Coach Jenn has some words of wisdom on training in the off-season:
I love the “off-season” – the break that comes following months of regimented training and racing, and before initiating another round of structured workouts. But not everyone shares this excitement; for some, taking time off can be challenging.
- Fear starts to creep in. I don’t want to lose all the fitness I worked so hard to achieve.
- Boredom may settle in. I don’t know what to do with this extra time on my hands.
- The high and excitement from last race is still high. I finished my season on such a strong note; I just want to keep going.
Sounds familiar?
Think of the off-season as an opportunity to change things up a bit, and to give your body and mind a little bit of an extended vacation. Here are a few suggestions:
Take a small hiatus from running. When was the last time you didn’t run for a few days or longer (and not because of injury or illness)? There can be many physical and mental benefits to doing this, and now is the perfect time to do so. How do you know if you should be taking a little hiatus? Some cues include a) you aren’t as motivated to run right now; b) you’re constantly sore or fatigue; or c) your nagging injury continues to linger.
Bring down the volume and the intensity. If/when you are running, bring down the volume and the intensity. You don’t need to be doing continuous mega long runs or pushing your limits with hard running efforts. You’re better off doing several short runs a week, rather than running inconsistently and throwing in the occasional long run. Taking things down a notch now will create greater capacity for the upcoming season.
Break away from the gadgets. Challenge yourself and leave your watch, your Garmin, your heart rate monitor etc. at home. Run freely and let go of any expectations. See how liberating this can feel!
Working out should be a sense of “I want” and not “I need/should” . Working out should be more focused on having fun and staying active, rather than aiming to improve your fitness for the next little while. What are you wanting to do right now? What excites you? This is not the time to show how diligent you are at following a training plan.
Explore new types of activities. Now is also a good time to spend more time cross training. Always wanted to try indoor rock climbing? Cycling? Kickboxing? Don’t worry about losing fitness. As long as you are doing something active, and not morphing into a couch potato, your body will maintain enough fitness to carry you through until next season.
Give your body some extra TLC. It’s not uncommon for you to experience some form of injury right now, despite your lighter training mode. Your body was in “combat mode” during the high season, but now that you’re done, your body has let down its guard and defenses. Your body is saying “ok, I got you through to the end of the season, and now I’m giving in. Time to take care of me”. Even if you are not experiencing some form of nagging injury, be proactive and treat yourself to a massage, spend some extra time stretching those tight muscles and catch up on some sleep. Your body will thank you for it.
Throw in some harder efforts after a few weeks. Harder workouts aren’t necessarily off limits during the off-season. Consider adding some intensity; albeit with a bit less structure, volume and/or intensity after having a few weeks of easy training. Tune into how you’re feeling, and remember that nothing should be forced at this point in time. Aim to have one run a week where you are adding in something like fartleks, pick ups, hill sprints or short fast intervals. Or conduct a favorite workout from the past season, but without focusing on your pace and/or perhaps scaling back on effort and/or volume. Alternatively, you might enjoy adding in some intensity with cross training instead.
Get strong. Now is a great time to be focusing more time and energy on strength work. By reducing the running training load, you will have greater capacity to focus on building a great strength foundation. Despite its tremendous benefit, this is an area where most runners fall short. Use this time to carve out a strength routine that works for you.
Reflections
What did you learn from this past season? I believe that our training experience holds a tremendous amount of wisdom. We just need to create the opportunities for such learnings to unfold! Spend some time thinking about what you want to bring forward in your next training season, as well as what you want to leave behind (what not to do). What am I most proud of? If I had to do one thing differently, what would that be? If I had to keep one thing consistent, what would be that?