03/10/2026
UNDERSTAND YOURSELF
2 Riders, Same Numbers? Same rider? Not even close.
Threshold is a useful number to train from, but it says very little about what you can hold on race day. Nobody races a 70.3, an Ironman, a gravel event or even a road race at threshold. So threshold on its own shouldn’t decide what you ride.
Durability is what decides it: how well you hold power once you’re hours in and tired. Two riders can test the same when fresh and be miles apart once fatigue builds. One holds 80% for the whole bike leg. The other fades at 70% and walks half the run.
Race targets shouldn’t come from a single number. Testing still has its place, whether that’s power profiling, critical power, time trials or lab work. The point is to understand the athlete, not to chase a bigger figure.
Your zones, what the event demands, the course, how you handle fatigue and the data built up over months all give a much more realistic picture of what you can do.
After every race, someone in the car park asks what power you held. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is how fast you got round. (Big watts do look good on Strava)
The run works the same way. Fresh 10k pace means very little after five hours of swimming and riding. How hard you ride decides how well you can run. And how you prepared. Pacing and the course play a part too, but the principle stands.
Stop treating threshold as an ego number. Use the data to understand what you’re actually capable of on the day.
The goal isn’t to win a test. It’s to nail the race.
