Living The Tri Life!: It's The Off Season... Or Is It?

I follow a couple of Facebook pages and have been reading a lot of people mentioning the lack of motivation to train now that the season is over. Another common question I see is people asking what others do during the off season.

So the question arises, is there really an off season for triathletes? I would call it more of a time to re-energize. Take a couple weeks off completely after your last race and do nothing. I lasted only one week being out of the pool, and then went back. Two weeks off running. And in all honesty I still haven't been back on the bike, but I was having some knee pain on the bike at the end of the season and I wanted to give it a little more time so I would be able to tell if it was an over use, or an actual injury.

The off season for swimming is an excellent time to work on your technique. The people who don't swim at all during this time of year are really doing a disservice to themselves. Stay in touch with the water, even if you're only going to get to the pool twice a week. Swim fitness goes quickly for most people, so don't forgo this part of your training. Remember, when you're doing swim drills, please don't do them on an interval! When you swim a drill and put a time constraint on yourself you rush, and with drills you want to do them slowly! If you do swim by yourself and need to see some good balance, and technique drills check out the Tri Swim Coach App.

Cycling through winter can be tough, the cold temperatures make it difficult to get out the door, and that is even in the South. Most people resign themselves to the trainer in winter. If you are lucky enough to be able to get out with friends and ride don't turn it into any kind of a training race. Learn to enjoy just riding, and being able to catch up with your buddies! Then after the first of the year start incorporating some harder work into your cycling. Here is a great little App for What To Wear Cycling.

Many people run a marathon or half marathon during the winter. The best time to run long is when temperatures are nice and mild. I had a friend once say that the best time to run a marathon is the first of December, or end of November. Train through the fall, run your marathon, then relax for the month of December. Enjoy the holiday parties not having to worry about leaving the party early because you've got a long run the next morning. After New Years (and your New Year's Eve celebration) get back out there and start running again. Hey.. what better day than an easy run on New Years Day to start the year off right!

Give your body and spirit a chance to heal with some easy training. Don't stress out if you gain a couple pounds over the winter (a couple....).

The people I've known that don't do this, they're the one's who stay strict and rigid all year long don't seem to last very long in the sport. It's just too hard on yourself (and your family) to be like that year in and year out. Give yourself a little mental, and physical break and it will make you start to look forward to those hard training sessions for the next season!