Off Season Training

By Max Wunderle

“There is no off season.”  -Lance Armstrong

After spending the Spring and Summer months training diligently for our top race or races, the months of the ‘dark’ seasons can come with their own share of challenges in terms of motivation and role in our overall fitness.  After all, we’ve just spent the last 6-7 months plugging away in improving our fitness and maybe even had a great season that has come to an unceremonious halt due to sub 30 degree temperatures and sand covered roads.  Now what?  Regardless of the “success” or “failure” of our race efforts, the off season can provide great opportunities to recharge, revamp and redefine our fitness programs.

From an annual training standpoint, the initial value of the off season is rest and recovery—both mentally and physically.  Just as our weekly in season training plans should feature a day off to ensure proper mental and physical recovery, the off season allows the same.  From a physical standpoint, the total amount of hours reduced should be in the range of 50% and last 3-4 weeks.  This time will allow our bodies to retain much of the aerobic base we have created in season, yet allow much of our muscle and soft tissue fiber to recover.  This reduced activity can even be enhanced through various flexibility efforts in stretching and yoga.  Success in these efforts should be the resolution of any aches and pains or chronic training injuries we might have sustained toward the end of the race season. 

In terms of the choice of physical activity undertaken, variety is the spice of life!  Rather than scorning the change of seasons, embrace it.  Leave the snow blower in the garage and shovel the driveway.  You may be shocked to find out that shoveling snow for an hour can be just as taxing/valuable as an hour long run.  Don’t believe me?  Just through your heart rate monitor on and you’ll see the fruits of your labor.  Downhill skiing, cross country skiing, long hikes and even snowshoeing are all great changes of pace.  My favorite example of the latter example is a friend of mine who threw on some snowshoes and ran around his backyard for 45 minutes!  Yes, the neighbors may have thought he lost his marbles, but what a great example of creativity in the off season.  Regardless of your choice in training discipline, the goal should be the same, unbridled fun and enjoyment of physical activity—an no thoughts of next season’s races! 

Just as physical recover ensures we recharge our muscles, mental recovery is just as vital.  Yes, anyone with an interest in progressive physical fitness will enjoy plenty of motivation to train hard and race faster.  However, many people experience variances in this motivation from time to time.  The off season can be used as a time to completely turn off our mental engines and simply return to the ‘recreational’ benefits of physical fitness.  Rather than being a slave to an annual training plan or the zones of various heart rate thresholds, freeing ourselves from any mental regimen can be refreshing and reinvigorating.  Such freedom can also provide another benefit, reward.  After all, you’ve just spent months getting up early to train or following a certain nutritional program and you’ve earned the right to turn off all your ‘type A’ tendencies!  Take this time and enjoy it.  There will be plenty of time and opportunity to sharpen your focus and intensity come next race season.

For those who can’t sit on the sidelines for too long and demand more rigidity in the off season, this time period can be the most valuable of the year in their efforts to improve weaknesses in their racing.  Technique and strength improvements can be best served by this ‘downtime’ in training.  Whether your running or cycling cadence needs to be increased, swimming stroke improved or strength enhanced, the off season can offer an abundance of the time that seems to be so fleeting during the race season.  This redefinition and revamping of our training should be targeted toward the weaknesses in our physical skill sets.  I say this in that such an abundance of time would be wasted on a veteran swimmer who decided to spend more time in the pool rather than improving a bigger weakness in their running or cycling—assuming the individual was a triathlete.  The mantra of ‘train your weakness and race your strength’ should be the golden rule here.  If you truly want to prepare yourself for a great race season, take a hard look at the weaknesses in your game and spend several months of the off season to rectify this gap.  Should there be several areas you wish to improve, I would suggest prioritizing their value in your development and commit to no more than three areas.  This way you can still remain focused in your improvements without feeling overwhelmed.

Three simple themes to ensure your off season is as rewarding, enjoyable and productive as possible.  Take the time off you’ve earned, recharge your batteries and reset your expectations for next season. 

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