Don’t Let Perceived Perfection Be The Enemy Of Good

When we design workouts for our athletes, we often prescribe a specific number of repetitions to guide their progress. We frequently get asked, “Can I cut it down to 6 reps instead of 8 so I can do them at a higher pace?” The short answer? Usually, no.

We understand why athletes are tempted to push hard, go fast, and hit their limits in every session. It's natural to want to push the boundaries and feel like you're giving everything you have. For many athletes, doing 8 reps at a slightly slower pace may seem less rewarding than cranking out 6 hard, fast reps that demand maximum effort. However, if you find yourself unable to complete all 8 prescribed repetitions because you pushed too hard on the first 6, you’re not making the progress you might think—it’s a pacing issue.

Here's why this matters: Triathlon, both short and long distances, is fundamentally an aerobic sport. The main goal of most workouts is to increase your aerobic capacity, which takes consistent effort and time. Reducing the number of reps to maintain an aggressive pace may feel like you’re working harder, but in reality, it means you're shifting the focus from aerobic training to anaerobic efforts. Anaerobic training has its place, but it’s usually not the primary focus in most endurance programs. It’s about working smarter, not just harder.

A lot of athletes need to shift their mindset when it comes to their approach to training. What matters most is long-term progress, not the short-term satisfaction of one particular session. The goal of each workout isn’t just to suffer and sweat—it’s to build toward something bigger: improved endurance, better pacing, and increased capacity over time.

In our experience, this shift in thinking can be tough for many athletes. There's a common misconception that if they aren’t constantly working at the edge of their capacity, they’re not pushing hard enough. This mindset can lead to overlooking important factors that can heavily influence performance—like the quality of your sleep, stress, or environmental conditions like heat and humidity. Athletes sometimes get so focused on hitting specific numbers or meeting certain metrics that they ignore what their body is telling them.

For example, let’s say you’re feeling fatigued after a few hard days of training, or maybe you didn’t sleep well the night before. On these days, your body naturally won’t perform at its peak. This is normal, and it’s part of the training cycle. But instead of listening to their body, some athletes see this as a personal failure. They start questioning their training plan, or worse, they push even harder to try to “make up” for what they perceive as a lack of effort.

This is where things can go wrong. Fatigue—whether it comes from the natural training load, life stress, or a combination of both—often results in slower, less intense workouts. That’s okay! The issue comes when athletes don’t recognize this as part of the process. Instead, insecurity and self-doubt creep in, leading them to push harder and faster when their body is telling them to back off. This can lead to burnout, injury, or poor performance later in the season when you need your body to be at its best.

The reality is that every training plan has peaks and valleys. You’ll have days where you’re on fire and everything clicks, and you’ll have days where nothing feels right, and even the simplest workouts feel like a grind. Recognising and adjusting to these fluctuations is not a sign of weakness; it’s a sign of wisdom and patience. The athletes who improve the most are those who understand when it’s time to take a step back, allow themselves to recover, and trust that even those slower, less intense workouts are contributing to the bigger picture.

Learning to listen to your body is one of the most critical skills any athlete can develop. If you’re feeling fatigued or sluggish, it’s okay to dial back the intensity. That doesn’t mean you’re giving up or failing. You’re respecting your body’s needs and making smart choices that will lead to long-term success. Remember, completing all the reps at a lower intensity is far more beneficial than hammering out fewer reps at max effort and leaving yourself drained. The same principle applies to endurance rides—there’s no point in pushing out a fast 3-hour ride if the plan calls for an easy 4-hour one. You might feel like you’re achieving more in the moment, but in the long run, it’s counterproductive.

Getting the work done is ultimately more important than doing it in a manner you may perceive as “perfect” every time. What an athlete might perceive as a "perfect" execution might not even align with what their coach envisions. Coaches design these sessions with a purpose, and that purpose usually isn’t about maxing out every single time—it’s about building consistency, stamina, and resilience.

In short, the real battle isn’t about perfection; it’s about consistency and progress. The sooner athletes realise that pushing to the brink in every workout isn’t the key to success, the sooner they’ll start seeing real gains in performance. Listen to your body, respect the training process, and remember that the ultimate goal is progress over time, not what you may consider perfection in the moment.