Training Tip Tuesday #5: Top 10 Tips To Supercharge Your Offseason: (Off)Season 2

5. Try cyclocross, an adventure race or maybe the wife carrying competition.

This time of year is a great chance to try a different sort of exercise that is a little wacky or zany and you would never be caught doing in the heat of Ironman training. As you groggily awake from your sugar/alcohol/too-much-time-with-the-family induced coma you may find yourself with a nagging urge to engage in some form of physical exertion. This is a great time to get out of your comfort zone, get in that cardio zone and burn some old fashioned calories. Try something new for a change! You may find it’s quite fun, ridiculously difficult and has a high probability of getting dirty. So find a wife and get carrying! 

4. Don’t do Anything

3. Have a physical evaluation done

You know the warning labels they put on all the jump ropes and exercise balls to make sure you can't sue the company for tripping over your own two feet- “Make sure and have a thorough examination by a Doctor before engaging in physical activity.” Well that advice is actually quite good for us as triathletes as well. The miles and miles we put our body through can lead us to develop certain weaknesses and muscle imbalances that are often difficult to detect. It’s definitely not a bad idea to get a regular check up done for heart conditions, blood pressure, nose hair growth or whatever Doctors check these days. However, It’s also a good idea to have an examination done by a physical therapist or chiropractor that can do a functional analysis and identify weak areas that have the potential to lead to injury. You just might find that your flexor digit minimi brevis muscle has gotten a little out of wack.

2. Emphasize form and technique
We all know that success in endurance sport has nothing to do with quality or form and is solely based on who can pound out the most 100 mile rides and 20 mile runs. Ok so I'm being a bit facetious. Actually, many studies have shown that running economy is a better predictor of performance than VO2max is. While I won't go into the details explaining running economy it essentially has to do with how efficiently your body uses oxygen at a given steady-state work load. Drills, plyometrics and strength training have all been shown to improve running economy. Soo… if better running economy makes you faster and drills help you have better running economy, then drills will make you run faster. Makes sense right? The problem with this is that drills are often fun and involve quick movements and coordination. As triathletes we're not good at any of those things. We hate having fun so anything that involves a light jog to a grassy field where we jump and skip around in our bare feet and do some light sprints in the early morning dew sounds absolutely abhorrent. We'd much rather slog out a 3 hour run on concrete at noon in the middle of summer weighed down by the 15 pounds of water we've strapped to our waist. Now THAT, my friends, is a good time!!

I'm not sure who this woman is but I'm quite certain she's way
 tougher than me so please realize I mean no disrespect.

And we won't even get started on the coordination aspect. I'm routinely shocked at how bad distance runners and triathletes are at basic skipping or karaoke drills. It's like we are naturally pre-selected for sports that don't require our brain to fire our muscles in a rapid fashion. Kind of like this platypus.

Just a little work on the knee drive and we might see a sub 15 5k from this guy

Actually I take that back, this platypus is actually quite quick and agile. The point is that you can be a faster runner (and swimmer and biker) if you work on some "skills and drills." You will be lighter on your feet, have faster ground reaction time and improve your cadence just by taking 30 minutes to work on form and technique. You're better off spending 30 minutes working on drills with a warm up and cool down then pounding out another hour long run to keep your mileage total up.

These basic drills demonstrated by Lauren Fleshman are a great starting point. Note how light and bouncy she is and her great range of motion.  

1. Give your spouse/significant other the thanks they deserve.
This loved one of yours has endured countless early mornings, late nights, sweaty running shorts, in-grown toenails, moldy water bottles and all your boring chitter-chatter about "such and such did such and such a time at such and such a race this weekend." Trust me, my wife is pretty sick of triathlon by the time the season is over. Unfortunately for her I never get sick of triathlon! Over the years though I've realized that balance is a very important in life and it's important that we take time to recognize our loved ones for their support (however begrudgingly given) over the course of the season. Just be thankful you're not on the curb yet. In reality, this shouldn't be a two week ritual celebrated once a year. Your family should always come above your goals and aspirations as an athlete. Triathlon is never so important that you should place it above the needs of the people you care about. However, in our selfish-kona-fever-goal-driven-dehdrated-bonk-city state we sometimes get a little cranky and don't always remember to look out for our loved ones first. Regardless of how caring you are during the season they still have to smell you occasionally and that CAN'T be pleasant. So take some time this offseason to care for the people you love, take a chill pill, relax and enjoy the life you're blessed with and the people around you.