I am relatively new to triathlon and in a weird phase of my training. I finished my tri season in early October with a non-Mdot 1/2 IM and did it in 5:03. In late November I did a marathon and my next big tri is Eagleman in June 09, which I am hoping will be my qualifying race for Clearwater (my AG is 25-29 so around 5 hours or less puts you well within striking distance). I have only been doing this two years but I am fairly serious about it at this point.

I am not sure how much "time off" I should take before I start training hardcore for Eagleman. I hear people saying it's important to take "time off" at some point in the year, but for how long and how much should I be training during that period? My swim needs the most work so I intend to join a Masters team after the holidays and spend at least a month or two focusing heavily on swimming while doing just maintenence work on bike and run (2:30'ish and 1:40'ish, respectively. Yes when you do the math you realize I am a very slow *ss swimmer!) before I start training full-time for Eagleman in late Jan/early Feb. Is this time spent focusing on swimming considered sufficient "time off" from full-time tri training? I am 25, and a fellow triathlete said that at this age I don't really need "time off."

So I guess the question to ask is, what do you fellow Slowtwitchers normally do this time of year in terms of training and intensity?