The Off-Season is here... Time to start training again????

The great thing about October, besides Halloween and Octoberfest, is it usually signals the start of the off-season. For athletes, this represents down time, or as some people refer to it non-specific training. Just go out there and have some fun, do whatever you want to do (or do nothing at all) , all with the goal of refreshing the mind , body and spirit for the the beginning of the next training cycle.

As I got older, however, I have seen my off-season get shorter and shorter mostly due to the increased amount of time it takes me to regain lost fitness. Once upon a time, in my younger days, I could easily take a month or a month and a half off, doing absolutely nothing and need only a short amount of time to get back into a reasonable amount of shape. Now a month of nothing would result in weight gain so large I would need Richard Simmons to have any possibility of being ready by spring. What I realized is I need to continue training almost year round, merely decreasing intensity during the off-season and increasing my base. I attribute my improvements in swimming last year as a result of just such a change.

The off-season is also the time to work on two important tasks for the season ahead:

1) Your race schedule (or goals if you are not competing) and

2) Your weaknesses.

I spent a fair amount of the last two off-seasons devoted to working on my swimming, which is my weakness, and managed to drop 10 minutes off my 1500 meter swim time. During the off-season there are generally no "A" races so there is less pressure to concentrate on speed and/or intensity and much more time to concentrate on form and technique, factors which will help in any sport. For instance, this off-season I am concentrating 100% on learning bilateral breathing for swimming. In the few session I have been working on it, I have already begun to see improvements in my swimming and have managed to avoid some of the neck and shoulder problems I encountered when I increased my pool time last season.

The off-season is also the time to commit to those races in which you want to do well. For some large races, you may only have a day to sign up (for some such as the NYC triathlon, you may only have an hour!). Making the commitment now, means your are committed to putting in the time and effort, but it also gives you the ability to accurately plan your season and the workouts necessary to make the season a success.

The off-season can also be a great time to experiment with new equipment and training techniques for the upcoming season. Want to adjust your bike position or try running barefoot? Well now is the time to try, if it works, great, you have a new tool for next year, if not, you gave it a try and can move on without jeopardizing race day.

One key to making the off-season enjoyable and rejuvenating is to not take it too seriously. Now is the time to make sacrifices for your friends and family that you may have abandoned during the season. Take the time to enjoy time with friends and family, enjoy the holidays, if you do any races make them more about camaraderie with your training partners than about PRs. Maybe even take up some alternative sports to break up the monotony. Enjoy the off-season, it will make the on-season that much more enjoyable.....

Peace and keep training (a little less tho)

Rob