The Off-Season Is Here
Champions are born in the winter — the results earned in the summer are always based on the hard work done in the build up to the season. This applies to next year’s Tour de France champion, but it also relates to the athlete who sets a new PR up Big Mountain, completes a ride or race that seemed too hard previously, or someone who simply finds more pleasure in riding faster. If you want to be better next season the simplest thing to do is to commit to following a training plan this winter — the plan is laid out, the training can be done inside, and you will have the common goal and camaraderie of your motivated club mates to help you stay on track. The question now is what do I do until then? The next month or two is the time to take it easy and regain the drive to train hard when it does matter. October (and possibly November) is the best time to have an off-season.
Fall is typically a transition time for most cyclists and many find themselves waiting for what is coming next instead of enjoying what is happening now. In the course of my cycling career I learned how to best enjoy this period and get the most from it while waiting for my winter training to start. The fall is the best time to take an off-season — this is the time of year to relax and mentally prepare for winter training. Hopefully, you are anticipating a winter of structured training and want to do the right thing until then. Please read on for some helpful tips and training advice to help you get from here to there with confidence.
One reason I love cycling is because you can do it year-round. Even in the coldest months it is possible to ride outside. But, I’ll admit it is not always practical. The days get shorter and because we live in Utah, the days also get very cold. As soon as the frost starts to cloud your car’s windscreen and you find yourself driving to and from work in the dark, it feels right to ride indoors or do something other than cycling altogether. But, winter, luckily, hasn’t yet begun. The question this time of year is: What do I do now?
The ability to cycle year-round can, inversely, begin to make it very difficult. After a summer of hard training, this is the time when burnout can occur. If you were motivated, and diligently followed a training plan, you rode a lot in the past months and this is the time of year when more riding can just feel like too much. Even though you know you love riding your bike and still want to improve, you may feel like climbing on the bike again has become more of a chore than a reward. This is very common and very much OK. Any sport that is as easily repeatable as cycling can become tedious if done too much.
The answers to a better season next year and a cure to the fall burnout are the same: rest and variation. This is the time of year to mix it up. This is also the time of year when it’s good to let the bike gather some dust so you can rekindle the fire you know still burns inside you but may only be dying embers by now. Not only is taking time off the bike healthy, I recommend it. And, even if you still have a fire to ride every day, this is the time to relax from a regime in order to build motivation and stoke that fire.
All successful pros have an off-season and so should you. October and/or November are the perfect month(s) for this. Committing to a winter of training is the first step as this gives you a deadline and a purpose. Letting yourself relax and “de-train” is the second. Doing something unrelated to cycling — or at the very least, unregimented cycling — is not only healthy, it is the best way to get better in the long-term. I like to think of the off-season in nautical terms: Though the only way to properly use a boat is to put it in the water and let it run, it is also important to take it out once in awhile to clean the hull so it will run as efficiently as possible when placed back in the sea. An athlete who trains on the bike 12 months out of the year is skipping this step and will begin to lose performance. By taking time off from planned training this time of year, dry docking so to speak, your drive and purpose will be greater when you begin more focused training this winter.
Here are a few excellent opportunities to refresh the brain and “clean the hull.”
HIKING:
There is no better time in the year to head into the mountains by foot. The added impact of a hike will also help to strengthen and stress your legs in a way that low-impact cycling will not. This will help make you a more balanced and stronger cyclist while also letting you rekindle that motivational fire. Hike as long as you feel and be sure to think about using both legs independently in order to help stress the muscles that can be neglected by the low impact and synchronized pedaling motion of cycling. This means: Try to step evenly with both legs avoiding favoring that dominant leg (we all have one).
RUNNING:
This is the ultimate off-season cross-training for the time crunched cyclist. Even 20 minutes of running will give you the benefits and reward of a much longer ride or hike. The downside is that, unless you have been running a bit already, the initial shock of the impact can be debilitating for a few days afterwards. Start small. Smaller than you think is even worth it. I’m talking 5-10 minutes and building up to a longer run over the course of a few weeks. Another technique I’ve employed is to run a minute, walk a minute, for the first few runs. Cycling is such a low-impact sport that the pounding caused by running can be very stressful early on. This is also why it’s a good thing in the long-term — stressing the muscles in a different way will help you strengthen muscles that get neglected by exclusively pedaling and it will make you a better cyclist.
WEIGHT TRAINING:
If you are a gym rat at heart and/or have a strong knowledge of how to lift effectively and safely, this is a good time to get into the weight room to work on your weaknesses. A good winter training program will include a lot of strength training on the bike but, supplementing this on the bike work with free weights, body weight movement and core exercises is a great way to add to the effectiveness of the training to come. Lifting is a great way to strengthen support muscles that will aid in the progression toward more efficient cycling. I do want to stress that a good understanding of proper technique is essential and, unless you have experience with weight lifting, I recommend finding a class or instructor to aid you with weight lifting to avoid injury.
YOGA OR PILATES:
These two disciplines are excellent to help balance your system and address the tightness caused by the limited movement of cycling. A few sessions a week with a qualified instructor and you will begin feeling looser and more mobile which, in turn, will help you to pedal better when back on the bike. Yoga or Pilates will also strengthen your core muscles making you more efficient on the bike.
FREE RIDING:
It is also possible that you haven’t gotten enough of the sport we love. There ain’t nothing wrong with that! But, this is the time to go out and simply enjoy it. Ride with no expectations or goals. And, do things you haven’t been doing. If you always ride up Emigration, ride out to Saltaire and back or explore your neighborhood (I once rode every single Avenue east to west, and the alphabets north to south for a diversion). Or, if you have a mountain bike, get out into the fall colors. The goal of this riding isn’t “to train,” it’s to have fun. And, by having fun and not worrying about “training” you will be better prepared to begin a structured program soon. The one rule to consider is that you shouldn’t ride to “train” in the off-season, just ride if you want to. Time off the bike is perfectly fine (and important) and you should definitely not ride at all for a period of time if it feels like a chore. We want to build the desire to ride when the weather is not ideal but you need to, the off-season is not the time for training on the bike, but you can certainly do it exclusively for fun.
TIME OFF:
If exercise feels like the last thing you want to do right now, but you still know you want to get fitter, take some time off now knowing that time off will give you more motivation later when it matters most. Do this with no guilt. Taking time off if you feel like it is a luxury of the season. There is no better time than now and it will help you become better when it counts. Pro tip: My off-season almost always consisted of nothing related to fitness — I drank beer and ate donuts. I savored taking up to a month completely off and I know it aided in my longevity and success in the sport.
Whatever you choose to do in the next month(s) — the off-season can start in October, but it can also be done later on when the weather gets worse — be assured that a relaxed approach now will benefit you in the long run. Don’t be afraid of losing fitness — any losses in the short-term will be quickly regained and increased by simply allowing yourself the physical and mental freedom of the off-season.
Have a great “Offy”!
—JL