{"id":385483,"date":"2026-01-01T21:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T21:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/385483\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T21:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T21:28:10","slug":"how-to-set-winter-goals-without-hating-yourself-by-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/385483\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Set Winter Goals Without Hating Yourself by February"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But how do you set goals that don\u2019t dissolve into despair by mid-February?<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s talk strategy.<\/p>\n<p>Start small and weird<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Forget \u201cride 5,000 km\u201d or \u201cimprove <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/what-ftp-really-means-to-cyclists\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FTP<\/a> by 40 watts.\u201d Start with something achievable \u2014 and mildly unhinged.<\/p>\n<p>Ride every Wednesday wearing the same socks.<br \/>\nHit one caf\u00e9 you\u2019ve never been to every month.<br \/>\nCreate a route shaped like a snowman.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The bar is on the floor, and that\u2019s where it belongs (seasonally).<\/p>\n<p>Have one goal that\u2019s not even about fitness<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBe the friend who brings snacks.\u201d<br \/>\u201cSend a postcard from a ride.\u201d<br \/>\u201cSay \u2018nice pull\u2019 unironically.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not all goals need a power meter. Some just need vibes.<\/p>\n<p>Make it social (but selectively)<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You don\u2019t have to join 17 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zwift.com\/eu\/racing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Zwift races<\/a> and five WhatsApp groups. Just find one friend who also has mild delusions of base mileage grandeur.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Send each other ride selfies. Celebrate when you both ride to the same bakery from opposite directions. Peer pressure works best in pairs.<\/p>\n<p>Schedule your shame in advance<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Put reminders in your calendar now:<\/p>\n<p>January 15: Reassess your life choices.<br \/>\nFebruary 3: Cry into your overshoes.<br \/>\nMarch 1: Pretend you meant to peak for summer all along.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This builds in failure as part of the process. Congratulations, you\u2019re now a professional cyclist.<\/p>\n<p>Reward effort, not output<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You know what\u2019s great? Riding your bike in sub-zero temps when you could be inside watching TV.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You know what\u2019s not great? Shaming yourself for not doing intervals.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So reward the ride itself. You went outside? That\u2019s a win. You rode the trainer without rage-quitting? Another win. You did both in one week? King.<\/p>\n<p>Make your goals public\u2026 ish<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tell one person. Just one. That way, you\u2019re technically accountable, but not enough to spiral when you miss a day.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ideally choose someone who\u2019ll say \u201clol same\u201d if you abandon everything by Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Winter is not the time to become a new person<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s the time to slightly improve the person who already owns seven <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2023\/03\/03\/expert-answers-your-winter-clothing-and-layering-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">base layers<\/a> and cries during headwinds.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Set goals that make you feel good. Or at least goals that come with snacks.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You don\u2019t have to be perfect. You just have to be pedalling (occasionally, and with reasonable snack breaks).<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019ve got this. Kind of. Definitely enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But how do you set goals that don\u2019t dissolve into despair by mid-February? Let\u2019s talk strategy. Start small&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-385483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}