I take a step back. Not having goals is the purest anti-goal. At the risk of being shunned by the no-goal shamers, I find that running with no race / goal is better for my mental heath. Then, if a goal looks interesting enough, so be it. But it will never be my main aim for pursuing this. There are other ways I try to keep motivated and disciplined. I do fail miserably often, but I find this works better for me.
I think not having a goal is also fine, but some people may feel lost without goals. In general, goals are rooted in your motivation. For example, there is this service called Squadrats which divides the world into quads and tracks the places you have visited through these quads. I know a few friends who at certain points in the year have goals around how many new quads they unlock. Their motivation at the time is rooted in exploring new places and just going out to have fun, so use a Squadrat goal ensures that run but also explore new areas. Goals don't always have to be race or fitness oriented.
Subconsciously, anti-goals have kept me away from ever getting involved with a running coach. To me it removes the experimentation and joy out of running. So I guess that these are anti-goals of mine, not wanting to lose the joy of running and not wanting to lose the ability to experiment.
I've talked with people in my running community who somehow felt that training for a major goal, more often than not under the guidance of a coach, removed the fun of running for them as the focus was stripped down to maximizing performance on some major event. And this came at the risk of other commitments or just the sheer joy of running. Maybe mine is a skewed opinion based on a very small pool of information, but I think that this post hits the nail on the head. When discussing with a running coach it is equally important to discuss both goals and anti-goals.
I think a good running coach should adapt to your needs and wants, not to a pre-defined schedule. I absolutely think that a running coach can make you better while also not taking the fun out of running, you just need to find the right coach who prioritises your goals not their goals. If there isn't a solid base of communication and trust between the athlete and the coach then the relationship won't work.
I agree with you that anti-goals are not really measureable, but I think that is fine because they kind of define the limitations. They kind of a no-go zone, not something you work towards. For example, an anti-goal might be that since community is important to you, you never want to miss out on the weekly community run. The question is how do you work that into your overall training? How do you ensure that you reach your goals while still going to the community run? I've managed to make anti-goals work for me more when I saw them in a binary manner where I write situations which I do not absutely want to end up in.
I take a step back. Not having goals is the purest anti-goal. At the risk of being shunned by the no-goal shamers, I find that running with no race / goal is better for my mental heath. Then, if a goal looks interesting enough, so be it. But it will never be my main aim for pursuing this. There are other ways I try to keep motivated and disciplined. I do fail miserably often, but I find this works better for me.
I think not having a goal is also fine, but some people may feel lost without goals. In general, goals are rooted in your motivation. For example, there is this service called Squadrats which divides the world into quads and tracks the places you have visited through these quads. I know a few friends who at certain points in the year have goals around how many new quads they unlock. Their motivation at the time is rooted in exploring new places and just going out to have fun, so use a Squadrat goal ensures that run but also explore new areas. Goals don't always have to be race or fitness oriented.
I like the gamification aspect of this Squadrats. I have used apps like "Zombies, Run!" in the past to make the experience fun!
Yep, the gamification is nice at times, and if it makes people go out more and explore even better!
Subconsciously, anti-goals have kept me away from ever getting involved with a running coach. To me it removes the experimentation and joy out of running. So I guess that these are anti-goals of mine, not wanting to lose the joy of running and not wanting to lose the ability to experiment.
I've talked with people in my running community who somehow felt that training for a major goal, more often than not under the guidance of a coach, removed the fun of running for them as the focus was stripped down to maximizing performance on some major event. And this came at the risk of other commitments or just the sheer joy of running. Maybe mine is a skewed opinion based on a very small pool of information, but I think that this post hits the nail on the head. When discussing with a running coach it is equally important to discuss both goals and anti-goals.
I think a good running coach should adapt to your needs and wants, not to a pre-defined schedule. I absolutely think that a running coach can make you better while also not taking the fun out of running, you just need to find the right coach who prioritises your goals not their goals. If there isn't a solid base of communication and trust between the athlete and the coach then the relationship won't work.
Very interesting concept! It seems to be more difficult to turn these into concrete, measurable (anti-) goals, though
I agree with you that anti-goals are not really measureable, but I think that is fine because they kind of define the limitations. They kind of a no-go zone, not something you work towards. For example, an anti-goal might be that since community is important to you, you never want to miss out on the weekly community run. The question is how do you work that into your overall training? How do you ensure that you reach your goals while still going to the community run? I've managed to make anti-goals work for me more when I saw them in a binary manner where I write situations which I do not absutely want to end up in.