I just felt motivated today actually for first time since IMMD in Oct.

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2024: Bevoman, Galveston, Alcatraz, Marble Falls, Santa Cruz

What off season ;) always building towards the next event!

I tell myself it's off season and it's OK to slack off...for awhile. I give myself 4 weeks off where anything goes in terms of what I want to eat and all exercise is optional. 10 pounds later and feeling out of shape is enough to get the desire back to start training again. Then it's a base and cross training mode to work on weaknesses and muscle imbalances and do stuff I'll probably not do later when I'm doing more focused training. Also helps to have February running events as motivation; far enough away to let me be a slug for awhile but close enough to not let that last for too long.

I'll admit it's probably not the best idea to eat junk and put on weight (ok, ok...fat) but it helps me just to have a break where it's OK to not have to be in training mode all the time. Far easier for me to get to where I want to train again and be motivated to get back to feeling fit than it is to force myself to train when I really want the end of season break.

I do a couple of things I guess.
I train with the team still. We may not be outside as much as we are during the season, but we train as a team still - group pain cave 2 x a week, a swim and a trail run on Sundays.
Also, we as a team collectively pick a HIM that 10+ will do. This year it's IM Raliegh and IM Atlantic City.
So, there's a bit of razzing early on at the pain cave and on the runs.. 3 of us swim together 3x a week. We all help each other try and get a better swim.
So, staying motivated isn't hard. But by March, we are climbing the walls to ride outside. Then it's hills, hills and more hills..

Easy, have races all year long.

Once my tri season was done, I switched to run only stuff.

My stroller pushing turkey trot.

A marathon in a few days.

Then resolution run.

End of Jan, first USAT Duathlon race.

Easy to stay motivated when you have races to do all year long.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

depends on where you are too. I'm in Canada so, I and even bring my bike outside so it's trainer for months and my motivation is simple. Last winter, I did nothing out very little trainer time. At spring... I got CRUSHED I mean it, took me all summer to catch up with my friends who trained during the winter. This time, I'll be the one doing the soul crushing.

I just like working out no matter when.

Endurance fat bike racing

A coach, a plan. Something that I have to be working on fitness-wise every day.

The key to my motivation staying up is to make sure I take a sufficient break.

During the triathlon off-season I still compete in masters swim meets and just refocus my training on that.

I'm currently swimming five mornings per week with my masters swim team, but also am running three days a week and riding once a week. The running and riding are mostly EZ, low-intensity aerobic efforts

I've got a HM coming up in mid-February and after that I'll start a more balanced tri training program leading up to my first triathlon of the year in April (St. A's).

Mark

That is the definition of off season. Mentally and physically you need time to recover. Do other things, "slack off" in the typical swim/bike/run routine. Stay active but don't worry about it.

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Rodney
TrainingPeaks | Altra Running | RAD Roller
http://www.goinglong.ca

As mentioned, registering for races helps. A good motivator for me: remembering how hard it is to get the body to co-operate if I've been off too long.

Yep, I see this all the time in many folks in early season racing. But never in the top folks.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Have a goal for your off/non-racing season!!

Last year, I set out to improve my swimming, and swam 20k/week all winter, in addition to trainer riding and a small amount of running.

This year, I know I can handle 20k/week pretty well, so I'll have that as a weekly goal for swimming. I don't necessarily need to scale other things back to manage 20k anymore. So, my goal is to improve my cycling (I'm at ~290 FTP off of 4-5hrs riding/week for 1.5 years). I'm doing a lot of structured training work geared towards getting fast on the bike. Running is just easy/moderate volume, ~25-40mpw, depending on the week.

Long story short, if you're able to handle training hard in the winter (many people simply can't stay motivated 52 weeks/year), train towards a goal and get ready to throttle it next year!! If not, take a break and train casually until sometime around/after the new year.

I think it was Dev who once said on here "the easiest way to get back in shape is to never get out of shape."

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"Don't you have to go be stupid somewhere else?"..."Not until 4!"

I volunteer to teach kids how to swim (even though I'm no fish) weekly in my condo's 25M pool. It's great to see potential future Olympic prospects but more importantly, instilling healthy active lifestyle into these children. If that's not enough to motivate you then I don't know what would!! Thats only 1 day a week however so for the remainder I tend to focus on some weakness I can address with some consistent attention with the extra time on my hands.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

Run. Run every day.