Allison set a goal to run 1 mile in under 7 minutes and 30 seconds by the end of her fall lacrosse season. She tracked her progress by timing her runs over 5 weeks, seeing steady improvement from 7:48 down to meeting her goal of 7:22. Setting specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals helped motivate Allison and allowed her to feel a sense of accomplishment upon achieving her target time.

1. Allison Gonyea

2. S – (Specific) Run 1 mile in sub-7:30 by the end of the fall ball lacrosse season. I
will run 3 days a week.
M – (Measurable) I will measure this by timing the run with a stopwatch.
A – (Attainable) I play Women's Lacrosse here at PSU
which means I am constantly conditioning to
improve my endurance. Also, since we were in
our fall ball season, the conditioning was even
more structured with the guidance of my coach.
R – (Realistic) It is realistic because I already run
frequently as a part of my lacrosse conditioning.
T – (Timely) This goal will be accomplished by the
end of the fall ball season on the day that my
coach re-tests our 1 mile to see if we have
improved.
 I chose this goal because I play lacrosse which is a sport that
involves a lot of constant running. It is important that I am
prepared for our spring season by improving my cardiovascular
fitness, speed, and endurance.
 The steps to accomplish my goal are run 3 days a week and to
track my progress by recording my time at the beginning of each
week.

3.  Predisposing
 I’m an athlete, so I know the importance of
cardiovascular fitness.
 I also know the importance of improving my
endurance and the benefits it will have on my
performance as an athlete.
 Reinforcing
 The support and encouragement from my teammates
 Enabling
 Weather conditions, because it is run outside, may
affect when I can run
 Safer to run when it’s light out, which limits when I
can do it because of classes during the day
 The route starts at the PE Center which is a short
walking distance from where I live (convenient)

4.  I run outside which means that it is free
 My teammates know that it is important to keep
improving and they are all trying to improve
their 1-mile times too, therefore I have the
support of all of my teammates
 We all motivate each other
 I also have the support of my friends and family
that know about my goal

5. 1-Mile Times
7:48
Time (Minutes and Seconds)
7:40
7:33
7:26
7:19
7:12
1 2 3 4 5
Week

6.  I was able to meet my goal
 Ran 1-mile in 7:22
 I will maintain it by
 Continuing to run on a regular basis
 Doing other endurance based activities such as sprints
 I learned…
 SPECIFIC goals feel more attainable
 SMART goals allow for a feeling of accomplishment because you
KNOW when you’ve achieved it
 Attainable/realistic goals = motivation
 A time-frame is important so you know what you need to be
doing in order to reach that goal in time
 Possibly set smaller goals along the way
 You’ll know if you’re on the right track or not
 Setting this goal for myself made improving my time from 7:42
to 7:22 feel so much better than it would have if I hadn’t set a
goal at all
 Goals work because they make you feel like you’re in
control and when you accomplish them they show you that
all of you’re hard work is paying off!