Making the best of the off-season

The bicep femoris, right leg, anterior view. My pain is mostly concentrated in the area where the B.F. wraps around the outside of the knee and connects into the calf area. This is the same injury I had last winter. Apparently, a weakness.

 I’ve been involuntarily thrust into off-season due to the aggravation of my bicep femoris (one of my hamstrings) during the Vermont 50 several weeks ago. 

My initial reaction to off season? It’s hell on earth. It’s a prison. It’s worse than being dipped in hot tar and feathered. Okay, maybe not the last one.  Suffice to say, I don’t enjoy this part of the annual training plan. But, that type of thinking is not very positive or productive. So, I’m turning this frown upside down, and I’m going to make the best of this early entré of off season. 

It is my hope that you may find these suggestions useful as you prepare to enter your off-season following your final race of the season (mine would have been October 17…). If you don’t race, you may also find it useful to plan your fitness regimen in phases to allow proper building and rest.   

Periodization & the Annual Training Plan 

Let’s begin with the basics. John and I follow the principles of a periodization training plan, in which the year is divided into segments, and the intensity, duration and volume of training is based upon how far out our top priority races might be. This is the approach to training favored by well-known triathlon coach Joe Friel, the author of the Triathlete’s Training Bible (if you are a triathlete and don’t have a copy – you should.). He didn’t create the concepts associated with periodization, but he has certainly popularized it in the world of triathlon. I think this periodization approach can (and should?) be adopted with good effect by runners – or any athlete, for that matter. 

In an annual training plan there are several “periods”: 1) transition, 2) prep, 3) base, 4) build and 5) peak/taper. The transition period is where I’ve been hamstringed, about three weeks earlier than I wanted to be. 

In other words: It’s the “off-season” for me. 

Transition is that period of time between the conclusion of the racing season and the time when training will resume for the next season. This period can last anywhere from 6 weeks to four months, depending upon the length of your race season and the time needed for recovery and transition. In Joe Friel & Gordon Byrn’s book Going Long, the authors say that transition can last anywhere from 6 weeks to 4 months. Originally, I had planned for 2 months of “down time.” Now, it will be 3 months. And,  I’ve already served 3 weeks of my sentence in this prison–uh, I mean, experienced 3 weeks of transition time. 

Rather than mope–okay, maybe I’ve done a little bit of moping–transition time can be put to many productive uses. 

Work on your weakness. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know what my weakness is: cycling. Since I injured myself, I’ve been cycling 4-5 times a week. Unlike training, however, I don’t have the pressure of certain times or paces or heart rate zones or power. Instead, I can concentrate on the basics: pedaling efficiency, economy, bike handling, and so on. And, it helps that spending this time on the bike is helping me to maintain my bike fitness and endurance. Is it Ironman race ready? No, but it’s not supposed to be right now. 

Whatever your weakness is, transition  and prep periods are a good time to focus in on it and work on your skills, efficiency, and economy. Who knows, maybe after all that time in the saddle I might actually start to enjoy cycling?  

Go naked. Transition time should not resemble formal training, so it is not the time to worry about time or pace. It is a great time, however, to reinvigorate your love of the sport. Leave the garmin and heart rate monitor at home. Going for a ride, or a run or a swim without worrying about time or pace is a great way to reintroduce the basic reasons why you love your sport. Sometimes, our over-reliance and use of gizmos and gadgets takes away from the pure simplicity of moving forward under your body’s own power. 

Find your cardio fix somewhere else. Believe it or not, there are other types of cardiovascular exercise beyond swimming, biking and running. I know – I was surprised to hear that as well ;). There’s kayaking, and hiking, and skiing, and dancing, and well – you get the point. Transition is the perfect time to indulge yourself in other hobbies. A member of a local fitness club, I’ve also found that there are cardio machines, such as the elliptical or the stair climber, that help to keep my running ativan muscles ready for my eventual return to the roads.   

Strength Training. I’ve been forced into an early off-season because of my ongoing inconsistency with strength training–especially those areas that I KNOW are weaknesses, like my ankles, my hamstrings and my calves. So, with new resolve, I’ve been including strength training 3 times a week. This includes a well-rounded total body regimen that builds in phases. I’m following the strength training plan described in Friel & Byrn’s Going Long, which starts with what they call “anatomical adaptation 1.” During this phase, you are re-introducing your body to the demands of strength training. Because it’s been a while since I’ve done regular strength work, I thought this was a good place to start. AA1 includes a mix of various exercises for upper and lower body and the core. You use light weights, but high reps (25) and 1-2 sets per exercise. 

After about 2-3 weeks on this phase (I’m in week 2 right now), I’ll move on to Anatomical Adaptation 2, which increases the intensity while working on building a muscle base. This includes similar exercises from the previous phase, but with slightly heavier weights, 15-20 reps, and 2 sets per exercise. There are two more phases to this plan: Anatomical Adaptation 3 and Maximum Strength. Each of these phases increases the intensity, while making the exercises specific to triathlon training. The weights get heavier, the reps reduce (6-10), the sets go up to 4. 

When I go to the gym, I bring my strength workout with me, including weight information, reps, ordering and so forth. This saves me time and keeps me focused. The specific exercises I’ve been doing include: 

  • Lower body: squats, leg press, knee extension, hamstring curl, calf raises, clamshells
  • Upper body: lat pulldown, straight-arm pulldown, seated row, tricep dips, tricep extension, bicep curls, shoulder raises (military press, lateral & front). Sometimes, I will do the tricep extensions, bicep curls and shoulder raises on a bosu ball to improve my balance and core strength.
  • Back arches, supermans & other exercises designed to strengthen lower back
  • Core: I try to mix up the core work as much as possible. I get ideas for core exercises from Active.com, beginnertriathlete.com, runnersworld.com, and the various magazines we subscribe to, such as Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, Running Times, Lava, Ultra Running, Trail Runner.  I keep lists of core exercises and then pick and choose for each work out. Another tip: In between sets of the other exercises, I will do a set of core work. For example, if I am doing 2 sets of squats, I will do a set of bicycle pumps in between the squat sets. This helps keep my HR slightly elevated – and it’s also a time saver.

If you don’t have access to a gym for strength training, that’s okay! You can do a great deal of strength training right from home – and without any equipment. The sites I’ve listed above include great workouts to do from home. Just a brief list of exercises you can do from home include: pushups, wall sits, partial squats, calf raises (off a stair–your own body weight is plenty!), tricep dips (off a chair), a variety of core exercises, and so on. If you invest in a few dumbells, you can do almost everything listed above. 

Reintroduce a balanced life. During late base and build phases of training, the weekly training volume averages about 15 hours a week, and includes several 20-22 hour plans. In other words, during prime training time, the house doesn’t get cleaned as well, the yard work takes a pass, and your friends think you have turned into a recluse. Transition time is an excellent phase to bring some balance back to your life, a time when you remember you do other things besides run, or bike, or swim. 

John and I have been getting things done around the house, such as splitting and stacking firewood (another great cross-trainer!), straightening up the garage (yard sale!), and so on. I’ve been going on those doctor check-ups I put off for several months. I’m making phone calls and plans with friends, rekindling relationships with family, and having a good time on the weekend, without worrying about a 5 hour bike or a 3 hour run. Okay, maybe I miss the long runs. But, the long bike rides? They can wait 🙂 

If you are a type-A personality like me, the off-season can lead to feelings of anxiousness, guilt, and concern about weight gain. Rather than focus on my fears, however, I’m trying to stay positive. I’ve put my body through a great deal of training and racing stress over the past 9 months. It’s time to let my body put itself back together so I can go after it even harder and faster next year.

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