This
is the first installment of our series of “Training” articles that will be
posted monthly on this web site. We
plan to have at least one article a month that focuses on different aspects of
training and racing. As we are
supposedly in the off season, I thought this would be a great place to start.
I
write, “off season”, with quotes as many of us don’t really take any type of
time off after the racing season. Why
is this important, and do you really need to take time off?
The
off season sets the stage for the entire year of training to follow, but “off
season” does not need to equate with getting out of shape. Taking 1 month at the end of the season
where you do not focus on training is great for the body and the mind. Yes, you will loose some fitness but in the
long run this loss will be regained very quickly. As most of you know, training for a race, be it a sprint or an ironman,
places a significant amount of stress on the body and the mind.
Life
in general puts forth many stressors that we do not necessarily take into
account when assessing our training stress.
What many of us forget is that the stress from work, family and training
all adds up. Staying mentally focused
all year round poses a huge strain on the psyche that will eventually catch up
to you if you are not allowing your mind to take a mental break from
training. For some of us this may mean
sitting on the sofa watching your favorite TV show instead of training. This may mean sleeping in instead of
dragging your behind out of bed at 5:30AM to go swimming or running. This may mean leaving you watch and heart
rate monitor at home, and going for a run or bike simply to enjoy the foliage. This may mean allowing yourself to have more
than 1 beer a week or indulge in your favorite dessert. It is imperative to allow yourself a mental
break from training every year. If you
do this you will be ready to get back into the training with a clear head and
the mental reserves to stay motivated throughout the season. How much time is enough? Usually a month is pretty good but some of
us may need more time to reset. We will
come back to this during the regular season as well as it is important to
include mental and physical recovery periods into your training cycle.
From
a physical recovery standpoint the “off season” is a must. As stated above, this does not need to
equate with getting out of shape, but your body needs a break after the season. Training causes micro-injuries (very small
injuries) to the muscles and tendons in our body. As triathletes we are somewhat protected as we are competing in
three sports that use different muscle/tendon groups, but we are also at
increased risk of injury as our training volumes are sometimes very high. Throughout the training season we should be
taking a recovery week every 4 weeks but this does not allow our bodies to
recover completely within the rigors of the racing season. If these micro-injuries continue to
accumulate we reach the point where we present with an injury that will likely
take us out of training and racing.
The goal of an “off season” is to allow your body to recover
completely.
Again,
this does not mean you have to stop exercising, but decreasing the volume,
intensity and changing the type of activity can give your body the needed time
to rejuvenate itself. Usually I
recommend taking a month off from training.
For the first few weeks I have people do nothing at all except maybe
hike or walk. After this I recommend
doing some activity but making sure to take at least 1-2 days off a week. I like the activities to be different from
the training year and encourage people to focus on cross training with yoga,
hiking, skiing, etc. Realize that you
will loose some fitness but this will come back very quickly once you start to
train again.
After
a month recovery I usually recommend returning to some form of
training/exercise but this is structured very differently from the racing
season. I break up the “off
season”/pre season into blocks, and my first block is usually a swim focused
block. During this phase, which can be
from 8-12 weeks, the only training goal is to get 3-4 swim sessions a
week. The rest is gravy. This allows for a few things to happen. First, swimming is low impact and will allow
continued recovery from running and biking.
Second, by only focusing on one activity you are still giving your body
a well needed break both physically and mentally. This helps keep the training volume on the low end but also slowly
starts to rebuild fitness. Finally,
swimming is usually the weakest link for most of us and is usually the first
thing cut when the running and biking loads get very high. This period allows you to focus on technique
and gradually build confidence in the water and improve times. Typically I will encourage 1-2 days of
running but still recommend keeping the mileage low. You can bike if you want but this is not a bad time to get a
break from the bike as there will be plenty of time later in to build the bike
mileage. During this phase it is also
helpful to get back into your weight training program if you have one. (This will be another topic as it is such an
important part of training that is most often neglected.) Cross training with skiing and skating is
also a good change that will maintain/build fitness. Hopefully buy the end of this phase, typically 8-12 weeks, you
will be ready to start building back up for the racing season. We will talk more about building into the
season in our next few articles.
Finally,
don’t forget about your nutrition. Your
caloric intake will definitely be lower during the off season than while you
are in the peak of your training. It’s
OK to take that month off from watching your diet but if you gain too much weight
during the off season it is too difficult to get that weight off at the start
of the season. Some simple things to
remember: alcohol has a lot of empty calories (There really is a ham sandwich
in every beer), control portion sizes, try to get a small amount of protein
with all meals and snacks, and try to eat a colorful plate (preferably not
decorated with frosting).
So,
if you made it to the end of this article, congratulations! Lets try to sum things up into some take
home messages to give you a successful off season.
1)
Take
the time to mentally and physically recover
2)
Take
at least 2 weeks off from all exercise
3)
Cross
train
4)
Build
back up slowly
5)
Start
with a swim block for the first 8-12 weeks back training
6)
Try
to run 1-2 days a week consistently
7)
Don’t
forget about your nutrition
Until
next month, train smart, recover well and look forward to a healthy and
productive new year.