Having spent over 3 decades in daft outdoor pursuits I have seen ( and made) probably every mistake in the book. There isn't a week goes by when someone does something to limit progress. Without thinking about it super analytically here are my favourites. In no particular order
- Not being consistent and doing the boring stuff. Being distracted by the fun stuff - fine now and again but i its a feature it will limit progress.
- Under Fuelling. Not just in sessions but every day. One that popped up for me personally simply not eating enough protein.
- Doing the hard sets too easy and the easy sets too hard. This links to number 1...I just joined the boys for a chain gang..next days Vo2 session couldn't do it.
- Skipping the sessions that target your weakness and always playing to the current strong suit
- For triathlon - viewing it as 3 sports rather than a 'linked system'. If your weakness ( see 4) for example is the swim and you fail to address it, there will always be a limit on how well the whole system improves