training strengths vs training weaknesses
jacksonpt
Posts: 10,413 Member
I'm sure this is one of those topics where there is no 1 right answer, but I'm curious what people think, and what they do themselves.
Consider a fairly average weekend triathlete... sufficient in all 3 disciplines (not great at anything, but not horrible either), but who has 1 discipline where they are a bit stronger.
Should they train to improve their weakness, or their strength?
This is a popular topic in the business world. There are groups who say training a weakness is the epitome of diminishing returns - why waste time on something you aren't good at? Instead, work to improve what you are good at, where that training will be most beneficial.
Thoughts? I'm just curious. And a little bored.
Consider a fairly average weekend triathlete... sufficient in all 3 disciplines (not great at anything, but not horrible either), but who has 1 discipline where they are a bit stronger.
Should they train to improve their weakness, or their strength?
This is a popular topic in the business world. There are groups who say training a weakness is the epitome of diminishing returns - why waste time on something you aren't good at? Instead, work to improve what you are good at, where that training will be most beneficial.
Thoughts? I'm just curious. And a little bored.
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Replies
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Great topic.
For me:
I am an above average runner
An average biker
Horrible swimmer
Everyone tells me that the more time I spend in the water the better I will be and that I wasn't great at running when I started running but I woked at it and got better and faster.
Problem is that I hate swimming - my body feels great after and my head feels like a complete failure. It's a total headgame drives me insane.
Guess I would rather be the person passing people the second 2/3's of a race rather then get passed like I am standing still for the entire bike and run.0 -
I train for the weakness, but keep a close eye on the other two. I started off as a runner, so when I decided to Tri, I strictly trained on swim and bike. You all can figure out the rest, I almost quit on the run!
I just got off the rollers and am hitting the pool in the AM!0 -
I always heard:
Train your weaknesses and race your strengths.0 -
I always heard:
Train your weaknesses and race your strengths.
Never heard that before... interesting.0 -
When I first got into tris, I was
A poor swimmer
A strong cyclist
An average runner
So races typically went something like this...
Don't drown, don't drown, don't drown... it's ok to be last out of the water, just don't drown
Pass everyone you can, pass them all
Don't walk, just hold your pace and don't walk.
I've always been a biker first - I love to ride and ride as much as I can - road, mountain, singlespeed, whatever I can get my leg over. I started running basically to stay in shape during the winter when I couldn't ride regularly. I started swimming basically so I could do tris. And that's basically the only reason why I continue to swim.
I've found that some basic drills/training and fairly little time can result in noticeable improvements when you aren't very good at something. The worse I was, the easier it was to improve. When I care enough to do it, I can see almost weekly improvements in my swim. I just don't generally care enough to work on it. And I knocked almost 2 minutes of my run pace in 1 off-season thanks to some lifting and working on my stride.
With cycling, the gains are VERY small and VERY slow to come.0 -
This is a classic dilemma for triathletes. I like to refer to weaknesses as limiters. First you have to ask how much does your weakness limit your performance. For instance you can put in a massive amount of time in the pool for a 5 second per 100 meter improvement. That's not a ton of time in a race setting. On the flip side if you were to train swimming to be able to complete the distance and put that time in on the bike you will probably reap more time savings.
All that said I generally train my/my athletes weaknesses while we try and maintain/slowly progress strengths. Every 4-6 weeks we run field tests to see if things are progressing as planned. If the test indicates a strength is starting to slip we refocus. This is why I schedule in 3-5 week blocks. I plan out my season in macro blocks, but only schedule workouts in smaller cycles so that if testing says my speed or power is slipping I can adjust.
So the answer isn't so simple. The answer is to decide what you think is limiting you from not achieving what you want to and address it while periodically testing to evaluate progress. This is why I HATE box plans. They don't address each athlete's limiters.0 -
When I first started I was:
Strong swimmer,
Poor cyclist,
Average runner,
Being that was 3 years ago, I can now say I am still a strong swimmer, a good cyclist and a good runner.
I spend no time in the off season swimming, not a minute. When I finished IMLou in August, I was not back into a lap pool until mid-January. However, I spent that time destroying my bikes and running a lot! When I started swimming, I was hitting my pre-IM times within 3 weeks.
I feel that good technique is a large part of moving a discipline from bad to average, but it takes fitness to get from good to great. In the offseason, I recommend spending 2-4 weeks working predominantly on weak parts, followed by a reintegration of your good disciplines.
I agree completely with Scott on training with return-on-investment on mind. I currently average 1:23/100m in the pool. It would probably take an additional 2-4 hours a week to get to 1:20/100m for me. I would much rather split that time amongst the bike and run where 2 hours more a week can equate to 15-20s/mile on th bike and 5-10s/mile on the run. Those time gains have a much larger effect on your overall race time.0
