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.
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| 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!
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