Setting big goals, or as I like to call them, Big Hairy Audacious Running Goals (BHARGs) will help give you direction, maximise your life experiences as well as giving you motivation for when you need it the most.

The term BHAG was coined in the book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras. I’ve just put a little spin on it!

I recently published an article about WHY it’s so important to set big goals. Check it out here. What was not covered in the article was how to set big goals. Today we explore the best way to make your goals happen.

Write them down

The practice of writing down your goals is important. It gives them validation and a visual action on what you want to achieve. This will also help them to be remembered and be able to be reviewed at a later date.

Identify what you want to achieve. You might be starting out and looking to run a 10km, participate in a half marathon or run your first trail run. Alternatively, you may have been running longer and seeking a Boston Marathon Qualifier or looking to complete your first Ultra. This should form the basis of your BHARG.

If you’re not sure what your running goal should be, no worries! It’s time to get creative. You could increase your race distance to the next one up, aim for a quicker time for a race that you have done in the past or simply to finish a specific running event. Ask yourself what you’re currently enjoying with your running and what you would like to do. Then stretch/increase/speed up your current time/distance by 10%, 25%, 50% or go crazy and say 1000%! This should help you settle on a goal that you’re happy with and challenged by.

I would not recommend making your BHARG race position based. This is usually out of your control no matter the amount of time or work that you put in. However, if it’s time or distance based, this is something you can control and entirely up to you. If you’re wanting to win a certain race but an Olympic athlete turns up to compete too, there’s not much that can be done about it and you may think you’ve failed (even if you’ve run a Personal Best). 

You can do this for as many goals as you want, however best not to get too overwhelmed in the first instance. Start with one and build from there. Examples: 

1. Run a 25 min 5 km
2. Run a Marathon
3. Run the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB)

Make them SMART

When you write down your goals, they need to be SMART; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely. 

They need to be Specific to ensure they are clear and not vague, Measurable so that you will know when they have been reached. Make them Achievable so you know they are possible to complete, Relevant to ensure they make sense with your broader running goals and Timely to understand that this is for a set period of time, which creates a sense of urgency to achieve it.

If your BHARGs are not SMART, they are unlikely to be achieved. If you are clear in your goal setting, you’ll know when you’ve made it!

Examples: 

1. I will run a 25 min 5 km by the end of the year. Specific – Run a 5 km, Measurable – Run the distance in 25 min, Achievable – I have run 5 km in 30 min so with training I will be able to run it in 25 min, Relevant – I want to continue to improve my 5 km time, Timely – by December 31 this year.
2. I will run a marathon by the end of the year. Specific – Run a marathon, Measurable – Run 42.2 kms (or 26 miles), Achievable – I have run 10 km before so I will be able to do a marathon with training, Relevant – I want to continue to improve my running, Timely – by December 31 this year.
3. Finish the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) in the next 5 years. Specific – Finish the UTMB, Measurable – Run 171 kms (or 106 miles) in under 46.5 hrs, Achievable – I have done an ultra marathon before and am building to 100kms, Relevant – I want to continue to improve my running and increase my distances, Timely – within 5 years time.

Reverse Engineer

Once you have made your BHARG SMART, you need to break it down into manageable chunks to understand what you need to do to make that happen – let’s call these Mini Goals. A BHARG can seem huge and overwhelming (which is kinda the point!). By breaking these down into Mini Goals, you are making each step more achievable and more realistic. This will form the bones of your plan to make sure your BHARG will be achieved.

Reverse Engineer your BHARG. Reverse Engineering is the process by which your goal is broken down to identify key information and milestones to determine how your BHARG can be achieved. We do this to recognise the required steps to complete on the way to achieving the bigger goal.

The way to reverse engineer your BHARG is to ask yourself which Mini Goal is required first. The Mini Goals must first be identified so that the BHARG can be achieved. If once you have written down your Mini Goal(s) and they are still too big, break these Mini Goal(s) down into even smaller Goals. Continue this process until they are achievable and manageable. As per previous step, remember to ensure these Mini Goals are also SMART.

Examples: 

1. I will run a 25 min 5 km by the end of the year. MG1 Run 28 min 5 km by August MG1.1 Gradually increase weekly kms to 40 km per week by August. MG1.2 Do a weekly 30 min speedwork session. MG2 Run a 26 min 5 km by the end of the October. MG2.1 Gradually increase weekly kms to 55 km per week by October. MG1.2 Add an additional weekly speedwork session by October.
2. I will run a marathon by the end of the year. MG1 Run 10 km by August. MG2.1 Complete a 10 km training plan by August. MG2 Run a half marathon by October. MG2.1 Complete a half marathon training plan by October MG3 Complete a marathon training plan by December
3. Finish the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) in the next 5 years. MG1 Complete Surf Coast Century this year and get 4 Qualification Pts. MG1.1 Complete a 100 km training plan before Surf Coast Century. MG1.2 Complete a 50 km trail run in preparation for the Surf Coast Century. MG2 Complete Alpine Challenge (100 miles) next year and get 6 Qualification Pts. MG2.1 Complete 100 km run in the mountains next year for experience in mountain running. MG2.2 Complete a 100 mile training plan before the Alpine Challenge.

Begin. Start. Commence!

Now that you have your Mini Goals, make a plan. Update your running training schedule or create one, grab the calendar and add the key dates to make sure you know when they are getting closer. Sign up to the event that you were going to run as part of your BHARG (we all love this part as runners don’t we?!). Set alarms and reminders to ensure that you are on track with each of your mini goals. Write them up and stick them next to the mirror (or on the back of the toilet door) to make sure you don’t forget. Plot your progress against the expected completion date and how you’re tracking. All of these things will help to ensure that you can hit that BHARG! 

You now have your Mini Goals. Put them in place. If you realise you need additional steps or they are still not broken down into manageable chunks, revisit the previous step(s) and keep reverse engineering.

You can do it. 

Review

You will have setbacks. Maybe you don’t hit the milestones you want to. Maybe you miss out on nailing that BHARG altogether! That’s ok. Review, revisit and revise the dates and distances/times if necessary. Set new ones or redefine what you already have. If you get injured, push the timeframe back 3 months or however long you need. You will still be closer than you were before you set these BHARGs.

Keep at it, and these goals will no longer seem Big and Hairy.