Off-season goals

Last week I talked about the importance of changing your fitness routine with the seasons. Regardless if you love summer sports like running, cycling, tennis, triathlon or whether winter is your optimum season with cross-country or downhill skiing, skating, hockey. Regardless of your favourite and whether you participate in events, or not, you need an off-season.

The importance of an off-season

The most important component of an off-season is rest. Don’t freak out, rest is NOT doing nothing at all, it means doing less of some things and more of others.

Without an off-season, you will be more likely to be slower, weaker, not making progress or injured, having an off-season is critical for improvement.

Having an off-season is important.

Even if you don’t have a “racing” season. A seasonal off-season can be used for recovery and review.

Most sports have a pre-season, a shoulder season and an off-season. Each one allows the athlete – that means you – to build, rest and recover while preparing for their peak season.

For example, if you are a cyclist, runner or participate in triathlons, fall and winter are part of your off-season. Shoulder season would be early fall and spring would be pre-season. The rhythm of the seasons also can be used to adjust training, focus on skill, strength and recover.

Why having an off-season is important.

Doing the same workout day after day, week after week has very few benefits and more drawbacks. Your return on your investment of time and effort is not paying you back in health and fitness returns.

Not having an off-season can have some serious consequences, like feeling unmotivated, having trouble sleeping and being more likely to get injured or sick.

Training and racing are mental stressors too and recovery is not just physical. An off-season prevents burnout and fatigue. It is also a great time to reflect on what went well and what you would like to achieve next season.

If your season was…

Just okay.

You could be suffering from MOTS.

What is this? Nothing horrible, it can be fixed. It is simply doing MORE OF THE SAME. You are stuck in the mucky middle, too many easy workouts, never going hard enough, never really recovering, just putting one foot in front of the other. You are getting nowhere and it feels like it.

What to do? Use your off-season to first, recover. This means take a break from your regular routine. Then build strength, work on weak areas. These are often physical, weak hamstrings, tight hip flexors. Or dietary, too much processed food, too little variety, not eating for recovery.

Most importantly. Don’t feel guilty and don’t worry you are NOT going to lose all your fitness gains and you will not turn into a sloth.

Brutal, glad that’s over.

You spent the summer struggling with one injury after another. You were fighting an infection or caught one cold after another. You just couldn’t get motivated and felt like you had no energy. You couldn’t lose weight or started to gain weight.

Rest already.

Seriously, this is a sign of overtraining and you don’t want to go there.

It is absolutely time for something different. Recovery involves doing something else and reducing intensity. Go to the pool. Hike instead of run. Join a class. Do something JUST FOR FUN and do less. If you don’t recover it will only get worse.

That was stellar.

You just had the best season of your life and now you want to maintain all that fitness! Of course you do, but you still need to rest. To keep your fitness gains you need to repair and rejuvenate. This means easier, shorter workouts. A few new activities. It is not forever, just for now, to keep you in the game while you recover. Trust me without it you will be heading for overtraining and feeling burnt out.

Investing in the off-season has many advantages.

You can focus on other aspects of training.

You get to recover and this is when all the gains are really seen.

You will be stronger for next year.

You will be mentally refreshed.

You will be less likely to get sick, get injured or burn out.

You can work on your weaker areas.

Off-season goals should start with recovery and then build toward improving strength and power. Use the time to plan for your new short term goals and change your workouts to see the results you want.

Any questions about your training plan let me know.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla