How to set athletic goals at the start of the year

When planning a sporting year, a common mistake is focusing solely on the final outcome: a time goal, a distance, a target race. Running coach Marc-Antoine Senneville instead suggests setting one or more main objectives, while also identifying the different milestones that will lead to them.

For example, an endurance runner may dream of completing a marathon in under four hours. “To that main objective, you should add intermediate or process-based goals,” explains the coach. Improving your time over shorter distances, reaching a target pace, correcting a technical aspect of your stride, and so on.

These secondary goals become levers for progress and help athletes arrive better prepared on race day. “When you focus on the process, the main objective often ends up taking care of itself. It greatly reduces performance anxiety.

The early-year momentum doesn’t last forever. When the main objective is still far away, motivation can falter. That’s where intermediate and process goals become essential.

“They provide short-term reference points and allow you to measure progress in ways other than a single race on the calendar,” notes the coach and four-time Quebec half-marathon champion.

Running isn’t just about logging miles. To progress, runners benefit from expanding their playing field. Practicing other disciplines—such as cycling, swimming, or yoga—helps build aerobic power, mobility, and muscular endurance, all of which contribute to better performance. This is why setting goals related to physical preparation is useful, believes Marc-Antoine Senneville.

“These are often very concrete goals: two or three strength-training sessions per week, for example. In the long run, this translates into better running efficiency and fewer injuries.”carbohydrates release energy gradually and sustainably.

Goals are just as valuable for those who run primarily for enjoyment, health, or well-being. “Not everyone wants to run faster,” the coach points out.

“For some people, the goal is simply to run regularly, feel better mentally, or stay active year-round. Those are just as valid.”

Training consistency, workout quality, recovery, physical preparation—these are all elements athletes can focus on without chasing performance.

Over the course of a year, several obstacles can jeopardize the achievement of set goals: injury, fatigue, professional or personal setbacks… For a sustainable running practice, it’s essential to balance athletic ambitions with the realities of the body and everyday life.

Sometimes, challenges arise on race day itself! That’s why, leading up to a competition, Marc-Antoine Senneville recommends that the athletes he coaches set multiple concurrent goals. For example:

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  Goal A: Complete the distance in X minutes
  
  
  
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  Goal B: Finish the race
  
  
  
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  Goal C: Reach the finish line healthy and well prepared
  
  
  

This approach helps preserve motivation and the desire to keep moving forward, even when things don’t go as planned. In the end, adapting, slowing down, or revising a goal is often what allows athletes to stay healthy—and keep moving.