After a few Sprints (NJ Man, Pawling, West Point) and an Olympic (NYC), I achieved my ultimate goal set back in February and finished the Toughman Half this past Sunday. !! I am very happy & pleasantly surprised that I finished with no issues. (I’ve been battling ITB for 2 yrs & my knee was fine).
So, I know my body needs to recover but how much time should I take off/cut back on activity?
I trained about 8-12hrs a week since the winter.(some weeks more/less than others depending on my schedule) I definitely feel that I was at my peak going into the Half, and I still feel good now. (minor aches Monday but felt loose on the bike yesterday)
Will I lose this level of fitness if I take it easy for a month or two to just chill out for a bit? Do some yoga perhaps. (I was constantly glued to my Excel calendar deciding what my week would be like - swim,bike,run,strength,rehab,rest days,work one job, work the other job,personal time…)
How & when should I begin my training plan for next year?
Figure out my A B & C races and work backwards, as I did this year?
Work backwards, that makes sense to me. You need to figure out what your goals are for next year, do you want to go long again or work on getting faster in shorter distances? You also need to figure out what you need to work on during the off season.
Last year I knew I wanted to improve my swim, so I spent a good amount of time working on form. This year I am planning on working on my run, so for me that means a 12 week 5K plan.
Take a couple of weeks off to recharge your brain, and go from there. Find the races you want to do then work backwards to when you need to start it all up again.
For me in a similar boat, it’s beer, school/parent obligations, catch up on a summer’s worth of neglected yard/house work, and watch a little football… not necessarily in that order.
Try to maintain weight with a little base running if my knee will cooperate, some mellow biking (great time of year for trail riding, until the rain comes, plus the trainer for watching football), and then worry about next year starting next year.
I agree, I’ll take it easy for a while, regroup and jump back in.
A few beers after work rather than the usual date with the park or pool sounds great too!
Definitely just take some time to kick back and enjoy time off from any structured training. Think about the season just gone and organize some goals and a schedule for next year. Look at strengths and weaknesses and target them when you get back into the winter base training. The key is to take time off and so you actually want to get back to and look forward to training. Don’t look at the excel calender for a few weeks and just have fun riding/running/swimming with your buddies.
Will I lose this level of fitness if I take it easy for a month or two to just chill out for a bit?
Yes. If you are not training to get faster… you are working equally hard to get slower.
If you were OCD over the spreadsheet, then try unstructured training. Wake up in the morning and ask yourself what you WANT to do, not what you HAVE to do. Then do it. THose want tos might even be different activities.
Take some time off, or downtime, or easy time, but if you want to get faster there is no offseason. THe “offseason” is time to work on less specific training (progressing to specific the closer to an actual event).
Or focus on your weak sport.
If you’re a 20-24yo female, do take a couple months off though
Some good choices of races, I did West Point, NYC and Toughman as well to end the season (although I may do 1 more sprint, so its really not over). I’m already looking to next year and scheduling the races I plan to do. No “real training plan” until January, but I’ll keep my excel spreadsheet going to make sure I don’t fall to far off the wagon.
I’ll recharge for a bit with no intense, “structured” activity, but will definitely keep at it, working on weaknesses as well.
I enjoyed West Point and the Toughman the most. Beautiful courses and overall great experience…best results too. Amazing how many volunteers make it all happen! NYC was fun but very crazy, almost too many people, but cool to race in the city nonetheless. I spaced them out 1 per month to prepare for the half. I liked how the distance of the Half gave me the opportunity to settle into my own rhythm and to have a strategy of performing at an intense level while conserving for that big run at the same time. Survival mode almost. (as opposed to hammering the bike) I also liked how everyone was spread out on the bike and run, everyone really in their own world it seamed. Many people sharing a few words to one another on the run…most feeling similar pain I found out. Everyone determined though & so ecstatic at the finish. The Half was a great race indeed…as the wheels begin to turn for next year…
I finished my A race at the start of Aug this year - so I am taking the fall to work specifically on improving my weakness (running). Last time I had a big race end of summer and took a month off that turned into two years. Just recovering from that now.
To avoid that this time I signed up for a late Sept half mary and looking for another one in January. My goal was basically to swim/bike once/twice a week and spend the rest of the fall focusing on steady improvement on the run before a more balanced base training kicks in during the new year.
