It is not yet January , the time for goals and resolutions. But I have my goal picked out for this season and I’m going to treat the next 5 months as a “mini-year” with goals, resolutions and check points!

I have a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-based) –  for a marathon that I will refer to as the “Mystery Marathon”. And the goal in this marathon is to complete within the official time limit.

But a goal without a plan is just a wish.

Sure, I can pick a training plan, training strategies, a coach, strength training, and whatever else I fancy. But the most important of this all is something I’ve been failing at. In fact, before I started running and training, I had been notorious for it – I had never stuck with anything long enough. While marathon training broke this vicious cycle, not training for anything over the past 7-8 months has put me back into my old habits. For various reasons, sometimes kids, sometimes work, sometimes sickness, I’ve started and faltered and re-started, never completely stopping but losing a bit of momentum each time.

So, I’m shifting gears slightly in planning to attain this goal.

My resolution for this training season is CONSISTENCY.

I am  going to try to not pay too much attention to the smaller details, but I’m going to be consistent with the bigger picture. I will not worry about what days I’m running or what type of runs I’m doing or my pace, but I will instead focus on running consistently  3-4 times/week. The rest of it – cross training, strength/core conditioning, stretching/foam rolling will all fall into place, as long as I am consistent with my efforts.

I’ve put together a collection of inspirational words on being consistent.

Each and everyone of them reminding me that what matters is the basics of being consistent with running. Day in and day out (Not literally, of course. I’m not a streaker and I am not about to start being one!). Consistency. Miles. Training my body to run miles. Training my mind to run miles.

Apart from training plans, have you focused on a key basic action during your training season (or as part of your New Year’s resolution)? Has this helped you reach your bigger goal or did it add another level of complexity that you did not need?