Training Tip Tuesday #3- Define "Offseason" (And Why It's Important)

As a precursor to what will follow in the rest of this post I'd like to say that most of us generally consider the offseason to be the time around the holidays in October/November/December when Christmas cheer and many delectable drinks and desserts are abundant. If you're the kind of athlete that trains pretty consistently year round from January until whenever your last race is in October then yes, this time of year is and NEEDS to be your offseason.

IF however, your someone that took a fairly extended break earlier in the year because of work commitments, injury, lack of motivation, or you were too busy building a backyard spaceship-

Then you've already had your offseason. It's perfectly fine to keep training through the winter if you had an extended summer of not training. The offseason doesn't have to be the same time of year for everyone but it's important that it occurs at some point. Many people have 2-4 offseasons unplanned offseasons throughout the year as they take a break between races or focus on other areas of life and that's perfectly ok. It can be intentional or completely unintentional. The important thing is that you come out of it rested, recharged and ready for more tri fever.

I thought about trying to come up with my own clever and unique definition for the word, "offseason." Unfortunately, I'm not very clever even if somewhat unique, and so I decided to stick with what's tried and true and rely on old Merriam for his (her?) explanation-

Offseason- "a time of suspended or reduced activity; especially :  the time during which an athlete is not training or competing."

Pretty succinct I'd say. No racing or training is what constitutes the groundwork for a fulfilling offseason. The importance of this time of year cannot be underestimated. Bernard Lagat, (Never heard of him? 2-time Olympic medalist in the 1500, 5 time world champion, American record holder in the 1500, 3000 and 5000. Yeah, the guy is fast.)

 takes 5 weeks off every year. I repeat- Bernard Lagat takes 5 weeks off every year. 5 weeks of absolutely zero activity other than running up and down the sidelines at soccer games for his kids. 

In the era we live in where less is no longer more but more is more it can be very difficult for driven triathletes to take some down town. Will you lose fitness? More certainly you will- Article about losing fitness, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. We don't see Lagat freaking out about his VO2max dropping by a few points. No, we just see him enjoying some down time then getting back to kicking butt the next year after he gets back in shape. It's impossible to maintain a high level of fitness year round so don't try!

As triathletes we are always looking for a new goal, deciding what weaknesses to work on in this offseason, selecting races for next year (heck, a lot of us are already REGISTERED for races next year since they sell out so fast). The point is that we have a hard time really taking a step back and forgetting about triathlon for awhile. We jump from triathlon season, to marathon season, to technique focus back to tri season. It's just too much and the overall quality and focus of the regular season will suffer as a result.

I'm just as guilty. I still have one race left this year but I've already started thinking about how I'm going to do better NEXT year, and train even HARDER and go even FASTER. I have to reign myself in and stay in the moment. I used to be petrified of the offseason. I just couldn't stand the work I wasn't doing to get better. But I was always shocked at how amazing I felt when I started training again in January after an extended Christmas break. I had boundless energy while training, I wasn't dog tired (yet) and my body wasn't worn down by a long season. I had forgotten what it felt like to feel good and feeling good felt good!

Especially if your last race wasn't exactly what you hoped it would be it can be hard to let it go and still take a break. You want to get back to work immediately so that you never have a poor result like that again and can rectify the problems that caused such a terrible race. Don't do it. Resist the urge. Turn your back and run, no- walk slowly- in the other direction. Your body and mind will thank you.

Training Tip Tuesday #2: Approach the Line With Confidence

The irony of me writing this advice after the worst race I’ve had in quite some time is not lost on me. However, the rational still stands true- we have to approach the starting line confident that we will give everything we have to give that day and come out with a good result.  The last big race of the year can be very foreboding. It’s the accumulation of many, many weeks and months of preparation. On the other side of this relatively small snapshot in time is the offseason. A bleak period with long, dark, cold nights, no training or immediate race in sight and only the final memories of our last race of the year and what experience that brought us. That’s a scary thought and especially if our “A” race has us lining up against some of the best in the world it’s not a very comforting one.

Here are a couple tips I’ve found to be very helpful when facing a big race:

11)   Treat it like just another race. By this point in the season you’ve probably raced at least once or twice already. Some of us may have competed 10 or more times while maybe others have only done a few local races. Nonetheless, you’ve been through the routine, you’ve lost your bike in transition, you’ve waited in those long porta-pottie lines, maybe you’ve even forgotten something absolutely crucial like bike shoes (or insoles- true story, I did that last year), goggles or a water bottle. In summary- this ain’t your first rodeo. If you think of the big race just like any other race you’ve done- that is, maybe you don’t think about it too much, then there’s no reason to get worked up about it and you won’t have to combat those energy draining nerves.

22)   Look back over your training log from the year. Hopefully you keep some sort of record of the training you do throughout the year. If not well… I’ll address that in a different post. If you do have a log then get it out and start flipping through the year you’ve had. You’ve come many, many miles since the start of this season. You’ve probably had way more early mornings than you wanted and suffered a lot more in sessions than you originally planned to. Sure, there are some blank days in there and times you completely bombed the workout but let your eyes gloss over those and key in on the successful days you’ve had. Look at how you’ve knocked out some really good days of training even when you were tired. Recognize the strength you’ve shown grinding through sessions and sometimes even smashing them despite being fatigued. Draw on all of that for confidence and know that the hard work just doesn’t go away. You can execute on race day just like you’ve executed in countless training sessions.

33)   Know that all you can do is do your best. As cliché as it sounds to just “do your best,” it really stands true when it comes to racing. Pre-race anxiety comes because we are comparing ourselves to our competition or a time standard. If you remove all expectation of performance and just determine to give your best effort on the day then there is no need to be anxious. You KNOW you can push yourself hard because you’ve done it in training. You know what pain is, you know adversity, none of those things are new and you’ve triumphed already countless times in your daily training and life. A race is just another chance to give the best effort you’re capable of and push yourself as hard as you can.

44)   Be grateful for the opportunity to race. The physical talents we have are a blessing and the ability to do a triathlon should not be taken for granted. Many people race for a cause or after having overcome cancer or another disease. What a great reminder of how blessed we are to be fit and well enough to compete.

55)   Celebrate. Racing is a chance to express the hard work you’ve done. Treat the race as a celebration of your health, your fitness and the journey you’ve had along the way. We spend most of our time on that journey and racing is just a chance to commemorate all the good (and miserable) times we’ve had along the way.

So good luck with whatever races you have left this year. Relish the opportunities you’re given. Seize the day and have fun!!