Know your weaknesses

Hi all,

I came across this video (What Does it Take to Win in P/1/2? - YouTube). Pretty interesting. However it got me thinking about a recurrent topic “train your weaknesses”.

How can I identify my weaknesses? does training peaks/TR provide this information? I know I have a 60ml VO2max but must be more data to review to figure it out.

Thanks,

From the top of my head i would say to do a cross-check by doing different TR workouts. Pick out all the mean ones, one for VO2, one for U/O, threshold etc. You would more or less find which one would give you the most problems. In my case it was U/O which always gave me a headache :smiley:

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what is U/O?

Under / Overs, best examples Mary Austin, Carpathian Peak, Leconte etc.

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Simplest way to find out: do some tests. 5sec, 1min, 5min, 20min.

See where they stack up against others (do a google image search for “ftp chart” or use a comparison chart at intervals.icu like the one below).

That’s a good start. But one-off power tests only tell part of the story. For example, what’s your 1min power when you’ve only had 30 seconds to recover from another maximal effort? What’s your 5min power like at the end of a 4-hour ride? Can you do 3min intervals at 120% or do you need to reduce the volume? How many total minutes of sweetspot can you do before you start to struggle? Are workouts with intervals above 130% FTP impossible to complete?

This will give you a much more complete picture of where you need to train. But remember what the podcast guys try to drum into you: there is no weakness that can’t be at least partially addressed by improving your FTP.

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thanks for sharing, it is quite informative,

Would be cool if TrainerRoad could leverage all my workout and ride data to give insights like strengths/weaknesses and similar.

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Some good advice above. One further thing to consider is, something is only a weakness if it is holding you back.

For example, I used to have a decent sprint. However, since I switched to TTs I no longer train any short power and the last time I sprinted, it was pretty appalling…

This, however, is not a weakness as it does not limit my performance in target events.

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Great, thank you all for your replies.

Now I have to figure out how and when to introduce this tests within the TR plan.