Top Ten Tips to Supercharge Your Offseason: Part 2

5. Let your leg hair grow (Optional for the ladies)

I wish I had a picture of the dense foliage that was my leg hair after 5 weeks of no shaving (There was some resemblance to the photo above). It was quite intense. Not like camping in the great outdoors in tents, but like- holy-crap-that’s-a-lot-of-leg-hair-where-did-it-all-come-from intense. Keeping in the theme of doing something out of the norm letting your leg hair grow falls perfectly in line. It’s a chance to step away from the identity of “athlete” we let ourselves get too wrapped up in. We are so much more than just triathletes! Now I know getting past that uber-itchy stage is always a pain but once you do, oh the freedom! You’ll find yourself with at least an extra 3 minutes of time NOT spent in the shower shaving you’ll have no idea what to do with it. On top of that think of the pennies you will save when not burning through razors at a rate of 2 per week. As you can see the benefits are enormous. So chill out a little bit, take yourself less seriously and let your leg hair grow.

For those with difficulty growing their own leg hair
this service provides some sort of way to apply fake her
and make you much more a man. Not sure really.

4. Eat a cookie

Or two. Or ten.  Or some pie. Or ice cream. Or just something that is horribly bad for you and provides no nutritional benefit. I mean, come on, it’s the HOLIDAYS for goodness sakes! C is for cookie!!

Who cares if you pack on a pound or 7? Addressing the issue of offseason eating I know many athletes fear gaining tons of weight during this time of little training. Honestly though I don’t think that has to be as much of an issue. I simply try to listen to my appetite, eat when I’m hungry, don’t when I’m not. If I feel like eating a cookie then I will. (I actually eat cookies year round so this isn’t much different than my normal diet). In all honesty my weight doesn’t really fluctuate much throughout the year. Perhaps this means I’m not getting down to a good “race weight” during my season but I also don’t seem to really gain weight during the break. I usually find the first week or so that I continue to eat like a rabid man raccoon on a crazed feeding frenzy but after a little why my metabolism realizes I’m not training much and I don’t get that hungry. My take away nutrition advice from this post is to relax, listen to your body and EAT A DARN COOKIE!!

3. Workout in a non-linear fashion

“But if I’m not moving forward than it must not be a good workout or I won’t be burning as many calories.” First of all- who cares about calories? “I do. I don’t want to get fat.” Ok, ok well go read tip #4 and then come back and we can continue. But as to working out there are actually A LOT of activities you can do that will get your heart rate up AND don’t involve going forward. Take tennis for example. My wife and I were looking for something fun and different to do a few weeks ago so we went and bought a couple $12 tennis racquets at Wal-Mart. What more cost efficient way to get a good workout than engaging your overly competitive husband in a “fun” game of tennis? Now, when I hear the word “game” I think “WIN.” You play a game to win right? I mean, what’s the point in doing anything if there’s not a winner? Well, apparently there are a lot of benefits I was unaware of such as- spending time with your spouse, getting a good workout in, spending time with your spouse, working on agility and movements that involve going back and forth, oh and spending time with your spouse. Who woulda thunk? Needless to say we had different ideas of what a “game” of tennis involved and there was some considerable marital tension following that match. However, tennis is still a great example of something that works completely different muscles than we normally work. As triathletes we spend all our time going forwards in a straight line (Or as straight as possible depending on your sighting skills in open water). There are a lot of muscle groups and stabilizers that don’t get worked because of this so I challenge you try something out of the norm. Tennis, ultimate Frisbee, soccer, rollerblading, underwater hockey (look it up), full contact tackle football, you get the picture. I challenge you to find an activity that you enjoy (other than swim/bike/run) and go DO IT! My wife and I love to go hiking and trust me, it doesn’t matter how fit you are, walking up and down hills over rocky terrain is freaking HARD and it WILL make you sore. Be careful about jumping right into something like soccer that involves a lot of sprinting and fast turns and cutting because our triathlon bodies are extremely de-conditioned for such activities. (Oh and the suggestion of full contact tackle football was definitely a joke).That doesn’t mean you can’t do it I just put that in as a disclaimer. Avoiding an ACL tear is preferable but total body soreness preventing you from bending your knees the next morning is perfectly acceptable. Maybe the cha-cha slide is about all you can do for non-linear movement and that’s fine just get out there and CHA-CHA!

2. Sleep. A lot

I love to sleep. I really do. I’m a firm believer in the importance of sleep during training to help you recover and adapt to the training load. But I also realize that sleep is usually the first thing to go when we’re doing big training. It’s hard to fit everything in if you don’t start by 5am when working full time and taking care of kids, etc. So use this offseason as I chance to sleep-in a little. Last year I was so exhausted after my last race of the year that I seriously spent about 10 days sleeping 9-11 hours a night, and sometimes taking naps on top of that. I didn’t even realize how exhausted my body was until I let it relax. Now that cold weather has moved in it’s even easier to stay buried under the covers until waaayyy past your usual wake up time. Go for it. Sleep is good for you and will allow your body to recharge after a long season. So take my advice and catch some extra zzzz’s this offseason.

AND the number one Tip To Supercharge Your Offseason…..

1. Reach Out to Others

This one needs a little defining so I’ll do my best. Triathlon is such a narcissistic selfish sport. We spend so much time focusing on ourselves- our nutrition, our training, our performance. Often that comes at a great cost to our friends and family. So take some time to reach out to those around you and spend time with them .Yes, this means your family who has sacrificed so much to let you train for triathlon but it can also mean going above and beyond those immediately close to you. Reach out into the community and find ways you can give back. Christmas is a great time to do this and there are SO many opportunities available. There are so many less fortunate than ourselves and I often reflect on just how blessed I am to be able to do what I do. Participate in Angel tree… or hand out bagels to the random homeless guy on the corner. I also enjoy volunteering at races if I can. It’s fun to see the other side that we don’t see when we’re competing and it really helps you appreciate how much work goes into supporting you out on the race course. So take some time away from yourself this offseason. Take yourself less seriously, have some fun, eat a cookie, sleep in a little, let your leg hair grow and reach out to others and give back. Thanks for reading and feel free to let me know some of your ideas and fun things you have done this offseason! 

Top Ten Tips To Supercharge Your Offseason: Part 1

10. Take 2 weeks off

“WHHHAAATTT!?!?! “ You say. “Two weeks without exercise! That’s impossible.” No it isn’t actually. Millions of people across America do it all the time. You can be a normal American for just TWO weeks. I know you can. If the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, can do it- so can you.

  I often hear people talk about how they like to “keep moving” and “just do some easy workouts” during their break. That’s all well and good and I firmly believe there is a time for that as well but I think total rest is important. If you can’t handle taking time completely off I challenge you to examine yourself and ask WHY it’s so difficult for you to take a break? It doesn’t have to be two weeks exactly, maybe it’s 10 days or maybe it’s a whole month. The point is it’s good to let your body have some down time from ANY sort of physical activity. You have 11 ½ months to beat your body into submission so the least you can do is take a couple weeks off and just rest. I promise you, after two weeks you’ll be so mentally and physically rested that you are just craving activity and it makes it so much more worth it when you do start training. Bernard Lagat takes 5 weeks completely off every year and he’s pretty fast.  

9. Train Unstructured. 

Call it the "transition period" or whatever you want but after some total down time I’m all for doing unstructured training. This is actually one of my favorite times of the year. If I feel like going for a run then I’ll go for a run. But if I don’t, then by golly I’ll just sit on my butt and won’t. And I don’t feel one hint of guilt. The important thing is to listen to your body. Yes, exercise is good for us and as triathletes we typically do it because we enjoy being active. I like to do unstructured training for anywhere from 1-4 weeks AFTER my 2 weeks off. I try to re-discover my love for the sport and remember WHY I love training. There’s no set rule on how long this time has to last but don't rush it. Enjoy the time to stay healthy but not overdo and not have to stress if life get's in the way.

8. Do something fun for a change. 

Like bake a pie

Play croquet

Or maybe just do a little dance

This girl is in full-on offseason mode

Yes, yes, I know we all embrace that identity of being “the boring triathlete” during race season. Believe me, I’m just as boring as the next guy when it’s time to get down to business. In fact, I’d like to bet that my wife and I could compete for the most boring couple in America with our complete lack of social interaction. In a “most boring couple under 30” contest, we’d win handily. During this offseason though I try to rise above “boring” and just be “dull.” Being dull means that maybe I go a little crazy and take my wife to a movie, or dinner or maybe even one of those concert things. Oh trust me we do it big at the Saroni house. The point is to do stuff out of your regular routine that you would normally not do when you have 6am swim practice the next morning or just finished up a 7 hour brick session. You don’t have to be the most interesting man (or woman) in the world, just try being a little less boring.

7. Reflect on your season. 

Yes, this sounds very serious and contemplative and it is. After a week or two have gone by and you’re not as emotionally connected to what went right or wrong in your last “A” race take some time to look back and examine the season as objectively as possible. Look for the area’s you improved and where you could have done better. Don’t be too hard on yourself. As triathletes, we are normally our own toughest critics but the agonizing thing about endurance sport is that improvements come very slowly and often by miniscule margins. We are usually too quick to judge ourselves harshly and not see the steps forward we made throughout the season. There are many other variables too look at other than just time too. Time and splits vary so widely and depending on terrain and conditions. There are other factors to consider- Was your mental approach stronger this year? Did you have a better nutrition? What about time management skills? Recovery? Transitions? There are a TON of different ways you can improve year to year other than just “going faster.” (Though of course going faster is the primary goal). Often the races that weren’t the best are where you learn the most and can help you improve for the future. And if you can’t find a single positive thing to reflect on from last year? Than, ouch. That must have been a really, really bad one.

6. Stay up late- 

This one goes along with doing something fun for a change. Contrary to what your parents may have told you, sometimes good things DO happen after midnight- If you can make it that late. Personally, for my wife and I, staying up late means we don’t hit the sack until 8:30 or maybe if we’re being extra crazy, 9:00. Yes I know we’re boring and dull. In all seriousness though a lot of times I find that I’m not as tired from training so it’s hard to go to bed early. So I’ll stay up and read a book or work on other stuff I don’t have time to do when I’m in full on tri-geek-train-hard-win-easy-race-till-I-die mode. Reading is one of my favorite past times actually-

This is a completely accurate depiction of my utterly-sheltered-
100% homeschooled-childhood. (Actually I give my mom
great credit for instilling a love for reading in me from a very
young age).

Or I’ll go do some of the aforementioned “fun” activities that often involve staying up late. (I’m still astonished sometimes when I’m told that a certain activity or show doesn’t START until 9:00 pm. I really don’t know how I use to do it in high school and college when I’d be out until 2am and then come home to START working on my paper due at 8:00am that morning. Crazy times).







Stay tuned next week for Part 2!!

This actually has no connection to my blog I just thought it was funny
and brings back many other homeschool memories.