10 mistakes I wouldn't make if I were starting running and cycling again.
- Emma O'Toole
- Dec 28, 2025
- 5 min read
If you're a runner or cyclist over 30, the week between Christmas and New Year is often when you start thinking about the season ahead: What do you want to achieve in 2026? What held you back this year? And what needs to change for you to train with more consistency, fewer injuries, and better performance?
The truth is, progress doesn’t come from New Year motivation, it comes from habits, structure, and purposeful training.
In this guide, I’m sharing the 10 mistakes I wouldn't make if I were starting running and cycling again for the first time, so you can avoid the mistakes that cost me time, confidence, and energy.
Strength training for runners and cyclists over 30 is a game-changer for performance, resilience, and long-term health.
If you want the full breakdown, check out my Strength Training Over 30 Guides:
TRAINING BREAKDOWN
"You don’t rise to the level of your New Year goals… you fall to the level of your daily routines."
By Emma O'Toole
Hello!
I hope that reading this you have had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year.
This is the week where most runners and cyclists start thinking curiously about the year ahead and what they want to achieve in 2026. January always brings that feeling of “fresh start energy,” yet 91% of people still fail their New Year's resolutions.
Not because they're unmotivated.Not because they're undisciplined.And certainly not because they're not capable.
They fall short because they don’t put the systems in place that make progress inevitable.
And that’s where habits come in.
A study showed that 43% of our daily actions are driven by habit, which means you don’t rise to the level of your New Year goals… you fall to the level of your daily routines.
A 60-min indoor cycling session at 7pm on Mondays → habit.
A 30-min strength session on your lunch break → habit.
A 5-minute warm-up before every run → habit.
These repeatable actions, however big or small, are what carry you toward your 2026 (and beyond) goals and what help you to avoid the boom and bust January training cycle.
And this week, the time between Christmas and the New Year where you’re not quite sure what day it is, is the perfect time to think about that.
Because before you decide what you want to achieve in 2026, it really helps to reflect on the things that held you back in the past.
That’s why I want to share a guide that I wish I’d had when I first started:
10 mistakes I wouldn't make if I were starting running and cycling again for the first time.
These mistakes cost me time, energy, confidence, and (in some cases) injury. If even one of these resonates with you, and saves you the frustration I went through, it’ll be worth it.
10 mistakes I wouldn't make if I were starting running and cycling again for the first time.
1. Skipping strength training.
Not because I didn’t believe in it, but because I didn’t prioritise it.
I’d been told it would make me bulky or slower uphill. That narrative has been pushed for years, and it’s wrong.
Strength training won’t make you heavier or slower; it will make you more powerful, more efficient, and more resilient.
Strength doesn’t take away from endurance, it sustains it.
-
2. Sticking tape on it hoping for a miraculous improvement.
It might feel like a "quick fix" in the moment, but it's costing you years and consistency by staying in the same cycle.
Address the underlying problem, not the symptom.
-
3. Ignoring recovery.
Sleep. Eat. Breathe. Move.
These aren’t “add-ons,” they’re the foundation of performance.
You can’t adapt to what you don’t recover from.
-
4. Looking for the "perfect plan".
You don’t need a magic programme, in fact there isn’t really one!
The best programme is the one you can repeat week after week without losing motivation or getting injured.
Consistency beats perfection every time.
-
5. Thinking performance is just running and cycling.
This might be the output, but performance is not just heart and lungs.
It’s muscles, tendons, joints, mindset, and movement quality.
You could have the best VO₂ max in the business but if your mindset isn’t supported and each race riddles you with anxiety on the start line, you’ll never realise your potential.
Train all systems, not just your aerobic one.
-
6. Comparing progress.
Your training age, stress load, and recovery window are unique.
Someone else’s Strava or training log isn’t your benchmark.
The December: 1000 minutes challenge I have run this month shows exactly that: it’s you vs you.
The goal is longevity, not likes.
-
7. Thinking short-term.
I wrote about this here in a recent newsletter: Are you training for the long-term in a short-term way?
You’re not training for a single PB, you’re training to keep chasing PBs for decades to come.
That's real progress, especially in the endurance world where time is one of your best allies.
-
8. Staying silent with coaches.
If something feels off, say it.
If your body’s breaking down, stop ignoring it and pushing through.
You don’t need to earn your coach’s respect through exhaustion.
You earn it by knowing your body and backing yourself.
Having the confidence to question the plan isn’t arrogance, it’s athletic maturity.
-
9. Not being accountable, even when motivation drops.
Motivation comes and goes, accountability (and habit) keeps you moving.
Long-term athletes have days where they want to stay in bed, where they question if they’re going to be able to do the session, where they’re tired. They don’t rely on
willpower, they rely on:
Coaching.
Structure.
Check-ins.
Community.
Support during setbacks.
Accountability doesn’t just keep you consistent, it opens your eyes to your blind spots so you can be the runner and cyclist you are capable of being.
-
10. “Just going for a run”.
Stop treating a run as “just a run” or a ride as “just a ride.”
Every time you lace up your trainers or tighten your cycling shoes, you’re doing so with purpose:
Zone 2 builds your aerobic engine.
Threshold builds durability.
VO₂ builds power.
Recovery workouts actually help you recover.
Strength training supports all of the above.
But none of that actually works if you don’t know your zones.
Learn your heart rate zones.
Learn your power zones.
Learn your pace zones.
When you train without understanding intensity, every session becomes a guess and guesswork is the fastest route to plateaus, burnout and injury.
Purposeful training doesn’t mean training harder, it means training smarter.
Once every training session has a clear purpose, your progress stops being random and starts being predictable.
I hope this blog post has given you something to think about as we head into 2026. If you want support, accountability, and a brilliant group of runners and cyclists to share the journey with, join my free community for runners and cyclists over 30, the perfect place to set up your best season yet.
Enjoy your festive week!
Emma x
Join the Strava club!
3 FREE WAYS TO ELEVATE YOUR RUNNING & CYCLING: |
|
Comments