HOW TO PLAN YOUR OFF-SEASON
Make 2023 the year that you cement your place at the 2024 Olympics (or similar…) by following our off-season principles…
Ahh, the off-season’s here. That means deep gloom and demotivation… Not a bit of it. This is the time to lay the foundations for 2023 and your best season yet, to try new things and enjoy experimenting. But before you do anything, we implore you to take at least 10-14 days off swim, bike and run training once your last race is complete. Your mind and body will appreciate the refresh. It’s then about understanding your strengths and weaknesses, and that starts with a fitness test across all three disciplines (ideally retest every four to six weeks to gauge progress and to reset zones)…
TRAINING OVERVIEW
With these figures you’ll be able to maximise your heart rate monitor or power monitor, though when it comes to intensity of sessions, broadly you’re looking at bolstering endurance and maintaining speed. That said, you’ve had a hard season so take the pressure off and ensure many of your sessions are at a nice sociable pace.
The aim of the off-season is all about preparation over building extreme fitness. That can wait until 2023. You can even look to cut your normal training load by up to 30% to spend more time with family and friends. This will be good for you socially and, again, will freshen you up to crank up training in the spring. Mind you, be consistent with your training to still enjoy gains.
The off-season is about laying solid ground to absorb higher workloads in the new year, so you’re primed and ready to go. But, of course, there are still specific things you can do across all three disciplines…
INCREASE SWIM TIME
There’s little that’s more embracing than a crisp autumn weekend. There’s also little more draining than torrential rain, day after day. The latter does, however, provide the perfect opportunity to hit the pool. If you can hit the pool at least three times a week, the difference you’ll notice by
Christmas will be significant. You should work on endurance, fatigue-resistance and, most importantly, technique. To that end, it’s worth investing in the full suite of swimming tools – pool buoys, paddles… – and ensuring you feature technique work in every session. This can be easily incorporated into your warm-up.
Throw in some race-specific efforts to both improve open-water technique and to keep the end goal in mind. Many of you will also brave the elements and continue to swim outdoors. If you do, we’d recommend partnering your wetsuit with neoprene gloves, booties and cap to protect you from the elements. See more on page 25.
KEEP ON RIDING
For many, the bike takes the biggest hit during the off-season. Darkness, damp and slippery roads aren’t conducive to regular rides. That said, we’d encourage you to keep on riding outdoors at least once a week. However, you can also try mountain biking. You don’t have the road issues, of course, and it adds much-needed variety. It’s also a great workout as the constant pitches and riding over mud’s far more draining than riding on tarmac.
All that said, it’s worth investing in a smart trainer or even a smart bike. They’ll guarantee you ride, as you can just hop on and they’re great for specific training. The likes of Zwift and RGT add an interesting, competitive edge to your efforts, though have a fan to hand to prevent over-heating.
RELAX, THEN RUN
There are two schools of thought when it comes to running, certainly early in the off-season: either ease your running down to give your legs a rest from the most injury-prone of the three disciplines, or crank it up via off-road running in lieu of less riding. We’re tempted to do both.
Early in the off-season, maybe replace a weekly run session with strength-and- conditioning efforts to bolster your legs for when you do run more. Maybe after a month, increase run time again, though hold onto the strength-and-conditioning work if you have time.
As mentioned, off-road running’s a popular off-season activity as it’s not only fun but also activates numerous muscles that aren’t touched when simply running on the road. Every footstep is different, meaning subtle biomechanical changes to keep on driving forward. This and the softer running surface are credited with making trail running an injury-avoidance alternative to pavement pounding.
The academic and coaching literature around nailing your training and off- season training would take a lifetime to read and digest but, as a guide, the ideas above will hold you in good stead once the cries of Auld Lang Syne have died down.
SWIMMING
Undertake swim GOLF, which measures speed and technique. This is known as your SWOLF score and is easily measured. Swim 50m as hard as you can and ask someone to count your number of strokes. Add that number to your 50m time (in seconds). This is your SWOLF score. As your off- season plan kicks in, your SWOLF score should drop.
CYCLING
Ride flat out for 30mins and start your heart rate monitor 10mins in. Find out your average for the next 20mins. That figure’s an approximation of your lactate threshold (LTHR). Once you have that figure, you can establish your training zones.
RUNNING
Do the same as cycling. With these results, you can also set zones. These range from zone one, which is less than 81% of your LTHR, to zone 5c, which is more than 106% of your LTHR. Coaches employ zones from either one to five or seven, and each corresponds to a parameter of performance, whether it’s speed, strength, stamina or power.