The Grip By Mark Allen 
I have talked about this before. It is the importance of taking an off-season. This is the time of your year where you actually let yourself decondition, get out of shape a bit, even put on some extra weight and let your logbook have holes in it. This is perhaps the toughest thing for many triathletes to do, but it is as important as your base, speed work and taper. Here are some of the reasons.
The first is that the body just cannot take a high level of endurance training day after day for years on end without paying a price. What this level is will vary from person to person. But the most important ingredient here is that we all need a break. Think about it. From day to day you sleep at night. That is a break. You get sick on occasion. That is a break. Things come up that are unexpected causing some workouts to be missed. This is a break also. Even the trees take a break and lose their leaves in the fall and winter. It is part of the rhythm of life.
What taking a break means will be different for each person. But the take away lesson is that it is a way for your body and mind to charge back up from the output of energy that training takes and the focus you have had during your racing season. Maintaining a strong training program without a real break will indeed have you in better shape than most of your comrades in the early part of the next year, but you will undoubtedly pay the price later in the form of a fitness plateau half way through your year or being just plain burned out before the biggest races come into form.
The second reason that it is important to have an off-season has to do with how a person gains top form. This happens when you vary the training that you do. For example, if a person averages say 30 miles a week running over a year, if they ran 30 miles every week they would be in much worse shape than if they ran 20 on some weeks and 40 on others.
The off-season is a chance to vary that training in a big way with some significantly reduces training time. Total weekly time exercising may only be 25-50% of normal, depending on what normal is. The more you train on a weekly basis in-season the higher the percentage drop you will need to recover effectively.
What You Can Do
The off-season is not a call for feet up and watching the tube all day. It is active recovery time, training that has less to do with trying to be fit, but more with just being active and moving your body. This means that workouts are shorter than normal and should really just be done because you want to be moving your body to take a break from work, reduce stress or just get outside for a while. What you do can also deviate from the regular swim, bike and run workouts.
If you live a cold climate, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are great alternatives. Break out the mountain bike, go for a long hike, or do just about anything that keeps you active without specifically being your three main sports.
The one exception is going to be running. This is the sport that is most important to keep a somewhat regular (but abbreviated) schedule going. The reason is that if you stop running, your joints and ligaments can get "out of shape" and you can risk injury when you return to you normal training. Cycling and swimming are not impact sports and can be given more of a break this time of year.
Enjoy the down time!
Visit MarkAllenOnline Today.
The Importance of an Off-Season
I have talked about this before. It is the importance of taking an off-season. This is the time of your year where you actually let yourself decondition, get out of shape a bit, even put on some extra weight and let your logbook have holes in it. This is perhaps the toughest thing for many triathletes to do, but it is as important as your base, speed work and taper. Here are some of the reasons.The first is that the body just cannot take a high level of endurance training day after day for years on end without paying a price. What this level is will vary from person to person. But the most important ingredient here is that we all need a break. Think about it. From day to day you sleep at night. That is a break. You get sick on occasion. That is a break. Things come up that are unexpected causing some workouts to be missed. This is a break also. Even the trees take a break and lose their leaves in the fall and winter. It is part of the rhythm of life.
What taking a break means will be different for each person. But the take away lesson is that it is a way for your body and mind to charge back up from the output of energy that training takes and the focus you have had during your racing season. Maintaining a strong training program without a real break will indeed have you in better shape than most of your comrades in the early part of the next year, but you will undoubtedly pay the price later in the form of a fitness plateau half way through your year or being just plain burned out before the biggest races come into form.
The second reason that it is important to have an off-season has to do with how a person gains top form. This happens when you vary the training that you do. For example, if a person averages say 30 miles a week running over a year, if they ran 30 miles every week they would be in much worse shape than if they ran 20 on some weeks and 40 on others.
The off-season is a chance to vary that training in a big way with some significantly reduces training time. Total weekly time exercising may only be 25-50% of normal, depending on what normal is. The more you train on a weekly basis in-season the higher the percentage drop you will need to recover effectively.
What You Can Do
The off-season is not a call for feet up and watching the tube all day. It is active recovery time, training that has less to do with trying to be fit, but more with just being active and moving your body. This means that workouts are shorter than normal and should really just be done because you want to be moving your body to take a break from work, reduce stress or just get outside for a while. What you do can also deviate from the regular swim, bike and run workouts.
If you live a cold climate, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are great alternatives. Break out the mountain bike, go for a long hike, or do just about anything that keeps you active without specifically being your three main sports.
The one exception is going to be running. This is the sport that is most important to keep a somewhat regular (but abbreviated) schedule going. The reason is that if you stop running, your joints and ligaments can get "out of shape" and you can risk injury when you return to you normal training. Cycling and swimming are not impact sports and can be given more of a break this time of year.
Enjoy the down time!
Mark Allen
No comments:
Post a Comment