How to know when to end your race season???
As the weather gets colder and daylight hours get shorter, endurance athletes start thinking about Winter hibernation. How do you know when to end your race season for the year?
There are so many races in the calendar these days that it would be easy to race all year round, swapping to off-road races and trail events in the Winter before heading back to the roads and open water in Spring. But that's not such a good idea, no matter how well you thrive on the thrill of race day. Why should you take a break? And how do you know when it's time to go off-season? Here's my opinion, as an endurance sport coach and an athlete.
The tell-tale signs that's time to stop:
- If you love racing - as most of us do - it might be hard to make the decision to call that your final race of the year. But it's really important to make that call. Don't leave it up to your body to deliver the message via injury or illness.
- You're tired, cold or feeling low
- Your performance has been going down
- Motivation is dropping
- You're not recovering well
- You don't look forward to training or racing
- You feel your life is out of balance
- You're injured or suffering minor aches, pains and sickness
Why take a break from racing? There are so many benefits to having a proper off-season, time off from racing where you concentrate on rest, recovery, training, nutrition, drills, strength and improvements. Here are just some of them:
- Repair and recover: now is a great time to prioritise more rest, better sleep, longer breaks between training sessions, and specific recovery techniques like massage, foam rolling and stretching
- Get stronger: race season takes its toll. Winter is a good time to work on all-round strength and well as sport-specific power particularly in the swim and bike.
- Work on weak points: balance is important for endurance athletes. Use time off from racing to work on addressing weaknesses, imbalances and areas where you're losing power.
- Build pace and speed: once you've recovered from the race season, start bringing in training sessions which focus on building speed and pace to make your next races faster.
- Technique and drills: Winter is a great time to incorporate drills into training, in the pool, on the bike or turbo and even in running. It will pay off next season.
- Enjoy your training: sounds simple, but off season gives you the opportunity to fall in love with training again. Run your favourite off-road route, add yoga to your weekly routine, train with friends or your partner, or swap a run for a good long walk with the dog.
- Down-time and balance: most of us are type-A personalities and give everything to our sport. That's all well and good during race season, but now's the time to redress the balance. Spend more quality time with friends and loved ones, enjoy some meals out, go on holiday.
