What do you all do during off season?

I normally slip in a marathon or 2, maybe a half mara

I do a lot of Hiking

Daft DVD training sessions ... Think insanity, sufferfest  etc

MTB riding including intervals ... im slow on the bike and need to push myself when it doesn't matter if i need to miss training the next day

OH

And i drink a lot of Guinness 

last year i did the Insanity DVDs after my marathon - might do that again to get through the holidays.  i usually just run and lift weights a lot more...i hate going to the pool in winter!

SWIM

I should be doing this, but I've been riding my bike a ton lately.  Cycling is way more fun!

Yeah......you know the folks I'm around....they say winning is way more fun.

Not to hijack as hopefully my questions will help others also. What about no swimming? I am FOP in my AG (45-49) on the swim in most of my races with about a 1:35/100 pace depending on race length. However, I definitely need more gains on the bike above what I was able to accomplish this summer (upped speed from 19.8mph in 2013 Oly to 21mph in 2014). As always, run could use work but ran a 7:29/mi pace in that Oly.

During my 1st tri 'off season' last year I did not swim from Sept to April. Having been a swimmer in my younger days, my form is such that any loss in time is due more to swim fitness. Because of that, I was thinking of skipping swimming until Jan/Feb 2015 and working on bike/run. Is this a bad idea? If so, would 1 swim/week of about 2000yds be of any benefit toward maintaining swim fitness? If I wanted to go strictly maintenance mode on everything, would 1 swim, 2 bike, 2 run/wk be OK? Thanks.

You were a swimmer as a kid.....and you swim 1:35/100 now.   What would it take for you to get to 1:15-1:20/100? Can you?  I'm assuming you can if you have a good swim background.  So in a sprint distance race of 750M, for instance, you could conceivably gain 1:30 - 2:00 minutes.  What will it take you to gain 2 minutes on a 12 mile bike?  What will it take to gain 2 minutes on a 3 mile run?  Do you think you can get to 6:45/mile with the same amount of work you can get to 1:20/100 on the swim?  I don't.

I agree that everyone needs to decide where they can make the biggest gains to improve their race, and what they actually want out of a race, but most people never think about the swim as a race changer because it's harder and not as much fun as biking or running.  I'm around people who win races......they swim fast.  Not all off them always did. 

I realize this is a pretty simplistic view, but most triathletes neglect the swim (in today's triathlon world that's a non-starter for a fast race)....and for someone like you, with a background, there is likely quite a bit of time you are leaving on the table.

This will be my first off season but I'm planning to train for a March HM, do a 3-race du series in Dec., Jan., and Feb., and do a semi-coached swim conditioning class 1x/week.  I've talked with the instructor for the swim class and he's going to help me work on core strength, strengthening my left hip (it's weak from 2 surgeries), and improving my swimming technique.  I'll probably do some additional hip strengthening and core exercises for ~15 min. throughout the week as well.  I may be overly optimistic, but I think I should be able to fit in 4-5 runs/week, bike 1x/week and swim 1x/week. 

That being said, my last tri is on 9/21 and I'm definitely planning on taking a couple weeks off and not doing *anything*, not even the 26 flights of stairs I've been doing daily.  Believe it or not, not doing the stairs will be a challenge.  I feel like such a lazy slug when I take the elevator!

I pretty much do the same stuff year 'round.  Living in FL makes that pretty easy to do.  I love to train and can't just sit around. 

My triathlon season normally runs from May until the end of Oct.  During the "off season" I usually do a half marathon in Feb or March and numerous shorter races to work on my running, which has always been my weakest discipline.  I'll trade bike ride for a long run when I'm prepping for the HM.  After the HM I'll start ramping up the cycling again.

Mark

Yeah Yeah.  I'm probably going to drag myself to the pool again soon.  How much kicking should I start out with?

I wouldn't worry about it......it's not important for a fast swim.

I usually split between triathlons (Spring/Summer) and Marathons (Fall/Winter/Spring)

My last tri is on the 28th of September and my first marathon of the season is on the 12th of October. (No rest for the weary)