Setting new goals for the year and motivation

[cadenceblur]

For me to maintain my consistency 

Have a minimum goal of 7 hours a week / 364 hours a year, which I should be able to hit barring illness. 
Don’t do many junk miles as I do a lot of focused IDT sessions  with longer ride on the weekend and a weekly MTB session as well. 
Ongoing FTP improvement is a constant focus as well

And of course — dialing in the DIET/nutrition side of things. 

[Frosty]

4 hours ago, ChrisF said:

Still more consistent for me than exercise after work .... too many distractions

I'm the opposite, in that I would leave the office at 15:00, or if it was a work from home day, it allowed me to jump on a bike at 16:00, or by 17:00 latest.

Now that's it's back to the office, full time (and full days), I might have to revert to mornings before dropping the girls at school. Will see how things pan out first before making the big shift back to mornings.

[mecheng89]

13 hours ago, Mamil said:

I think they partner samsun calendar app that pulls the info from Google calendar.

From my experience, the Samsung one (called Countdown) you can only have 2 events, and both are not displayed simultaneously. 

[dave303e]

I think goals and targets for the year are all very personal. I have approached it a few ways over the years with varying results.

One trend I am seeing a lot of, that I have done before is taking consistency too far. Setting a goal of X hours or km a week every week, or the stupidest thing of the Strava 20mins a day every day. Everyone needs an off season. You can't grind every day for years on end, you need to step back and rest and recover both physically and mentally. Same reason everyone has leave from work. You need the break. Training and keeping fit is work, so you need the break, end of story. 

In terms of setting goals and deciding what to chase the usual approach has always worked for me.

Goals need to be realistic/achievable

Goals need exact cut off dates and need to be broken down into short, middle and long term.

Goals need to be measurable- This is a tough one because with training they can be measurable and useless at the same time. Someone doing a structured program of 7 hours a week might be feeling inept hearing about someone else doing 14 hours a week mostly junk miles. SO in his mind his measurement is short, but in reality his output is far more refined and better in many ways. This is why I hate a km or hour based goal for a year. You will resort to junk miles to achieve it. You will be tired and grumpy sitting there on a bike just to get hours or km. You won't feel better, you won't enjoy it you won't get as much return for your time and then at the end of the year you will sit going should I be chasing a goal for next year or am I over this?

My last big one on goals is that they need to scare you to a certain extent. While I said above goals need to be realistic/achievable, you actually want something as close to the limit there as possible. An easy goal like a 947/CTCT that you have done 20 times before is not really going to inspire you. Unless you up the pressure and give yourself a time/ftp output/pace goal for it. With 10k km this year and 20 of the various races under the belt. Just finishing them is more a tick box exercise than an actual challenge... Maybe set a time goal, or set an FTP test for 2 weeks before the tour and aim for a specific power goal for that and then you know with a taper from there you should smash the race.

 

On a personal front all fitness goals last year were an absolute stuff up. Broke my toe 5 days before my first road run marathon. Managed an ok time but far from what I was hoping for. Sat on the couch for nearly 4 months when I broke the same toe on the same step in the shower a few weeks after the first incident. That one required some panel beating. I walked away from another goal that was just so lackluster and not a serious challenge in my mind  I was never really committed. Ended the year fat, unfit, unhealthy and burnt out at work. I did the least km and least hours I have done in about 17 years. But it has me in the right frame of mind to get focused again. I needed the second half of the year just taking a gap from training. A big off season, in 2023 I had a really really big year and I honestly think I was not totally recovered from that and needed the gap.

This year I have entered silk road mountain race so I have a big one to chase and a lot of work to do. But I am in the right frame of mind now and the progress is good so far because I am in the right frame of mind having rested.

[Akon]

20 hours ago, The Ouzo said:

goals / targets same same,  I ride for fun,  I just need something to aim for to keep me going. Last year the aim was to hit a mileage and elevation number.

I think you need to distinguish between goals / targets and intentions.

The latter is also fine in life, but it is fuzzy - if you can't measure it, and don't have a plan in place to hit the target, it isn't a goal.

[JayLow]

1 hour ago, dave303e said:

snip

 

On a personal front all fitness goals last year were an absolute stuff up. Broke my toe 5 days before my first road run marathon. Managed an ok time but far from what I was hoping for. Sat on the couch for nearly 4 months when I broke the same toe on the same step in the shower a few weeks after the first incident. That one required some panel beating. I walked away from another goal that was just so lackluster and not a serious challenge in my mind  I was never really committed. Ended the year fat, unfit, unhealthy and burnt out at work. I did the least km and least hours I have done in about 17 years. But it has me in the right frame of mind to get focused again. I needed the second half of the year just taking a gap from training. A big off season, in 2023 I had a really really big year and I honestly think I was not totally recovered from that and needed the gap.

Snip

This is such a valuable contribution, and exactly why I largely forget about my goals once I've used them to set the direction where my systems need to point. Thanks for sharing!

A goal gives you one chance to reach it, one chance to get the satisfaction of completion. A or B, one or zero. And if you don't reach it, the house of cards can very easily come tumbling down.

A system, on the other hand, gives you daily opportunities to get that W, to get that feeling of satisfaction when you achieved your daily objective. And as long as your system is properly designed to move you towards your North star you will (almost) inevitably reach the heights you want. 

"We don't rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems"

I hope 2025 has better things in store for you, Dave!

[Frosty]

As an active cyclist, if motivation is needed to ride a bike, then something else is wrong that needs addressing. Best find out what that something is, and address it in which ever way removes the need for motivation.

 

[Mike Dewing]

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

As an active cyclist, if motivation is needed to ride a bike, then something else is wrong that needs addressing. Best find out what that something is, and address it in which ever way removes the need for motivation.

 

My man.!! 😳😳😳😳 this comment > all other comments 🤘🏻🤘🏻

[Help.Me.]

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

As an active cyclist, if motivation is needed to ride a bike, then something else is wrong that needs addressing. Best find out what that something is, and address it in which ever way removes the need for motivation.

 

We need to talk please, you do the talk and I MUST do the work.........🙃🤐 

[The Ouzo]

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

As an active cyclist, if motivation is needed to ride a bike, then something else is wrong that needs addressing. Best find out what that something is, and address it in which ever way removes the need for motivation.

 

look, cycling is my lifestyle, like NSBB said earlier, its not just about the physical fitness, but mental too. If I'm off the bike for to many days I get grumpy.

The motivation I speak of is for those off days, the waking up early morning and the weather is rubbish or like in my case you've had insomnia that night and you just dont feel like going out. These are the days where having a measurable time based goal helps to push you out the door. For most of the other days the only motivation that is needed is being on the bike.

Heck this morning we had a minor crash, a lady that punctured and we had to stop 3 times for, cut the route short because of time constraints with all the stops and still it was a great time on the bike

[Naidy]

Im going to agree with Frosty. You shouldn't need motivation to go ride your bike.

There are times I want to race my bike, commute (Which I do most days) & or just ride straight for a good cup of coffee. I dont talk much while riding, probably because I just enjoying being on my bike or any bike. 

If you just want to ride your bike do it for the love of it and dont set goals (well I think you dont need to). I love racing so my goal is to just improve, ive got someone that coaches me, I have seen the benefit in it, less time on the bike and better quality rides. 

 

Knowing at the end of the day that I want to improve is my motivation, my motivation to get up early and complete my intervals even if its cold or raining. 

[Frosty]

Some one asked my what (race) I'm training for, after seeing some intense rides on Strava.
I said "I'm not training for anything".
They then asked why I'm doing those workouts if I'm not training for anything.
"I enjoy it, and I need to be-prepared..."
and then I have to Google a quote that I keep forgetting the exact words... 
“The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term is the indispensable prerequisite for success.” – Brian Tracy

[Frosty]

2 hours ago, The Ouzo said:

The motivation I speak of is for those off days, the waking up early morning and the weather is rubbish or like in my case you've had insomnia that night and you just dont feel like going out.

Even a race-minded person will have days like this. Being flexible and making adjustments to the plan knowing that one missed session doesn't kill the plan. It's the multiple missed sessions.

[Pieter-za]

To ride my bike.

[Mike Dewing]

19 hours ago, Frosty said:

Some one asked my what (race) I'm training for, after seeing some intense rides on Strava.
I said "I'm not training for anything".
They then asked why I'm doing those workouts if I'm not training for anything.
"I enjoy it, and I need to be-prepared..."
and then I have to Google a quote that I keep forgetting the exact words... 
“The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term is the indispensable prerequisite for success.” – Brian Tracy

Please update user name to “cycling Yoda”

I’ll even do your logo/profile picture.!😳

🤘🏻🥳👍🏻

Edited Saturday at 09:09 AM by Mike Dewing

[Zebra]

On 1/9/2025 at 6:29 PM, cadenceblur said:

For me to maintain my consistency 

Have a minimum goal of 7 hours a week / 364 hours a year, which I should be able to hit barring illness…..

My O.C.D-ness EARNESTLY requests you to try for 365 hours for the year ahead; reason being that it is an ANNUAL goal, the are 36Five days in a year, and you are aiming for 36Four hours…!
 

Is that too much to ask…? 🤣

Edited Saturday at 09:30 AM by Zebra
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