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Training in the Off Season – Getting Back Into It! by Paul Regensburg

As the warm light summer days leave us and we move toward into cooler fall and winter climates we begin to start thinking of how to prepare for next race season. Good goal setting is the first step to really utilize this early season and make it meaningful and give it purpose. With the right training plan the fall and winter season are an excellent time to build your aerobic capacity, efficiency, strength, skills, and go after your weakest discipline.

Keys to Success for Training in the Off Season:

1. Be Recovered from this Race Season

After your final key event of the race season plan to take 3-6 weeks off of your normal training regime. This time should be used to focus on letting your body fully recover. This season recovery period is a critical part in the supercompensation principal of overload and recovery that will allow you to take it to the next level. It also allows for time to heal any nagging injuries and will give you a good mental break. Use this time to focus on other important areas of your life such as family, friends, work, and that garage that needs to be cleaned! You should always keep some activity in your life and as you move towards the end of this recovery period you can start to bring your training back in with the following guidelines:

Active recovery guidelines:

• 50% of your normal volume
• 50% of your frequency
• 75% of normal intensity
• Substitute other sports or activities
• Spend time with family
• Get caught up on other areas of your life
• Do this all guilt-free
  These same guidelines apply for taking recovery during the training and racing season.

2. Get a Coach!

Invest in a coach that can assist you in determining the right goals that can be used to develop an annual training plan. During your season recovery period you should complete an annual review. This review will then allow you to accomplish the following key pieces of information for your path to success:

1. Set goals for the next season
2. Select events to realize these goals
3. Formulate an annual training plan

The annual training plan will include training volumes, frequencies and intensities that will give your training a purpose and yield results. A good coach will formulate this training around the events that you will like to participate in, along with your personal goals and your lifestyle. The coach will help you with the process goals and the outcome goals of key events will take care off themselves. With three disciplines, you have enough to worry about – let a coach give you the tools to help guide you to success.

3. Avoiding Injury and Overtraining

When it is time to being your training again be sure to ease back gradually in to your regime. Take your recovery seriously, even at this time of the year - one of the biggest factors of too much training in the early season is that the athlete will not take proper recovery. The only time that you get faster or stronger is when you are recovering - listen to your body; it will tell you if you are training too much. Signs of overtraining often include:

• Being lethargic and chronically fatigued
• Loss of motivation
• Slower recovery times, achy muscles and joints
• Injury
• Moodiness
• Illness
• Decreased performance and increased perceived efforts during workouts
• Loss of Sleep
• Elevated morning Heart Rate

4. Build in Sport Specific Training Phases for your Weakness

Most athletes will follow a traditional training regime in the off-season of building base for extended periods of time. Building base at this time of year is ideal because you will increase your aerobic capacity and the ability for your body to facilitate work at threshold intensities later on. However, we have discovered that well-placed sport specific phases can really help your overall improvement by making a significant impact to one of the disciplines that you may give you the best improvement to your overall result. It can also be much more motivation that working on your base for 4-5 months!

Generally, your early season training should be set up as follows:

• 3-week cycles to start, focusing on volume, followed by with 1 week of active recovery, lower HR work to build aerobic capacity, heavy skill work for efficiency, strength conditioning is well placed here
• 2-week cycles later in the base season; focusing on frequency and efforts with controlled intensity, follow with 1 week active recovery
• After 3 cycles take 2-3 weeks of active recovery
• If you are interested in a sport specific phase you may want to consider 1x 3wk cycle to build base, then 2x 2 week cycles to increase the intensity in the sport (all with 1 week of active recovery between)

For a Sport Specific Training Phase:

• Try to increase the frequency of the targeted discipline to 4-5 sessions / week
• Increase the technical and skill work in this discipline
• Decrease the other disciplines to 1-2 sessions / week (you will lose very little fitness in these disciplines)
• When you move closer to race season adopt a more tradition balanced schedule – this will bring back your fitness in other disciplines

If you plan your off-season training well you will really enjoy this time of the year. Training with a plan and a purpose will keep you motivated, fit, and you’ll see your goals realized next race season.

Paul Regensburg is an Olympic, Pan Am, and Commonwealth Games Coach and Manager. Contact Paul at Coach@LifeSport.ca or visit www.LifeSport.ca for coaching questions and inquiries.