Athletes who have been training for an entire year towards a goal race can have trouble stepping it back after the event is over, and the first week of recovery is done. The temptation to leverage your fitness is pretty high, and the recommended two or three weeks off from training can be difficult to deal with.
Here’s why it’s important to listen to your coach and actually take that time off:
- Your body needs it
- Repetitive motion puts a lot of strain on your body. We all know the importance of rest and recovery!
- Your brain needs it
- Training is not only physically draining, but it can be mentally draining as well. Take some time for yourself and focus on other aspects of your health that you may have been putting off. You may feel even more motivated to get back to your training after having a few weeks off.
- Your family and home life probably needs it
- No matter what distance your training for, you put a lot of time into the workouts you do. It’s important to take a step back and focus on other aspects of your life as well.
During those weeks off, you will likely feel that you are losing all of your fitness gains, getting fat, losing strength, and worst of all…. losing your marbles because you don’t know what to do with yourself.
Here are some strategies for overcoming that line of thinking and feeling:
- Spend that time you have on other self-care such as stretching, rehabilitation exercises, getting a massage or physical therapy
- Learn to cook some new healthy recipes
- Make an action plan for coming back to training. Set a date, have a training plan for your first few weeks back. Know that it may take a week or so to feel strong again, but you will get that speed and endurance back.
When you start training again, consider some alternative types of activities to leverage your fitness. Enjoying different sports with different goals, such as running races, mountain biking, cyclocross or adventure racing can be fun, BUT be mindful of not pushing so hard that you end up injured. You have just spent months preparing to swim/bike/run, and injuries incurred doing something you haven’t trained for can mean months of regaining that functionality before building your strength and endurance again for next season.
Here are some “Do’s” and “Don’ts” for leveraging the gains you’ve made without compromising the start of your next training block.
Do:
- Participate in other sports/activities that you enjoy (hiking, soccer, yoga, etc.)
- Focus on other aspects of your health such as drinking water, stretching, and foam rolling
- Forgive yourself for missing workouts; you have a lot of time to build up for next season!
Don’t:
- Make sure you don’t over train; give your body lots of time to rest and recover!
- Get ahead of yourself; focus on building a plan to stay on track for next season, but don’t try to peak your training right now
- Back off completely; your health is still important! Get in good workouts and keep up on your healthy nutrition
