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2014-08-26 3:57 PM


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Subject: Off season gains?
Am I the only one who just gets totally confused when it comes to do's and don'ts in triathlon training? I've been training for 4 years and I still can't really make sense of how you should train in the offseason. Some say only work on your base during offseason. Some say do a little bit of fast sessions but don't do much lactate threshold workouts because you risk overtraining or plateauing. If you're only working on your base(which I take as doing long aerobic sessions), can you really get faster for the next season? Then I see these guys who made huge improvements over the winter and they say its because they were doing a lot of group rides which pushes them more. I just see so many different types of workouts and it almost seems like everyone has a different opinion on when to do these and when not to. Is there an actual right and wrong way to train during the offseason or is it just a matter of trial and error for each person? I haven't made much improvement during my last couple of off seasons so I obviously do not know what is right. Should there be a couple of months during everyone's offseason where they take it very easy? I have even read that you have to let yourself get a little bit out of shape in order to make further progress. Can anyone give me an example of an offseason plan that worked well for them? Right now I just go out and run hard sometimes and do different types of trainer rides with varying intensity.


2014-08-26 4:08 PM
in reply to: mchadcota2

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Subject: RE: Off season gains?

Your "base" should be a base of fitness. Not just doing all easy all the time. This will include various types of harder efforts at times for a more well rounded aerobic fitness to build off of. Then as the season approaches you will build off of this base towards whatever type of race you're keying in on with workouts more specific to it.

Since there are 3 sports, some people do back off on one or two of them to really push more on the other.

2014-08-26 4:26 PM
in reply to: brigby1


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nashville, Tennessee
Subject: RE: Off season gains?
Is it the consensus that it is beneficial to take time off and take it easy for a few weeks, therefore losing fitness, at the end of your racing season? I have mostly raced shorter distance in the last few years except for an Ironman which I did in May. So I focused several months on the ironman. After the ironman I took completely off for two weeks and then started training hard for a sprint which was in July. I was very disappointed in my performance at the sprint race and therefore decided maybe I was just burned out. So I wanted to take some time off but then I got concerned that I would lose everything I worked for so I started back including some really hard training days. Any suggestions on what I should do in order to have a better season next year?
2014-08-26 5:08 PM
in reply to: mchadcota2

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Subject: RE: Off season gains?
Originally posted by mchadcota2
Any suggestions on what I should do in order to have a better season next year?


Is getting a coach an option ?
2014-08-26 5:32 PM
in reply to: mchadcota2


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Subject: RE: Off season gains?

I don't know if I am correct, but I go with this.

I'll take 1 month per year where I just do base/maintenance training. I try to not lose fitness, but I want to give my body time to heal up a bit. I've tended to carry a few minor injuries while building and peaking for races.

Otherwise I will peak in all three disciplines for my "A" races, and in between seasons outside of my 1 recovery month I will drop into maintenance mode on 2 disciplines, and focus heavily on one usually for a period of 10 to 12 weeks.

I've only been racing triathlons for just over two years, but have settled into this rhythm, and it seems to be working. I've been doing a summer "A" race, then do a fall run focus, then do a recovery month, then pick a weakness or an area of improvement in one discipline and work on that before ramping up again.

That said, I don't consider maintenance "easy." I still work pretty hard in each sport, just without the volume. I keep up the intensity except perhaps in my 1 recovery month which I guess is for mental rehabilitation as well as physical.
2014-08-26 5:51 PM
in reply to: 0

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Subject: RE: Off season gains?
You have asked some very good question. Unfortunately, the answer to most of the is "it depends". Everyone is different and everyone has different needs in terms of training. IMO, you should determine which of the 3 events is your weakest and work on it. Let's say the bike is where you can improve the most. Keep swimming and running but cut way back on both. Then ride 4-5 x week. Ride, ride ride and when you think you can't ride anymore, go for a ride.

You asked about taking time off. Again, it depends. Some animals can train 12 mo a year and not burn out. Me, I need at least 3 months doing 1/2 of my normal base miles in a very unstructured manner just to get my head straight and my body needs it.

LSD can make you faster (not saying it is necessarily the best way). The best way to improve long term for most people is to train week after week, month after month, year after year. Volume & frequency, mostly slow, is the safest and most effective way to improve without injury for most folks.

Edited by riltri 2014-08-26 5:55 PM


2014-08-26 7:22 PM
in reply to: marcag

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2014-08-26 8:29 PM
in reply to: ImSore

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Subject: RE: Off season gains?
Originally posted by ImSore


I don't know if I am correct, but I go with this.

I'll take 1 month per year where I just do base/maintenance training. I try to not lose fitness, but I want to give my body time to heal up a bit. I've tended to carry a few minor injuries while building and peaking for races.

Otherwise I will peak in all three disciplines for my "A" races, and in between seasons outside of my 1 recovery month I will drop into maintenance mode on 2 disciplines, and focus heavily on one usually for a period of 10 to 12 weeks.

I've only been racing triathlons for just over two years, but have settled into this rhythm, and it seems to be working. I've been doing a summer "A" race, then do a fall run focus, then do a recovery month, then pick a weakness or an area of improvement in one discipline and work on that before ramping up again.

That said, I don't consider maintenance "easy." I still work pretty hard in each sport, just without the volume. I keep up the intensity except perhaps in my 1 recovery month which I guess is for mental rehabilitation as well as physical.


I have been wondering about this as well with off-season around the corner. I think I may try your approach as well and I can tell swimming is where I will set my sights for improvement. Thanks for the post!
2014-08-27 5:30 AM
in reply to: mchadcota2

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Subject: RE: Off season gains?
One problem with figuring out what to do in the off season is that there is so much conflicting information out there that athletes get confused and aren't sure what advice to follow. Some of the advice is good, some has some good mixed in and some is downright terrible.

You will see everything from always train easy at low volumes, always train hard at high volumes, never swim, etc.

First, one thing that you should keep in mind is that there is going to be three phases to your training with a season; off season, pre season and competitive season. The off season will be short (4-8 weeks) and will be unscheduled, doing what you feel. During this time I would try to swim and ride once a week and run three times a week but otherwise, do what you feel. After that, you are into pre season which will be much longer and depends on when you start racing in events that you want to do well in. This is the time to build your fitness to a high level so that when you transition to racing, you can do the last race specific work and have a great result. Finally the competitive season where you will aim to peak for a key race and then either try to hold that peak for a race or two soon after or do another block of training designed to peak for another race.

The key thing you want to pay attention to is that what you do in pre season should be general training - for a triathlete that means you will be training in all three sports (at least to some extent) and with a variety of intensity so that you build your general fitness. Depending on the sport, you may focus more on higher intensity (swim and bike usually) and less on volume or you might focus on lower intensity (run usually) and more on volume. Through this period you may also want to pick your weakest event and focus on that for 6-8 weeks; so perhaps you run 3x/week, ride 2x/week and swim 6x/week with the goal of getting faster in the water. Then test at the end of the block and decide whether to continue focusing on that sport or switch to a different one.

Finally as the competitive season approaches, you will look at a block of training where you take your general fitness and aim to translate that into the specific needs of your race (lots of L2 for IM, lots of L4 for short course).

Shane
2014-08-27 9:12 AM
in reply to: gsmacleod

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Subject: RE: Off season gains?

I believe in keeping things simple and uncomplicated.  Swim....a lot. Your body will thank you and your overall race will improve..... and you know you won't take the time to swim enough during the season.  If your ambition is a podium of any flavor you won't get there anymore without a decent swim, and there really can't be any whining about time constraints in the "off-season".

2014-08-27 9:50 AM
in reply to: gsmacleod


439
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nashville, Tennessee
Subject: RE: Off season gains?
Originally posted by gsmacleod

One problem with figuring out what to do in the off season is that there is so much conflicting information out there that athletes get confused and aren't sure what advice to follow. Some of the advice is good, some has some good mixed in and some is downright terrible.

You will see everything from always train easy at low volumes, always train hard at high volumes, never swim, etc.

First, one thing that you should keep in mind is that there is going to be three phases to your training with a season; off season, pre season and competitive season. The off season will be short (4-8 weeks) and will be unscheduled, doing what you feel. During this time I would try to swim and ride once a week and run three times a week but otherwise, do what you feel. After that, you are into pre season which will be much longer and depends on when you start racing in events that you want to do well in. This is the time to build your fitness to a high level so that when you transition to racing, you can do the last race specific work and have a great result. Finally the competitive season where you will aim to peak for a key race and then either try to hold that peak for a race or two soon after or do another block of training designed to peak for another race.

The key thing you want to pay attention to is that what you do in pre season should be general training - for a triathlete that means you will be training in all three sports (at least to some extent) and with a variety of intensity so that you build your general fitness. Depending on the sport, you may focus more on higher intensity (swim and bike usually) and less on volume or you might focus on lower intensity (run usually) and more on volume. Through this period you may also want to pick your weakest event and focus on that for 6-8 weeks; so perhaps you run 3x/week, ride 2x/week and swim 6x/week with the goal of getting faster in the water. Then test at the end of the block and decide whether to continue focusing on that sport or switch to a different one.

Finally as the competitive season approaches, you will look at a block of training where you take your general fitness and aim to translate that into the specific needs of your race (lots of L2 for IM, lots of L4 for short course).

Shane


Ok this is what creates the confusion. I've been training for a few years and have read ALOT. I could repeat all of this you have said because this is the kind of stuff I have read over the years. But its all a lot of triathlon jargon that when it comes down to it, doesn't tell someone how to achieve anything. For example, you say the offseason is where you just do nothing structured and just do what you feel. Well what I feel like doing is busting my because I want to make some gains. But apparently that's a bad idea. Then you say the preseason is where you want to get your fitness to a high level. I take that to mean, bust your and train hard and get very fast. But you don't want to get your fitness too high because you might "overtrain or peak too early." So what do you mean get your fitness to a high level? Do you mean "you want to get fast but not TOO fast?" And what is different about doing race specific work vs getting your fitness to a high level? When I hear race specific, I think "Go out and do the distance of the race as hard as you can to simulate the race. " You said in the competitive season you want to take your general fitness and translate that to specific needs of the race. What is considered "general fitness?" Is there a point in your training where you notice "Ok my general fitness is there. " And what would that be? Does general fitness vs race specific needs just translate to "kinda fast to real fast"? I guess what I'm saying is someone could take everything you said and think "ok that sounds good" but when it comes time to execute a plan, they have no idea what to do. Is it as simple as training harder and harder as the season progresses? Can you give me some examples of the types of workouts one would NOT want to do during off season or preseason?


2014-08-27 10:12 AM
in reply to: mchadcota2


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Subject: RE: Off season gains?

He defines "off season" as a 4 to 8 week break. I prefer 4 weeks, but some people need more, to charge mental batteries, as well as let their body heal up.

A good table I like to refer to is in the book "Jack Daniels Running Formula." It shows VDOT adjustments for training breaks. 28 days off, while including some similar training (SBR in our case) results in only a 3.5% decrease in VDOT, which isn't an incredible amount, but the benefits from giving the mind and body rest in my opinion is far greater than any fitness gains you could have in that time.

Outside of that, he defines a "pre season," which is your base into build. Your volume will not be peaking, so you will have time to get some good training done in say 2 of the sports, but really have time to focus on one.

Whereas in the competitive season, you are pretty much building to your peak volume, while also adding in "specificity training" in which some of your workouts, or parts of your workouts will be at the same paces/efforts as your goal race. For example, for a marathon training plan nearing its peak, you may run an 18 mile training run, but only 10 to 12 miles at marathon effort. So its not doing the distance and intensity, just the intensity over shorter distance.

I guess I've done similar in my own training, but this is a nice structured way to look at it.
2014-08-27 10:27 AM
in reply to: mchadcota2

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Subject: RE: Off season gains?
Off season - following your competitive season, do what you feel. Should be almost all easy and fun. No schedule, no structure but stay active. This is a short period of 4-8 weeks.

Pre season - if you are going to do a sport focus, then the other two sports are in maintenance mode (say 2x/week swim or bike, 3x/week run). Test the sport(s) you are going to be working on and then work hard. For example, if you are going to be working on the swim, get a baseline and then start swimming hard 5-6x/week. At least 3000m everytime you get in the pool and do lots of work around threshold pace. Do some training faster than threshold pace and mostly keep the easy stuff for warmup and cooldown. Lots of 25s, 50s, 75s, 100s on short rest with some 200-400s thrown in. Or swim with masters and make it your goal to move up a lane (or more). Then test again after 6 weeks or so. Switch sports if you've made the progress you want or repeat for another six weeks.

Similar approach on the bike; easy for warmups and cooldown but the rest should be pretty hard and focused on FTP and VO2max. Lots of short intervals (5 minutes or less with about equal rest) and threshold (5-30 minutes with rest being 25% or so of the work interval). If you want to do a longer ride, then you would aim to have most time around sweet spot (high L3, low L4) or tempo (L3). Again, six weeks, test and go from there.

For the run its a little different as you need to be more careful with intensity so I would look at running 5-6x/week, one long of about 25% of weekly volume, one threshold run and then strides on one or two other runs. Again, test to start and after six weeks.

For all, you are building general fitness when you see your threshold pace/power improve. Regardless of what distance you are racing, in the pre season having you threshold pace/power be as high as possible is the best indication of race success.

Competitive season - now your plan revolves around taking your threshold pace/power and getting ready for the demands on racing. So if you are racing IM your long efforts (mostly L2) will be key and while you will still do some threshold, any supra threshold work is best left off the schedule. If 70.3, then it would be more tempo focused again with some threshold probably still included. For short course, the threshold work would be key, probably some supra threshold will still be part of the training but other efforts would be easy.

Shane
2014-08-27 10:59 AM
in reply to: mchadcota2

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Subject: RE: Off season gains?
Originally posted by mchadcota2
Can you give me some examples of the types of workouts one would NOT want to do during off season or preseason?


It is a lot more complicated than "swim more" or "what workouts should I do"

A "good workout" is better if it's targeted at the type of change/improvement we are trying to achieve

For example, on the bike, you can work your VO2 (z5ish), Threshold (z4 ish) and aerobic zones. If you are racing IM, that aerobic zone is more race specific and you should work on closer to race time. So if you divide you season into say 10 weeks blocks, maybe focus on VO2 in the winter, Threshold early spring and Z2 as you get closer to race. This does mean you don't work the others at all during the other blocks but you target one more within a given block. This is just an example.

Add the complexity of the other two sports. Add the complexity that winter/snow/ice throws in. Z2 work takes a lot of time, not ideal on a trainer. This makes the above more palatable

Add on your weakness and strength. If you are a weak runner, a block of high frequency/low intensity in the winter may allow to build a solid run foundation. Does it mean 0 speed work ? maybe, maybe not. Depends on how good a running base you have. Should it be used to prepare for speed work in the next block ? Probably. BTW, BarryP does explain how to do his plan based on cycles.

Add on the complexity of adding the right amount of incremental training load. Too much and you will hurt yourself, burn out. Too little and you won't improve as quickly. The right load is not trivial.

Just saying "train more" will may you faster. It may also injure you.

Building the optimal plan is what coaches are supposed to know what to do.

BTW, a hard look of what you have done, what worked, what didn't is key to setting a plan moving forward

IMO


2014-08-27 11:55 AM
in reply to: gsmacleod


439
10010010010025
nashville, Tennessee
Subject: RE: Off season gains?
Originally posted by gsmacleod

Off season - following your competitive season, do what you feel. Should be almost all easy and fun. No schedule, no structure but stay active. This is a short period of 4-8 weeks.

Pre season - if you are going to do a sport focus, then the other two sports are in maintenance mode (say 2x/week swim or bike, 3x/week run). Test the sport(s) you are going to be working on and then work hard. For example, if you are going to be working on the swim, get a baseline and then start swimming hard 5-6x/week. At least 3000m everytime you get in the pool and do lots of work around threshold pace. Do some training faster than threshold pace and mostly keep the easy stuff for warmup and cooldown. Lots of 25s, 50s, 75s, 100s on short rest with some 200-400s thrown in. Or swim with masters and make it your goal to move up a lane (or more). Then test again after 6 weeks or so. Switch sports if you've made the progress you want or repeat for another six weeks.

Similar approach on the bike; easy for warmups and cooldown but the rest should be pretty hard and focused on FTP and VO2max. Lots of short intervals (5 minutes or less with about equal rest) and threshold (5-30 minutes with rest being 25% or so of the work interval). If you want to do a longer ride, then you would aim to have most time around sweet spot (high L3, low L4) or tempo (L3). Again, six weeks, test and go from there.

For the run its a little different as you need to be more careful with intensity so I would look at running 5-6x/week, one long of about 25% of weekly volume, one threshold run and then strides on one or two other runs. Again, test to start and after six weeks.

For all, you are building general fitness when you see your threshold pace/power improve. Regardless of what distance you are racing, in the pre season having you threshold pace/power be as high as possible is the best indication of race success.

Competitive season - now your plan revolves around taking your threshold pace/power and getting ready for the demands on racing. So if you are racing IM your long efforts (mostly L2) will be key and while you will still do some threshold, any supra threshold work is best left off the schedule. If 70.3, then it would be more tempo focused again with some threshold probably still included. For short course, the threshold work would be key, probably some supra threshold will still be part of the training but other efforts would be easy.

Shane

I guess what it boils down to is everybody has a different approach to training. There must be no right or wrong. I had a coach for about a year to train me for my ironman this past May. I was doing a lot of high intensity training throughout the whole plan. There was no focusing on zone 2 long efforts. My long bike rides had lots of hard 5 min, 10 min, 20 min intervals. I did ALOT of short 2 min HARD, 1 min easy run workouts throughout the whole plan. So when I did a sprint not long after my IM and did not do as well as I hoped, the standard comment was "well you have trained for long distance for the past 9 months." I don't think that's a good explanation because I did SO much really hard interval workouts. Bike workouts with 5 min hard 4 min hard 3 min hard 2 min hard with 1 min rest between. Run workouts with LOTS of speed work. So I didn't really understand why that wouldn't help me with short distance too. I was pleased with my ironman performance but still feel like my short distance should have improved as well.
2014-08-27 12:13 PM
in reply to: mchadcota2

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Subject: RE: Off season gains?

"Right and wrong" may be a bit simplistic, but there is most definitely more and less effective. Also, terms like "ALOT" or "HARD" can be difficult to use without some sort of quantification. Was anything based off of a test or race? Like for running, did you ever do a 5k or 10k and base training paces off that? Was heartrate involved at all?

I'm speculating here, but think from past threads you've been time limited? In which case the coach may have stepped up the intensity of the workouts more to at least partially compensate for lack of time. Also, the sprint may not have gone so well if it wasn't far enough past the Ironman. I think it was a month? That may or may not be enough. Were you back to being able to consistently executing stronger workouts? And doing so at a level like prior to the race? It's really not abnormal for people to take longer than a month to really get back in their groove.



2014-08-27 12:23 PM
in reply to: mchadcota2

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Subject: RE: Off season gains?
Originally posted by mchadcota2

Originally posted by gsmacleod

Off season - following your competitive season, do what you feel. Should be almost all easy and fun. No schedule, no structure but stay active. This is a short period of 4-8 weeks.

Pre season - if you are going to do a sport focus, then the other two sports are in maintenance mode (say 2x/week swim or bike, 3x/week run). Test the sport(s) you are going to be working on and then work hard. For example, if you are going to be working on the swim, get a baseline and then start swimming hard 5-6x/week. At least 3000m everytime you get in the pool and do lots of work around threshold pace. Do some training faster than threshold pace and mostly keep the easy stuff for warmup and cooldown. Lots of 25s, 50s, 75s, 100s on short rest with some 200-400s thrown in. Or swim with masters and make it your goal to move up a lane (or more). Then test again after 6 weeks or so. Switch sports if you've made the progress you want or repeat for another six weeks.

Similar approach on the bike; easy for warmups and cooldown but the rest should be pretty hard and focused on FTP and VO2max. Lots of short intervals (5 minutes or less with about equal rest) and threshold (5-30 minutes with rest being 25% or so of the work interval). If you want to do a longer ride, then you would aim to have most time around sweet spot (high L3, low L4) or tempo (L3). Again, six weeks, test and go from there.

For the run its a little different as you need to be more careful with intensity so I would look at running 5-6x/week, one long of about 25% of weekly volume, one threshold run and then strides on one or two other runs. Again, test to start and after six weeks.

For all, you are building general fitness when you see your threshold pace/power improve. Regardless of what distance you are racing, in the pre season having you threshold pace/power be as high as possible is the best indication of race success.

Competitive season - now your plan revolves around taking your threshold pace/power and getting ready for the demands on racing. So if you are racing IM your long efforts (mostly L2) will be key and while you will still do some threshold, any supra threshold work is best left off the schedule. If 70.3, then it would be more tempo focused again with some threshold probably still included. For short course, the threshold work would be key, probably some supra threshold will still be part of the training but other efforts would be easy.

Shane

I guess what it boils down to is everybody has a different approach to training. There must be no right or wrong. I had a coach for about a year to train me for my ironman this past May. I was doing a lot of high intensity training throughout the whole plan. There was no focusing on zone 2 long efforts. My long bike rides had lots of hard 5 min, 10 min, 20 min intervals. I did ALOT of short 2 min HARD, 1 min easy run workouts throughout the whole plan. So when I did a sprint not long after my IM and did not do as well as I hoped, the standard comment was "well you have trained for long distance for the past 9 months." I don't think that's a good explanation because I did SO much really hard interval workouts. Bike workouts with 5 min hard 4 min hard 3 min hard 2 min hard with 1 min rest between. Run workouts with LOTS of speed work. So I didn't really understand why that wouldn't help me with short distance too. I was pleased with my ironman performance but still feel like my short distance should have improved as well.


Sounds like he had you doing a lot of VO2 work, which is not conducive to an Ironman. Keep in mind that one single performance cannot define your training. Were you adequately recovered from the Ironman before you restarted training? How was this measured, communicated? Did you just rest for 2 weeks? Lots of good stuff posted already to read and listen to,
2014-08-27 3:43 PM
in reply to: ImSore


439
10010010010025
nashville, Tennessee
Subject: RE: Off season gains?
Originally posted by ImSore


I don't know if I am correct, but I go with this.

I'll take 1 month per year where I just do base/maintenance training. I try to not lose fitness, but I want to give my body time to heal up a bit. I've tended to carry a few minor injuries while building and peaking for races.

Otherwise I will peak in all three disciplines for my "A" races, and in between seasons outside of my 1 recovery month I will drop into maintenance mode on 2 disciplines, and focus heavily on one usually for a period of 10 to 12 weeks.

I've only been racing triathlons for just over two years, but have settled into this rhythm, and it seems to be working. I've been doing a summer "A" race, then do a fall run focus, then do a recovery month, then pick a weakness or an area of improvement in one discipline and work on that before ramping up again.

That said, I don't consider maintenance "easy." I still work pretty hard in each sport, just without the volume. I keep up the intensity except perhaps in my 1 recovery month which I guess is for mental rehabilitation as well as physical.


So you do one month of base/maintenance training and try not to lose fitness. Does this mean you are only doing easy training? You want to give your body time to heal up which I take to me you are taking it easy. Would you not HAVE to lose fitness in order to do that? Do you mean you try not to lose a lot of fitness?
2014-08-27 4:34 PM
in reply to: mchadcota2

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Subject: RE: Off season gains?

There are certainly a lot of ways to look at this.  For me, I use the off season to explore different things which have a focus on one of the disciplines while maintaining some level of fitness in the other areas.  Two years ago, I decided I wanted to focus on improving my swimming.  I put in more days in the pool and had several coaching sessions that gave me specific things to work on.  Last year, I went a big run focus.  Started with studying Jack Daniel's training principles and followed one of his plans.  During this time frame I also got into some heavy duty trail running and did some trail races.  It was a lot of fun and gave me a tremenous improvement in my running strength which I benefited from greatly through the season.  This next year, I'm going to go on more of a cycling focus and do some cyclocross racing.  Never done it before but looks like a lot of fun.   When I go on this focuses I also hook up more with pure runners, cyclists, and swimmers.  I've learned a lot from them and they have challenged me to raise my game just so I can keep up. 

2014-08-27 4:49 PM
in reply to: mchadcota2


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Subject: RE: Off season gains?
Originally posted by mchadcota2

Originally posted by ImSore


I don't know if I am correct, but I go with this.

I'll take 1 month per year where I just do base/maintenance training. I try to not lose fitness, but I want to give my body time to heal up a bit. I've tended to carry a few minor injuries while building and peaking for races.

Otherwise I will peak in all three disciplines for my "A" races, and in between seasons outside of my 1 recovery month I will drop into maintenance mode on 2 disciplines, and focus heavily on one usually for a period of 10 to 12 weeks.

I've only been racing triathlons for just over two years, but have settled into this rhythm, and it seems to be working. I've been doing a summer "A" race, then do a fall run focus, then do a recovery month, then pick a weakness or an area of improvement in one discipline and work on that before ramping up again.

That said, I don't consider maintenance "easy." I still work pretty hard in each sport, just without the volume. I keep up the intensity except perhaps in my 1 recovery month which I guess is for mental rehabilitation as well as physical.


So you do one month of base/maintenance training and try not to lose fitness. Does this mean you are only doing easy training? You want to give your body time to heal up which I take to me you are taking it easy. Would you not HAVE to lose fitness in order to do that? Do you mean you try not to lose a lot of fitness?


Try not to lose a lot of fitness. I do not "take a month off." Again, referring to that table in Daniels Running Formula, if you do no similar training (no SBR for us), you lose approximately 7% VDOT over 28 days, as opposed to half of that if you keep up some level of training.

So for me for example, in season run training would include interval training, threshold runs, hill repeats, long runs...etc.., up to about 75 mpw, depending on where I am at in the season, but during my off season month, I'll run maybe 30 mpw, all more or less at an easy/recovery pace. I am certainly not gaining fitness, and am losing it to some extent, but not as fast as if I just took the month off completely.

I've referred to this as my "recovery month" for mental/physical rehab. "Off season" works as well.

Again, this is me. I am sure depending on other factors including age or injuries, a longer off season may be necessary.

2014-08-28 9:32 AM
in reply to: mchadcota2


439
10010010010025
nashville, Tennessee
Subject: RE: Off season gains?
I was reading an article yesterday about offseason training. One of the points in the article was "don't be a January national champion." He was saying that when he would hear someone talk about a great ride or great set of repeats they had, he would use that quote. He was saying that you more than likely will not be able to maintain that type of fitness throughout the whole season so why not save it for when it counts. Now I take from that that you should not be making any gains in speed during the offseason, and if you are, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. But of course another article was talking about types of workouts to do during the winter to increase your power, speed, etc. Very contradictory to me. So, should you not try to improve during the winter? And when I say improve, I mean get faster. If I'm out doing some intervals and notice that I seem to running them faster than usual, should I be concerned? Or if I notice my 20 mi TT getting faster, should I be concerned if that is happening during the winter?


2014-08-28 9:48 AM
in reply to: mchadcota2

Champion
9407
500020002000100100100100
Montague Gold Mines, Nova Scotia
Subject: RE: Off season gains?
After your last race, take a short (4-8 weeks) off season where you do mostly easy workouts as you feel. There will be some detaining during this time.

Then you start your training to get ready for the next competitive season - you don't want to have your fitness peak in January but that doesn't mean you won't see progress. Build your training load, build your fitness and you should see a consistent improvement in power/pace at threshold. Having a great workout in January doesn't mean you are peaking and getting faster through your pre-season is exactly what you want.

Peaking is not something that most athletes can do by mistake - if you train properly (with a variety of intensities) through the pre season, you will test, train properly based on the testing, retest, repeat. It will be a gradual climb where you get fitter before you get ready for your specific race(s).

Shane
2014-08-28 9:59 AM
in reply to: mchadcota2

Master
10208
50005000100100
Northern IL
Subject: RE: Off season gains?

I take it to mean it was talking about peaking, as Shane described, and also about watching out for traps such as always trying to beat the last workout. Train appropriately for the goals of the workout and you should continue to see fitness progress. Having great days is fine, but doing a little less the next time around isn't necessarily a bad thing either.

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