, you could say you were 1% of the way to your goal. The only thing that would make you more inefficient than that would be to be 0%. Getting injured will cause you to be 0% of the way to your goal. So when you're making that list, remember you can make terrible goals and execute them equally as badly, but if you are healthy, you’ll at least be able to take some steps to be a better runner.
Rule #2: Make your goals about consistency, not pace: It’s tempting to say “I want to run a 3:00:00 marathon” or “I want to run a 4:40” mile. It’s good to have these in the back of your head, but in some ways, these are out of your control. What if you run a hilly marathon? What if you run on a windy track? What if you could have run a 2:55:00, but you pulled back because the 3:00:00 mark loomed in your head? I’m guilty of the time-based goals as well, but much better to make your goals about your training consistency. If you can make a training plan and stick to it, the time results will follow. This allows you to focus on each workout and each week by itself rather than getting tied to what a session indicates about your ability to run a 3:00:00.
One thing I coach everyone to do is set a yearly mileage or time goal. This ensures you are focused on longevity. Even 10 miles a week for 52 weeks would get someone new to running a better level of adaptation than a few 50-mile weeks, followed by an injury.
Rule #3: Make your goals SMART: If you’ve attended high school, you’ve heard of SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). It’s a great starting point for running goals. For example, a smart goal might be “Between January and March, I want to run 20 miles a week,” as opposed to “I want to run more this winter.” But one question I ask a lot is “What is achievable?” Especially with a pace-based goal (ie. 3:00:00 marathon), how do you know 3:00:00 is realistic based on where you currently are?
The ideal thing would be to run a marathon, see your current fitness, then see how much time you have. If you run a 3:30:00 and only have 10 weeks to train, it’s probably not achievable to come down to 3:00:00 (this also highlights why I don’t like pace-based goals: they often rely on some ‘prestigious’ mark, like 3:00:00 marathon or 18:00 5k rather than the best you could do). To establish what’s achievable, I prefer to use the VDOT Tables. Instead of running a marathon to gauge my fitness, I can run a 5k, see my predicted marathon pace, and then make a goal. Maybe I’m just trying to run a marathon at my current fitness, and maybe I’m trying to gain 1-2 VDOT levels of fitness. If my goal is a 5k, I can go run one and without any guesses see what my fitness is and what would be 1-2 levels above. I’ve found in coaching, 1-2 VDOT scores higher is the most you should aim for in a 12-24 week period (with no previous training. If you just did marathon training, you might be able to make a big jump of 3-4 levels in your 5k VDOT).
Rule #4: RACE MORE! If you are planning to run three races this year (for example a Turkey Trot 5k, summer half, winter full marathon) race twice that. Racing is, after all, the culmination of your running training. It’s the most fun thing you can do and it’s a chance to put yourself in a position to perform. A good way to double your races is to add a tune-up for each that’s half the distance of your desired race. For my Turkey Trot 5k, I can tune up with a 1-mile on the track. For my summer half, I can tune up with 10k. For a full marathon, I can tune up with a half-marathon.
Now, an extra race can carry extra pressure. What if I do a half and find I’m not on target for my goal marathon pace? To stop this, apply Rule #2. Instead of making a pace-based goal for your tune-up, make it a race goal. Instead of “Run a 1:20 half,” I might say “Podium finish my half,” or “Run with the lead pack for the first half,” or “Don’t be last.” The great thing about a racing goal is that it can force you to let go of time and focus on running the best race you can. Oftentimes, this will lead to a good time without the stress. The bonus is, that if you don’t run a good race, you can shake it off as a product of a racing goal.
Rule #5 (And the last one): Set goals within your control: I coach a lot of people who are going to Selections or Schools. One thing I highly encourage against is making your goal to get ‘chosen.’ Take SFAS for example; you can control elements of your train-up like how much you run, how much you lift, and how much you practice land navigation. You cannot control if someone you’ve never met chooses you based on your personality. If you set the goal of getting selected and then get a 21-day non-select, what does your failure teach you? You want to be focused on the things you can control during the train-up, so make your goals related to those things.
Tips for Goal Setting
1. Tier your goals: This is something that’s bigger in the running community. Instead of saying “Run a 3:00:00 marathon,” I might say:
a. Goal 1: Finish my marathon
b. Goal 2: Run a 3:05:00
c. Goal 3: Run a 3:00:00
d. Goal 4: Run a 2:58:00
I like this approach because it accounts for things like a bad day, a bad course, or a good day where you can push harder. This way if you cramp, throw up, and poop yourself, you can still walk away saying you got something out of it, and if you are faster than your goal pace at 20 miles, you have a distinct goal to push for rather than falling back to your 3:00:00 goal.
2. Have fun: Running should be fun. The reason I say health is #1 is because being injured is not fun. It’s the absence of fun. If 50 miles a week for a year is not going to be fun, don’t do it. Sure, you may push yourself, but if you burn out and take 3 months off the following year, you aren’t being consistent. Also, if you aren’t having fun on 50 MPW, none of your friends or family is going to have fun being around you on 50 MPW. Nobody reading this is running for the paycheck, so if it’s not fun, it’s just detracting from the joy of your daily life.
3. Don’t be afraid to change things! It’s hard to predict in January what you’ll run in December. That’s why these are goals. Every year, I change my goals list the week before a race based on what’s realistic. Sometimes, that’s reeling things back, and sometimes it’s being more aggressive. You should never put up a goal you can’t achieve – that’s a recipe for injury.
Here's an example of one of my friend’s goal lists. He sent this to me a few days ago. Below, you can see the edits I made:
1. Finish a Marathon in February
2. Run a sub 12:00 - 2 mile (summer)
3. Run a sub 34:00 – 5 mile (summer)
4. Run a 50 or 100 miler in the fall
5. Run 2,000 miles in 2025
6. Complete the winter 46er
Matt’s Edits
1. Finish a Marathon in February Good goal. It’s a winter marathon in upstate NY so a time goal would be difficult to assess. He’s had good milage as well for the last 6 months so this is very achievable while also challenging.
2. Run a sub 12:00 - 2 mile (summer) Goal 1: Run a 12:15 x 2 mile. Goal 2: run a 12:00. His 2-mile PR is 12:30. 12:00 is 2 x VDOT values higher than his PR, so while it is achievable, it depends on his fitness going into training and the duration of his training block. A 12:15 is certainly within his grasp.
3. Run a sub 34:00 – 5 mile (summer) PR here is a 34:30 and 34:00 would only be 1 VDOT higher. This would depend on current form, but coming off a marathon and paired with 2-mile training, this is a good goal.
4. Run a 50 or 100 miler in fall Knowing this athlete’s history, I would say running a good 50-miler would be a better goal than going for poor 100 on his first ultra. A 100-miler would be a good goal for the following year, but coming off 2- and 5-mile training, I think the risk of injury training for a 100 would be too high.
5. Run 2,000 miles in 2025 Goal 1: run 1,750 miles in 2025. Goal 2: run 2,000 miles in 2025. This athlete ran ~1,500 miles in 2024. While I think 2,000 is achievable, I also know this person is a dedicated lifter. 2,000 miles is such a large time commitment, I think 1,750 would be a good step up. I love yearly milage goals because they incentivize you to stay on track and not go too large on mileage at any point. You have to stay consistent to get 35- miles a week for 50 weeks.
6. Complete the winter 46er A race against the clock- Godspeed.
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Here are my goals for 2025:
1. Stay Healthy! I was injured twice in 2024. It caused me to miss some big goals.
2. Run 2,500 miles in 2025 (50 MPW) I ran 2,000 miles in 2025, although only 12 of my 52 weeks were at 50+. I think this attests to my inconsistency; I was either very high or very low, and I think the goal of 50 a week with 2 weeks off gives me a realistic goal.
3. Run a 16:30 5k My PR is 16:50 solo. Very realistic
a. Run a 16:20 5k
4. Race a 5k open This would be massive. My first race against college runners. I would expect to get last, but I think the competition would be a great experience.
5. Run a 4:40 mile 1-miles are fickle; my PR is 4:41 but the jump to 4:35 is two VDOT values.
a. Run a 4:35 mile
6. Run a 2:45 marathon This is probably my worst goal. I should be aiming for a 2:50:00 but I might exercise tip 3 later in the year. The good news is I’m running a winter marathon, so December of 2025 which means I’ll have plenty of time to assess the validity of my marathon goals.
a. Run a 2:40 marathon