HOW TO PLAN YOUR OFF-SEASON TRAINING

GET YOUR TRAINING BALANCE RIGHT IN THE AUTUMN/WINTER MONTHS AND YOU'LL REAP THE PERFORMANCE REWARDS NEXT RACE SEASON. PHILIP HATZIS EXPLAINS HOW...

- PHILIP HATZIS

An off-season is when you take a break from regular training. You take the opportunity to recharge your mind and body to regain balance after a busy season of racing before resetting for the next season. Your aim in this period is to lay the foundations for a healthy, athletic lifestyle so that you're mentally and physically fresh for the following season.

Off-season 'performance' is also usually one of the best predictors of long-term endurance success. As a coach, it's easy to identify those athletes who are likely to build year-on-year progression compared to those likely to burn out or miss out on the chance to evolve.

The majority of the UK working population is given 28 days of holiday to help them balance productivity with burnout, stagnation or illness. This principle works with training, too, and follows a similar process of unwinding:

1. Still on: You can't switch off

2. One eye open: You keep sneaking a look at work because you think you need to.

3. Total immersion: You don't know what day it is! You've checked out!

4. Itchy feet: You start looking forward.

The key to a successful off-season is to go through this process, spending enough time through the total immersion period to recharge but not too much that you can't get yourself off the metaphorical sun-lounger!

So how can we best manage our offseason time? Over the page are 10 simple ideas to follow to ensure a successful 'off' period that will help set you up for an even more successful 'on' (race) period.

10 TIPS TO MASTER THE OFF-SEASON

Make these simple tweaks to your mindset and approach to the autumn and winter months of training, and you'll be set up like a champ for the next race season...

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