off season training

From what I've learned (3 years plus experience and being a PT myself) this is the time to put in your easy workouts to maintain and improve your fitness. Many people see improvements during their first few months of taking on triathlonging but then loose it when they stop and chose not the maintain some activity of each of the sports. My coach explained that if athletes spent time in the off season doing lots of workouts in their lower heart rate zones they can begin to improvements on their lactate threshold. Interval training accomplishes this as well but we can only do interval stuff for so many weeks... sooo

I usually swim with Masters or some structured workout 2x a week, then I run with a local group for fun a couple of times a week or you can run on your own too. Cycling now- you can relax your pace from training and maybe explore new places or take up trail riding?

In the winter- many people shift to mostly swimming and putting their bike on a trainer and doing videos etc or attending spinning classes. Again this is the time to put in the easy workouts to improve your cardio over time. I also like to weight train more seriously in the winter. Cross-country skiing is a great sport if you can do it in your area..... I love it! I go 1-2x a week when I have the time. It's one of the best cross training activities with very low impact to your body.

Happy off season - go exploring!!

Heather

Heather,
thanks for your reply.  That is exactly what I was thinking.  It seems to make sense!  I used to cross country ski a lot in high school, I will have to pull out my snow shoes and look into renting some cross country ski's!

I usually get in2 strength training sessions a week, but would like to not be so worn out when doing so!   Once again, thanks for the thoughts!


Edited by cbalzly 2009-07-29 10:27 PM

to keep my cycling fitness i'm planning on racing cyclocross for the first time this fall/winter.

oh and also i do lower the amount of hours up through about march and then i slowly build back into a more full time schedule.

Edited by jtaddei 2009-07-29 10:41 PM

my normal approach looks something like this:

after the season i normally take 1-2 weeks completely off from tri training, or VERY VERY light, just a few workouts in that time (ride with friends, etc)

then i start my weakness focus.

for me this year it will be running (last winter it was swimming).

my last real race is sep 29th, after that two down weeks, then building up the run milage through the winter.
up until new years biking is on the back burning, just when i feel like it, swimming 3-5 days a week easy-ish, workouts generally under 2000m,
running will be 5-6 days a week, building up through next march. will be using a marathon program, just shortening the longer runs a bit. starting in jan the swim will start to build up again to be in full swing by the end of the month, and biking will start 3-4x a week then, full swing by end of jan/mid feb.

milage will increase through feb and longer rides as weather permits.
march i will be back to full time 20 ish hours per week.

for me the time after the season/through early season training is a chance to get thhings going again, and really focus on the things that wear lacking during the season.

My last tri is usually beginning to mid August. After that, I stop swimming altogether until February or so.

I will continue to run and ride until I am done with both races for the season (usually end of September for the bike, beginning/mid-october for the run). I then take October and November off entirely. (I'm not INACTIVE--I still walk the dog, occasionally MTB, canoe, etc., I just am not training)

December I do some unstructured running (no speed work, nothing long distance), occasionally spin on the trainer--but only if and when I feel like it. After Xmas, I resume training in earnest.

Yes, I have a long off season. No, I haven't felt like it has hurt me. I spend too many years training year round, and I like this life a he11 of a lot better :-)

Post IM (Mid September), I'll take 2 weeks of either completely off or very light swimming. No biking or running.

Beginning in October - Resume light running and easy cycling.

November = I begin the Pain Train

16-20 weeks of lifting FTP and Vo2max (pace @) all workouts are killer for biking and running. No easy stuff aside from wu/cd. NO SWIMMING for me until the spring.

The winter means getting fast

Off season is when you really can improve.

Depends on the year but I usually take 2-4 weeks off or light training and it is huge mental break.

Work on your weakness(es), improve swim technique, and train without races getting in the way.

I train pretty much the same 4/5 runs, 3 bikes, 3/4 swims most all year long. Lengths change as I don't do 80 mile rides on the trainer.

There are different approaches of off season training. This year I did mostly zone 2 stuff which seemed very easy. But it helped build my base and I'm stronger on the bike now than in past years where I did hard intervals all winter on the trainer.

I see consistency is the key to tri training and off season can be very productive for you if you train smart.

I'm doing an IM in a month and then will race cyclocross this fall. Not 100% sure how it will go as last year I was pretty fatigued from IM and finally when I took 4 weeks w/ no running, no biking other than 1 cross race, no swimming I felt better. I'm hoping I recover better this year.

Cyclocross Rocks!!! Hardest and most Fun you'll have in 45-60 minutes of racing.

Off season for me ends in December/January, depending on the last cx race, then it's back in the pool 3 days a week and a transition to longer runs and rides up until March.

My approach for this off-season (which is similar to what I have done every off-season) is:

Last tri - probably mid Sept

Off-season - mid Sept until first full week of Nov; I will run 3x/week for at least 30', cycle commute as much as possible and normally swim 1x/week.  I don't really worry about anything except running 3x/week and everything else is based on how I feel.

After that, I will begin doing specific workouts based on each sport until I get back to balanced training; ideally at the first of April (but this depends on the weather).

Swim
Nov - Dec - swim 2-3x/week (coached) for 6-10k per week
Jan - Apr - swim 3-5x/week (at least 3 coached) for 9-15k per week

Bike
Nov - Apr - goal is to lift FTP, VO2max, 1min, 30sec, 10sec and 5sec power in 2-3 trainer sessions of up to sixty minutes (usually between 45-50).  In addition, I will bike commute as much as possible (20k/day) during this time

Run
Nov - early Feb - run 100/100; each run at least 30' and will usually max out around an hour (unless I do a half marathon and then I'll throw in some long runs) with all running at E or M pace (zone 2 or 3).  The plan is to put in 50-70km/week.
Feb - Apr - continue running 7x/week but begin doing some T runs and R paced work.  Volume during this phase will usually stay between 50-60km/week.

Shane

You all are so organized. Impressive.