Transitioning into the off season...........what are you doing?

Training
#1

So summer is just about over this probably gets discussed every year, but what is everyone’s plan for going into the off season?

Do you keep training in the same fashion as you have all summer?
Do you start to taper it down?
Have a total break from cycling?

I’m contemplating taking a full 2 weeks off the bike (absolutely ZERO time on the bike) from a position where I’ve consistently trained 6 days a week since last October. I am then planning to go into my SSB training at the beginning of this October.

Would be interesting to get a feel of what others do or planning on doing…

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#2

I started heading into being somewhat overtrained, fatigued and stuck on the same FTP, so started my ‘off-season’ a little early and did;

1 full week off the bike - then dropped the TSS in half for 2-3 weeks and started riding for fun and outdoors in the sun as much as possible (before it is gone).

I’m now looking to introduced strength and running.

I quite fancy a change over winter and hope to do 3x cycle, 2-3x run and 2-3x strength most weeks. The strength is quite simple, planks, press ups, stretches, etc. and only takes 15 minutes, usually after a run.

edit: to add, I’ll likely start a base tri plan (minus swimming) soon.

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#3

I’ve already abandoned all stretching and core work, increased my cake intake to a point where I’m disgusted with myself and treat mirrors like I’m a vampire, and taken a week off the bike (well, I went out for 45 minutes and came back early due to cake related high heart rate). So it looks like I’m going to be starting a new training plan a bit earlier than expected!

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#4

My off season came in June…then July and some of August… :joy: Not having my normal summer race season has left me feeling pretty fresh (physically and mentally) so I’ve been winding things up instead of winding down like I normally would be at this time. Big run focus right now which has been going well so far.

#5

YEP!

I am doing weights 3x a week for the next 2 months, with running and biking 1-2x a week. Got to get back into the water and swim, but … just ick. Will then reduce weights to 2x a week and add back in the swim. What I need is 4 more hours in the day. Anyone know how to order that from Amazon?

Now is also when I miss weekends due to filling the freezer and normally prepping the farm for winter. CV has the latter thrown for a loop - family may have to do it on their own.

#6

Good question. I am going to have to take a break or reduce my training load in some capacity. I haven’t had a chance to race in about a year, so I’ve basically been hammering it without the taper/recovery part of the cycle for a while now. Seen some pretty huge gains from training that consistently, but it’s definitely starting to wear me down a bit.

Following that, I’m planning on a heavy swim focus over the offseason- I’ve never managed to swim as consistently as I’d like, so I think there’s a lot of potential for improvement there. Going to miss those sweet open water swims though.

#7

A lot of sweet spot

#8

I broke my foot a bit ago, and took a month off…drastically reduced intensity anyway. Training again now…will likely alternate TB/sweet spot base into true winter…maybe take a weeklong break closer to spring, then gear up again in the hopes cross season will actually happen next year.

I give that 50/50.

#9

…got my first race in two weeks…

#10

Surprise holiday opportunity appeared on my horizon yesterday, so I grabbed it and ran!!

Going to take a week completely off the bike. Looking forward to taking a week-long kite surfing course with a friend. Something totally different.

Planning to start back with the training in early October.

#11

my off season was feb - June this year! will be training flat out until Christmas

I expect a lot of people may be in a similar situation, and with a winter lockdown almost inevitable I might even buy a spare turbo…

#12

I’m all worn out. My numbers are down, my motivation is down, there is no good reason to beast myself on the trainer anymore and riding outside at this time of year is dull and dangerous: I’ve been around all my local loops 100 times and the low sun and late season tourist traffic is scary.
I’ve cleared my TR calendar of workouts and i’ll only ride sweetspot for fun and fitness now for a while. But first I’m having a week off and some rest. Having said that i’ve just signed up for a 50km trail ultra run in December so i’ve started running every day instead.

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#13

I’ve been screwing around for a month or so letting a nagging knee injury guide my training. I’m losing fitness like crazy & started SSB1 this week. I haven’t done much muscle endurance work since spring time & my recent 10minutes at 94% was a bit of a shock to the system :rofl: I used plan builder to map out my road to Shenandoah Mountain 100 next year so I’ve got a rough idea of what that looks like. Plan needs some tweaking but the framework has been laid.

#14

From my experience and what I’ve gathered from others is a common way to take an offseason is to totally get off the bike for at least a week and let your body really repair itself. Take the time to start planning out your next season, check out events if you haven’t already, debate which plan you wanna do, do all the fun planning work and really start that stoke train for next year. Once you really get that itch to start training, that’s your queue to give it a couple more days and start your training plan.

I’ve found that what I need is to be able to ride that new season stoke and freshness for about 2-3 weeks and then I can settle into the normal training rhythm, but if midway through week 2 I’m really dragging my feet to get on the bike, I gotta pump the brakes and take more time off.

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#15

I’ve started adding races to my TR calendar (as annotations)–hoping I don’t have to tack on “Cancelled” to them all again next year… :crossed_fingers:

#16

Fingers crossed! Really hard to train to your full potential without any goal races. I think something we should all do when planning out for next year is to think about race replacements. Like Jonathan did this year with his solo stage race, I did something similar, and that was really a huge motivator to keep going through the 40k TT plan, and super satisfying to see a full block and peak utilized for something.

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#17

shutting down in a month, then dirt bikes for a few months

#18

I’m trying to spend time on bike skills. I taught myself cyclocross mounts and dismounts. I’m practicing my cornering. I am going to work on track stands and hope to get out on some grass with my husband and/or daughter to practice bumps and using my “off” hand for basic skills like grabbing a water bottle.

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#19

Still not reached my autumn A event, should it happen (or me being willing to travel to it).

At the moment, I’m still motivated and not mentally fatigued by training, so considering carrying on rather than taking a break. I’m confirmed remote until Christmas - no idea after that. This is an opportunity for more consistency that may be gone in the new year!

#20

I’m doing a transition block too… and It’s a hard time for me.

I’ve got a coach and we are doing something I’ve never done before… After a hard dedicated 2020 15hr/week on bike season where i made great improvements in stepping up volume from 10hr/week to 15 and also FTP going up by ~8% and 1’ power going up by ~8% as well:

I took 2 weeks nearly completely off (though i still wanted to ride a little so i did 3 rides total with one of them being very hard)
then after that i’m on a 6 week period of

a. lifting twice a week plus
b. doing 2-3 short endurance rides (I was doing a 3h endurance ride every weekend and now i’m doing nothing longer than 90’) and filling in the rest of the days with
c. 60’ recovery rides filling in the rest for a total of 6 days (6 rides per week) of “on” training and 1 day of complete rest.

after that, my base season will start again with testing.

I’ve never done an off-season transition block that was quite this “easy” and “gentle” when on-bike.
While i’ve lifted often in the past, in 2020 i didn’t lift at all from march to October so the lifting is making me sore obviously and the gains in that department are quite fast and easy to come by for me currently.

I’m on track to gain a full 10-15 lbs and generally i’m not quite as happy and struggling to focus at work: you could call it something like seasonal affective disorder if you believe in that sort of thing… I bet a cleaner diet would deal with both of these problems… but it’s the holiday and i don’t have the training to look forward to so IDK…

It’s quite hard to stop feeling like i’m doing the wrong thing and throwing away my 2020 fitness gains.

Just sharing my feelings… Anyone else doing this

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