The single, most important thing you can to to improve your triathlon performance is to set goals. Goals, set properly, provide appropriate targets and give focus to your training so that you work on the right areas, in the correct way and achieve the right results. Nothing motivates like getting the right results. Improving your performance, achieving your targets and knowing that you are spending your time doing things that lead to improvement  can be very rewarding.

While most people realise the importance of setting goals in triathlon, many of us fail to do so effectively. Hazy goals like "I`m going to improve my running" or "I`m going to lose weight" are not effective. There is no way of knowing if these goals have been achieved as there is no way of measuring them. There is no way of measuring the progress made towards achieving the goal. There is no date for when these goals will be achieved.

One tried and tested way of setting effective goals is to stick to the age-old adage: SMARTER athletes set SMARTER goals which stands for the following;

Specific: State exactly what your targets are

Measurable: Express the goals in units, e.g. distance, speed, time, heart rate etc., This will help monitor your progress and achievement

Acceptable: Ensure that you are doing it for yourself, not for someone else

Realistic: Make it challenging but possible

Time Limited: You must have a time limit for achieving your goal

Exciting: It will interest and inspire you

Recorded: You have noted it and are able to track the progress so that you remain committed to it.

There are three types of goals to aim for: outcome, performance and process......

Outcome Goals: These relate to your final race position or your result (to win or to beat a particular triathlete). Outcome goals can be motivating but achieving them can be determined by factors outside of your control, for example, who else turns up for the race, and therefore, can lead to disappointment.

Performance Goals: Performance goals are more useful because they are not affected by other people and are only based on your own performance. For example, your swim time or a time for a particular race or even, just to complete a certain race.

Process Goals: Process Goals concern what you are doing at a particular moment. They may include physical aspects (heart rate level), your behaviour (leg speed on the run, breathing technique in the swim), your thoughts (positive, focused on relevant factors) and your emotions (helpful ones like excitement and enjoyment).

Both outcome and performance goals can be achieved using the SMARTER goals framework. Process goals don`t fit in so well with that framework because they concern what you are doing now. If you are performing well in your process goals, this will optimize your chance of achieving your performance goals and, consequently, your outcome goal. Therefore, when training, you should be focussing on process goals for the session as they provide the building blocks to reach your outcome goals.