Awesome progress on transforming your body composition!
I’m taking a full week off the bike. I promised myself that back in June and I intend to stick to it.
Last night I inhaled a full rack of BBQ ribs so my usual diet (sorry, hate that word but couldn’t think of anything else…) has gone completely out the window 
My plan is to let my fitness drop. I know that I’d be risking digging myself a hole if I continue hitting the same type of workouts I was doing before my A Event. Hoping an FTP Test will see me start my Winter training around the 275-280 FTP mark. So a nice 10-15 drop.
I have put an A Event in my calendar for February 2022 and Plan Builder has given me some interesting workouts which I’m looking forward to trying.
All-in-all, I’m going to be kind to myself, both physically and mentally. This year ended well and I recovered from COVID. Got to show my body the respect it deserves 
I’m on day 3 of 7-10 (depending on how my work trip pans outs) with no riding and 1) I’m enjoying how my IT Band and misaligned hip are healing but 2) feeling lazy. I did some upper body lifting this morning but it’s still dismaying to see only 200 calories burned via exercise for the day.
I have my A and B Ironman events scheduled for next year and have used plan builder to create a plan. Beginning to think i should invest in a few weeks off from exercise completely (which scares the hell out of me) so that I can avoid any burnout in the next six months of structured training.
So my answer to the OP’s question - I don’t feel like I have changed to “off season” as of yet, more so transitioned into “prep-season”
Congratulations!
Yes, this!!! But I still don’t like it.
I lasted five days without riding. Does that count? It is at least a work week. 
I’m going to do a block or two of traditional base while I focus on losing some weight and doing some strength training. After that it’s what ever the almighty plan builder spits out for me in order to get fast by next CX season 
2 MONTHS OF TOO MUCH WORK. RECOVERY WAS CABO WABO AND HONEY ORANGE TRIPPLE.
Now I have a scale that lies, pants that are too tight and the worst ramp test last week.
BUT, there’s always a “but”.
New to riding on rollers, adaptive training plan. Only work 5 (maybe) 6 days a week and race blades for the winter bike.
Iron horse Plans👍