I think failing helps you realize what your weaknesses are; as a cyclist I’ve only failed over unders which tells me I need to work harder at those whereas I find myself beating vo2/anaerobic stuff telling me I can de-prioritize those workouts.
When I was a rower I always found that the middle intervals (for example sets 2 and 3 of a four set workout) were way harder than the last one so I convinced myself that if I could get through those, adrenaline would force me through the final piece.
Most importantly learning from your mistakes and not being too down on yourself allows you to recover and kick ass on the next one!
I would choose a third option. There are many reasons why I might fail a workout. Sometimes I am on the verge of getting sick. Other times my head isn’t in it. “Swiping right” (aka Next) is not what I do. I try to understand why I failed and extract something from that. If I am getting sick, my conclusion might be to skip some more sessions or have an early rest week. If my head isn’t in it, I try to understand why. Perhaps I slept too little or the quality of my sleep wasn’t great. If it is because my daughter woke up at night, then no changes are necessary. If I binged Netflix the night before, I need to hold myself accountable.
@fet_och_gammal , I totally agree. Here’s my failure from last weekend. It was the final hard workout in SusPB. I had done SSB-MV and SPB before that, so no real break from intensity since July. I was (and still am) mentally done with suffering. Ride notes say it all.
This is another good dumpster fire from SusPB. I bailed but did complete Bluebell right after for the same amount of time in zone. So does that make it a failure?
HA! I knew I’d be in the minority! As much as I hate it, i do the failed workout again, b/c I know that’s what I need. Anaerobic work is my krpytonite, so I know I need to do it more. Not all the time of course, but more often than I’d like. :-/
