Dear Coach, how should I structure my off-season?
Off season looks different for everyone. What it means to each person can depend on a lot of different factors.
To look at a few;
Age
Depth/length of your season just completed
Mental state
Date of upcoming season 1st race.
Total number of miles and level of fatigue finishing out the season
Family, life and work
Total number of years in the sport
These are just to name a few areas to consider as you look at your off season plans.
If you are looking for a safe guideline to follow that gives you a good idea here is where I’d start;
Take one week off all structured training. Do what feels good. Can be other activities, catching up on life stuff that has been neglected, or really just anything you feel like for a week. The important part is you disconnect and listen to what your body and mind need.
Then a week where you start some basic structure back. Focus on skills, starting some foundation for strength, frequency and keeping is fun, easy and still low key.
Begin at 50-60% of your progressive off season build. You should have an off season structure outlined to work on your weakness and continue to develop as an athlete. It’s time to start the basics towards your progressive off season plan for improvements for the coming season.
Some good activities to consider in your off season might be;
Strength work
Yoga
Agility focused activities that ask you to move in different directions. Challenge your coordination and movement patterns. That might be something like water polo, boxing, soccer, things like this.
Rowing, skiing, and snow shoeing can be great winter activities.
Focused technical work outside your comfort zone. For example if you’re a road rider give mountain biking a try or cyclocross. Cross-country running races are always fun to tackle in the off season or even swim meets where you race another stroke other then freestyle.
In my experience you know when you are ready to resume structured training by how excited and eggar you are mentally to get back to what you love. You do your sport because you love it, it’s your chosen passion, so when that fire and excitement starts to flood your mind and body you know you are ready to get back going.
See more on this topic here: https://www.marilynchychotacoaching.com/library/2018/2/8/your-real-off-season