5 Tips to Nail the Offseason
Written by Jim Levesque, Head Coach at Grit Endurance. Learn more about Coach Jim here!
As most of us shift to the offseason, it’s easy to feel a little lost on what to do next. Here are five simple tips to help you nail the next couple of months:
Take a break
We call the period after your last big race of the season the transition phase. I typically recommend 2-4 weeks for this, where you only do what sounds fun! This allows for both physcial and mental recovery after a long season. You want your motivation to start to come back naturally, don’t force it. You’ll know you’ve nailed it if you are chomping at the bit to get back into training!
Focus on your limiters and become more well-rounded
This is the perfect time to lean into what’s been holding you back the most. It could be extra rehab work to finally get that calf issue under control, or it could be dedicating a block of extra time to leveling up the swim or learning to flip turn. Speaking of, we have a flip turn clinic Nov 7! This is also a great time to work on the areas you’ve been neglecting. Did you just race a 70.3 or Ironman? If so, you’ve likely spent the last 3 months honing primarily just your aerobic endurance, so a block focused on your high end speed and VO2 max could be just what the doctor, or your coach, ordered.
Hit the gym, or take the gym home
Adding a few sessions per week to improve your strength and mobility will make you a better and more durable athlete. And while there is a lot of benefit in lifting heavy weights, you can also see a lot of improvement from simple at home exercises focused on funtion movement patterns. Most injuries are a result of imbalances and the lack of specific muscles firiing, like those pesky glutes, so some simple and easy exercises can go a long way in setting up your next season for success!
Build your aerobic base
Training for endurance sports is like building a house, and the foundation of the house is your aerobic endurance. Toss out the old addage of “no pain, no gain”. There are numerous benefits that happen when training easy, with the most important being mitochondria development, which powers aerobic energy creation in the cells. We still want to work on the upper ends of our house, which are our lactate threshold, VO2 max, and speed, but a majority or our training time during the offseason should be spent working on the foundation.
Dial in the plan
Look back at your season and analyze what worked well and what didn’t. Where have you improved and where are you struggling to improve? Then look ahead and start setting goals for 2027. What events do you want to prioritize? Where do you want to get better? Once you’ve answered those questions, you and/or your coach can build out your Annual Training Plan (ATP) that sets the structure for the year, incorporating everything we’ve already discussed. Cheers to an epic 2027!
If you want help in your journey towards improvement, reach out to us about personal coaching!