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Progress Reports

 

Progress Report 1 - Day 6

Progress Report 2 – Day 11

Progress Report 3 – Day 17

Progress Report 4 – Day 23

Progress Report 5 – Day 24

 

Progress Report 1 - Day 6

General Comments

We are now into day 6.  Kas has got away to a great start.  His coach is happy with his goal and his extra workload.  He has trained on all 5 completed days so far.  His motivation is strong and he has been enjoying his extra training.  His track session yesterday afternoon was above expectation and strong enough to give the confidence he will achieve his goal. 

 

Today will be his first light training day since he set his goal.  Tomorrow will be his first competition day since he set his goal.  He expects to run a grass pb for 1500m.

 

Based on performances at Zone Championships Kas goes into Regionals ranked 13th for 1500m.  So he does have some ground to make up.

 

Progress against Goal Setting Checklist 

In line with the phases of goal setting as identified in the goal setting checklist Kas has made the following progress.

 

  1. Understands the power of a goal achievement program:  Kas rates strongly in this area

  2. Is motivated by the goal:  Again Kas rates strongly – he is very motivated by his goal and that has been supported by action

  3. Which goal to set:  Kas rates well in this area, however if it was a longer term goal, more effort would be needed to get his goal right. As Kas reviews the phase "I know when the goal is achieved” it creates discussion about what goal he really wants.  To qualify for State or to break 5 minutes for 1500m.  Fortunately, the goals are not mutually exclusive and the achievement of one would mean the other goal was at least very close.  The achievement of either goal would be considered a success.  Kas has decided to stick with the original goal.

  4. Will know when goal is achieved: We have settled on something to work with but Kas is not sufficiently confident with it to use it for visualisation.

  5. Has documented the goal:  Done.  The documented goal conforms with well formedness conditions.

  6. Knows the first step: Yes and the first step has been implemented.

  7. Understands impact on other areas of life:  Only superficial attention was paid to this aspect because of the shortness of time period and this impact will be assessed and supervised by parents who will get Kas to withdraw from goal if necessary

  8. Self Imposed blockages: No attention has been paid to this area

  9. Visualisation of Goal: This has only been done to a very low level.  It will be upgraded as evidence for achievement of goal becomes more clear.

  10. Support materials: Kas has developed some basic supporting materials, but believes that when the goal is in his head it is enough.

  11. Installing Goal: This step will not be undertaken because all previous areas have not been sufficiently attended to.

 

Progress against other areas Kas identified as being important:

  1. Diet: Doing quite well

  2. Sleep:  Has made a conscious effort to get to bed earlier, but would benefit from more sleep

  3. Hydration: Has made a conscious effort to increase his fluid intake

  4. Flexibility: Has fallen short in this area of what he needs to do.  With extra training he can feel the benefit, but he has yet to be convinced deep inside that stretching will help him run faster

  5. Core Stability: Has fallen short in this area

  6. Mental Preparation: This is an area in which he is above average, but he has not taken steps to build on this strength

  7. Breathing: Has incorporated some swimming in his exercise program

  8. Recovery:  Kas needs more knowledge in this area

  9. Support Materials: Kas has committed an outline of his training schedule to paper and as he completes a training session a sticker goes on his training schedule.  But this is currently the extent of his support materials

 

Kas Progress Report 2 – Day 11

The goal has hit a major challenge.  On Tuesday 31st Kas didn’t finish his high jump training because of a sore foot.  The injury was compounded the following day in high jump competition.  Following the injury he ran a 400m in 71.1.  While this was only one one hundredth of  a second outside his PB, it was slower than his expectation. His 1500m was about 10 seconds behind his grass track PB.

 

His foot was still sore on Thursday and as a result did no running.  On Friday he visited a physiotherapist.  The diagnosis for his foot was unclear but he was advised not to run or jump until his return visit on Tuesday.  It appears the injury is related to Kas’s growth.

 

Initially this appeared to be the end of his ability to achieve his goal.  However, as Kas is still committed to the goal, on Saturday he swam over 2k and did a short bike ride.  On Sunday he did a bushwalk, rock pool swim and 5 hill sprints on his bike. 

 

Issues raised

Why did Kas get an injury.  Possible reasons:

  • Kas already had the injury and the increased training workload caused it to flare up.

  • The goal Kas set was too challenging and it was a face saving way to get out of the challenge.

  • Kas is not really committed to the goal because success will just mean the need to train for another month to compete at State.

  • Sometimes things just happen.

  • It is possible that this injury will ultimately increase Kas’s ability as an athlete.

Advantages of goal setting.

 

In some ways this example highlights the advantages of goal setting. In particular, it supports the well known phrase “if you believe you can or you believe you can’t you are probably right”.  Kas got an injury that on the surface ends his chance of achieving his goal.  However, because he has confidence in himself he looks upon the hurdle created by the injury as something he can overcome.  Not something that will stop him.

 

He has shown this by developing less conventional ways to train, even though he can’t run. Tuesday will be a crucial day.

 

Kas Progress Report 3 - Day 17

Overview

Kas’s visit to the physio was not very promising.  He is not allowed to run again until at least his next visit (due on day 20).  It is unlikely that he will be able to run at the Zone championships.  Kas however is still positive about his ability to succeed and has continued to train.  His main training is swimming and hill sprints on a bike.

 

This training is probably great off season training but not the ideal preparation for a 38 second improvement in a 1500 metre race.

 

Other benefits

Even though Kas’s goal is now appearing very difficult, his quest for the goal has bought him other benefits. 

  • His swimming has improved and he came second in his age division of his Schools swimming championships held this week. 

  • His overall fitness has improved, he will be participating in a triathlon this weekend in a team doing the swim and cycle legs.

  • He has an improved knowledge of his body and the importance of a flexibility component in his overall fitness program

  • His injury has been bought to light and is now under treatment

 

Goal Setting Tools used

Because of the injury no intervention has been taken to use goal setting tools to increase the power of his goal setting.

 

This case study does highlight the need in goal setting to consider how the achievement of your goal will impact on other areas of your life. 

 

Kas Progress Report 4 - Day 23

One day before competition

Overview

Significant progress this week.  Kas visited a podiatrist on Monday and obtained a clear diagnosis of his problem.  He was fitted with orthotics.  He visited his physio on Tuesday and was given permission to run on Saturday. 

 

On Wednesday he had a light run with his orthotics in.  His foot hurt during and after the run but showed signs of recovery after icing. 

 

Kas has modified his goal to "Qualifying for State".  This happened when he undertook a mental rehearsal of his race on Day 22.  Despite Kas’s preparation, he sees he has a number of significant advantages:           

He believes he is fitter than he was when he set the goal

His body is well rested from running and it is eager to run

A 1500 metre race is not run a maximum pace so his foot will not have maximum force put on it.  During the race he will be focused on the race not on his foot.

 

Kas Progress Report 5 - Day 24

Day of Competition

Result: Kas finished 5th in a time of 5:25.7, so his goal has not been achieved from either perspective.

 

Comments

Did he gain by setting the goal?

 

The answer to this is probably yes.  He moved from 13th in the rankings coming into the event to finish 5th, just two places outside going to state.  In fact, he is second reserve so there is a slim chance he could still be selected.  He set an aggressive goal over a very short time frame and did not use many of the goal achievement tools available to him.

 

He had an underlying injury that was exacerbated as he stepped up his workload.  Because this injury has been bought to the surface, Kas has now identified a problem that would have been more serious as he got older if not diagnosed.  This was probably the biggest single gain of the whole exercise.

 

His PB on grass moved from 5:38 to 5:25 and he did this on a slow track. And, he achieved this despite being unable to run for the three weeks going into the championships and not knowing if his foot would hold up for the event.  As the event approached he became more focused on just being able to run at the event.

 

Since setting this goal he has made significant progress in a number of areas:

  • He has learned to train without running.  While this is not as effective, it is a valuable learning and it takes some pressure off his body as he recovers from injury.

 

  • His increased swimming, even though only for a short period of time, enabled him to perform creditably at his school swimming carnival.  He will continue one or two swimming sessions per week as a substitute for running and so is likely to gain some improvement by the next level of carnival.  He would be hoping for a PB or two.

 

  • He has a rehabilitation program for his foot and he is pursuing that conscientiously.  He is likely to ultimately end up with strong feet and improved knowledge of injury prevention and injury recovery. He also has an improved understanding of the structure of his feet.

 

Final Comment

This case study is a classic example of how goals bring about change in your life.

 

Post event updates will be provided periodically.

 

Goal Setting Lessons from this case study

Goal setting brings changes to your life.  How positive these changes are depends upon the appropriateness of the goal you set.

 

It is essential to understand how striving for your goal will impact upon other areas of your life (especially when you use high level goal setting tools).  You don’t want to lock yourself into a goal that will be costly to achieve.  For example, in this case an injury came about very early.  The possibility of this should have been picked up in the ecological check.  However, because the goal was so short term, this was not done.  In this case the solution was easy – just pursue the goal in a more relaxed fashion.  However, if we had already progressed to visualisation, the commitment to the goal would have been much stronger and there may have been temptations to continue to aggressively pursue the goal despite the possible injury consequences. The lesson, if you use high level goal setting tools you must do your ecological check first.

 

Postscript

Kas used the unresolved motivation he had left over from his goal to pursue orienteering.  After a number of good performances throughout the year he finished second in the NSW Schools Orienteering Championships conducted near Cessnock in July 2006.  This performance combined with other performances throughout the year was good enough for him to be selected in the NSW Schools Junior Boys Orienteering Team to compete in and around Perth Western Australia in October 2006.

 

Kas gained two bronze medals at those championships in the team event and the relay.  Next year he will be eligible for the Junior team again.

 

 

 

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