You already know what is stopping you reaching your goals.

I read. A lot! All sorts of books, sports, sci-fi, crime thrillers, horrors; you name it and I will read it.


I love to read, it's calming for the brain, portable, private and keeps the mind open to new possibilities and concepts.

What it also does is fill my mind with information, which it stores away in the deepest darkest crannies, until such a time as it becomes useful (either professionally or in a pub quiz).

And so it was, the other day I was talking to a client about the challenges of improving body composition and making changes to effect that change. Like most clients, a healthier body composition is one of her goals.

She has made tremendous progress on weight loss through better nutrition and 5 months ago we started training together. Now she has better body shape, improved strength and a really healthy attitude to exercise. Her success has lead to setting new and tougher targets. Initially weight loss and strength gains come quickly, but as you get fitter and stronger, improvements are tougher to achieve.


We were talking about identifying the biggest barrier to making those improvements, when I mentioned Occam's razor to her.


Now this client is smart, so when she said she didn't know it I started to doubt the relevancy, but as I explained it to her the whole thing made complete sense.


Occam's razor states "entities should not be multiplied needlessly". I never really grasped it when I read that (seeing as 14th century philosophy isn't my strong point), but a simpler explanation is "all things being equal, the simplest answer is most often correct".


Also known as the principle of economy, using this principle you can quickly identify your barriers to reaching goals. It doesn't solve the problem, that's done with hard work and dedication, but it does give you a point in the right direction.


Doctors apparently use it to diagnose patients, looking at the given symptoms, the most likely diagnosis is the most probable one.


Take a moment to think about a goal you have set yourself but didn't reach. It could be a performance goal, fitness goal, anything.

Now when you think about what stopped you from reaching it, all things being equal, it becomes apparent what stopped you reaching it.

And unless you do something about it, that same barrier can stop you from getting reaching it again.

Last year I DNF'd at an ultramarathon. I did lots of running and training in the approach to the race. I was in good race shape and well prepared for it. But it didn't happen on the day. I've looked back on it a thousand times and beat myself up for stopping at the side of that road. Surely I could have pushed on.

Before the race, I felt great. It quickly went wrong!

If I really love running surely I would have carried on moving forwards, making that relentless forward progress.

But I didn't. 43 miles in I ground to a halt, made a phone call and got picked up. I blamed my training, the event, the trail (seriously, I told someone it wasn't my kind of trail (dick)), my kit, other people; literally anything and anyone else.

Looking back and considering Occam's razor, I know it was my nutrition that was off. I ballsed up from the start. I ate way too early in the morning, nothing just before the start and then nothing until the first aid station 13 miles in. Then I didn't eat enough and so on and so on. The record of my spectacular DNF is recorded here.

Running that race was a big goal for me and not finishing was a massive disappointmentt. But now I know what held me back I can be sure not to make the same mistake again.

The first step towards success is sometimes trying before failing. 

The second is continuing to try.


If you have any thoughts on this post please leave comments below or visit my website, or contact me at dancartwrightpt@gmail.com. If you have read this and thought, "shit, I know what's holding me back" get in touch and let's start tackling those barriers.

Are we setting the wrong goals?

I don't think I'm alone in thinking (and probably overthinking) about my performance come race day.

For years I attended races and from beginning to end  of the day I compared myself with other runners.

He looks faster than me.

He's fitter than me.

He beat me at the finish line.

He overtook me in a fancy dress outfit!

When I started running a bit better I found myself still doing it. It had become an annoying habit which marred each race day. A tradition which somehow detracted from the enjoyment.


Because no matter how well I did or didn't do, I would compare myself to others and find fault in my performance, blame that day I took off training, berate myself for not sticking religiously to the nutrition plan that I know I should be on. On reflection, I was always a little disappointed. I'd gone there with goals, but even when I'd met them I'd still question if I'd done my absolute best.




People who know me know that I'm not great at taking my own advice. I tend to be a little (a lot) self critical, sometimes (always) self deprecating and once (many times) I've got close to throwing the towel in on running because of my frustrations.


It wasn't until I started working with others and training others that I saw how toxic this was. I started working with real people, with big goals and real backgrounds. And when they started getting stressed over their goals and their targets, my advice to them was clear.

"You are an individual. You are approaching this race with a unique past, a unique body and a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. You have trained to be the best you can with the tools you have; and whatever happens on the day, the successes and the lessons you learn are yours to own. But enjoy the experience, because you get to do this just once."

To say she enjoyed it is an understatement.

Pacing my wife to finish her first half-marathon last weekend, coaching a client towards her first ultra and watching a friend approach their first half-ironman distance triathlon, I'm struck by a sense of astonishment in how people can set huge goals and work hard around their daily lives to meet them.

I know that afterwards when the medals are taken off and the carbs are replenished and the blisters have healed they will question their achievements. Maybe it's what athletes do, maybe it's part of the human condition.

















But let me say this. Of everyone I know who runs, rides, swims and trains, the most successful ones aren't the ones with the best times, the most even splits or the ideal race prep strategy. It's the ones who enjoy what they are doing and want to try their best at it.


Maybe as well as having times and targets in mind we need to start thinking about how important the enjoyment is. If we started judging our performances on that, imagine how much better the race would be on reflection.

An exercise in goal setting.

I am a guy who likes goals.

Not the type scored by overpaid, prima donna footballers; but the type of goals set by real people with real commitments who train around their busy lives to reach them.

And I like to think that anything is possible with clear goals, a good plan and the commitment to see it through. But the truth is that there is a limit to what any one can fit into a day. 24 hours can fly past, so it's important that training should be as focussed as possible. I genuinely believe that junk miles are exactly that; rubbish.

Quality, planned training can take you a lot further than mass amounts of the average type.

If you are going on a long journey, you can either plan the route, identify when to take breaks and identify the fastest way to get there, or drive roughly in the right direction with the best intentions in the world to end up at the right place. You may get there, it may not even take any longer. But you risk, getting lost, wasting time and potentially never getting to your destination.

I spoke to a friend who ran the Thames Path 100 last weekend. For those who don't know it, it's a 100 mile ultramarathon largely following the River Thames, and he ran it in a fraction over 20 hours, coming in 20th place and it was his first hundred. Although I haven't had a chance to totally grill him on the details (I'm going to ask if I can interview him and post it), I know him well and he is a man who plans. He has goals and targets and takes a methodical approach to training and it pays off.

He knows where he is, where he wants to go and works out the most effective way to get there. Then he commits to his training and the race is his chance to shine, not struggle.

This got me thinking about my goals and what I want to achieve with my running. I completed my last goal a month ago and haven't set any more. I ran a Half Marathon yesterday in a goodish time, but with no goals to measure myself against the result was a bit flat to be honest; although the medal was lush!

I have a lot on at the moment, but believe that training and fitness help me to achieve everything else in my life so I'm not making excuses. I'm setting some big goals and I'm going to reach them, no, smash them!



With time limited, I know I can't train to go faster at long distance stuff, so I'm writing off a hundred miler this year. Instead I'm concentrating on strength and speed at the shorter stuff.






I have current PB's of 19:08 for a 5k, 42 minutes for a 10k and 1:30.40 for a Half Marathon.

Three results just asking to be improved on. The first step is setting some new targets and making them visible.

5k, I will go sub 18.
10k, I will go sub 39.
HM, I will go sub 1:28.

I know where I am.

I know where I want to get,

now it's time to plan my route.