The off season is something that plenty of triathletes struggle to get right. At one end of the spectrum, taking too much of a step back and leaving themselves with a significant amount of work to do to get back to fitness when it’s time to start getting race season ready. On the other, getting swept up in trying to maintain race fitness all year round – resulting in burn out.
When you’ve got big goals in mind for next year’s racing, it’s understandable that – after some well-earned rest – you might want to get going early on your training. If you’re wondering what your winter/off season training should look like to help you maximise your chances of performing well next year. We’ll guide your through some of the off season dos and don’ts, and the key training areas to focus on now to set yourself up for success – without risking burnout.
Off season dos and don’ts
Before we dive into the off season triathlon training you’ll want to focus on to lay the ground work for that new personal best you’re chasing next season. First, let’s take a quick look at the basic triathlon off season triathlon training dos and don’ts.
Take a break from structured training
Before you dive into specific off season training sessions, make sure you give yourself a couple of weeks off. This will give your body a chance to recover from the efforts of your race season, your mind an opportunity to reset, and your social calendar a chance to be less swim-bike-run dominated. Taking your foot off the gas might feel counterproductive, but it’s a crucial stage of off season to keep yourself motivated and injury-free.
Use the time to set your goals for next year
Now is the perfect time to reflect on this year’s races while they’re still fresh in your memory. What went well and where could you improve? What do you want to achieve next year and what does that mean you need to work on in training? Use your time to set out specific goals so you can train with real purpose once it’s time to get back at it.
Enjoy some time away from triathlon
Try to maintain race fitness 365 days a year
Taking your foot off the gas and seeing your numbers drop can be difficult. But it’s important to take a step back. This gives your body and mind the capacity it needs to take an even bigger step forward. The rest and recovery you take now will play a crucial role in giving you the baseline to train harder and race faster next year.
Let a few weeks off training turn into several months off
Take time off – but not too much time off. If you want to be able to make progress with your triathlon training and racing, don’t leave yourself with too much ground to make up. Off season doesn’t mean sloth season. After a bit of recovery time, get back into an easy routine of gentle training and staying active to keep yourself healthy.
Forget the finer details
Swim training during the off season
While you might be relishing the thought of some time away from chlorine, goggle marks and early morning swim alarms. The off season is actually the optimal time to really make progress with your swimming. Without the pressure of an upcoming race, you haven’t got to worry about hitting certain distances. And with overall lower training volume across the bike and run, you’ve got more time to dedicate to the pool.
Spend some time working on your swim technique
During the off season, your swimming should focus on technique and quality rather than volume. Swimming is the most technical of the three triathlon disciplines, so working on any dead spots in your stroke could be the key to finding extra speed.
Now is the perfect time to go back to basics and really take a look at your stroke. If you can’t get access to video analysis with a swim coach, try asking a friend or team mate to video you swimming instead. There’ll be things you’re doing while you swim that you don’t even realise are happening. Are you crossing over when your hand enters the water? Are you lifting your head too high when you breathe? Is your body nice and high in the water, or are your legs sinking? Knowing precisely what you need to work on will help you to be specific with the drills you perform. That’ll help you to really make the most of your time in the pool throughout the winter months.
Focus on high quality speed work in your pool sessions
The off season is the perfect time to switch your pool training up and shift the focus to shorter, sharper sessions. There’s no real need to be plodding your way through long, boring endurance swims right now. Speed work will not only help to make your pool sessions fun – which will help you to stay consistent. It’ll also give you a good opportunity to commit the technique work you’ve been doing to muscle memory. We’re more likely to slip into sloppy, bad habits when we’re doing long continuous swims. Convince some of your tri friends to join you and you can turn the efforts into a bit of friendly competition – or hitch a ride on your speedy pal’s feet.
Focus on drills in your warm up, and then use your main set to practice implementing that technique during fast efforts. That could be 25 metre sprints, 50 metre anaerobic efforts or 100m reps where you incorporate “hard out, easy back” alternating between max effort and cruise pace to practice putting in surges in a race situation.
Want some more advice on speeding up your swim? Check out this video (below) from Brownlee Fitness with some top tips from Olympic pro triathlete Richard Varga.
Focusing on high quality swim sessions and nailing your technique will put your swimming in a far better place to start building the volume up again after off season.
Off season bike training: turbo charge your bike strength and handling skills
‘Get faster on the bike’ is something that features top of many a triathlete’s to-do list. With the bike making up the longest part of any triathlon, regardless of whether you’re racing sprint distance or full Ironman, getting stronger on two wheels can make a huge difference to your overall race time.
Over the off season, a balance of intensity via indoor training and exploring off road will put your cycling in a great place by the time spring rolls in.
Drop the volume, up the intensity
The weather outside is frightful, and for even the most avid of indoor cyclists – spending 4hrs+ riding at Zone 2 every Sunday morning on the turbo trainer probably isn’t going to feel that delightful. The good news is, now is the perfect time to dial back the volume of your bike training and focus on some intensity instead. Because even if you’re planning to race over the full Ironman distance next race season, the key to being able to ride faster for longer is raising your thresholds.
Switching things up with interval workouts on the bike with a mixture of tempo/threshold work and some higher intensity VO2 max efforts will give you a huge boost in cycling fitness, without having to spend hours in the saddle. The strength and power you’ll develop will mean that once you start to increase the volume and add longer rides back in, you’ll find you can hold a faster pace and higher power for longer before the onset of fatigue.
Time to hit the turbo trainer! Head over to our indoor cycling section where you’ll find a whole load of tips and advice on cycling indoors, plus our top picks of bike workouts to help you improve your FTP and get stronger on the hills – and more.
RELATED: How to make indoor cycling NOT suck
Take the steady outdoor miles off road to improve your bike handling
If you are braving the elements (after all, sometimes a crisp winter ride can be pretty glorious!) then consider ditching the tarmac and heading off road instead. Doing so will be a nice change of pace – there’s no point eyeballing your average speed when you’re bumping it out over the fields or skidding about in mud soup through the woods. And it’ll give you the opportunity to explore some of the tracks and trails you might not have been able to during race season, when long road rides had to be the main focus.
You’ll also find that integrating some off road riding into your winter training will help you to improve your bike handling skills, which will help you to take corners faster and lose less time on 180 turns next race season. The uneven surfaces, bursts of climbing and tight corners you’ll encounter while riding off road will take your handling skills to the next level. And you’ll also get stronger on the bike by virtue of pedalling a heavier bike through the resistance of mud and gravel.
Running through the off season
Plenty of triathletes choose to focus on running during the off season. Like the bike, now is a great time to take some of your runs off road and hit the trails instead. There’s no need to be doing huge mileage, so you can focus on building your aerobic base with slower paced runs enjoying your surroundings.
You can also make use of the treadmill during the winter months to do a targeted block working on your run form, and ticking off specific workouts to improve your speed before you have to start building up the volume again for race season.
We’ve pulled together a comprehensive guide to running during the off season in our indoor running section.
Hit the gym
Hands up if you tend to neglect your strength training during triathlon race season? For age-groupers, fitting the core swim-bike-run sessions in can be tricky enough, which means time in the gym is often the first thing to fall by the wayside. But strength training could actually be the missing ingredient to help you become a stronger, more resilient and more powerful athlete. So now is the time to build that strong foundation and get into a consistent strength training habit.
Make the most of the reduced swim-bike-run volume during off season to spend some extra time on gym work. Build strength and power in the core muscle groups such as the quads, hamstring and glutes with exercises including deadlifts, squats and hip thrusts. But also focus in on the smaller, stabilising muscles. Step ups and single leg work such as Bulgarian split squats will help to improve your running form. Upper body work such as pull ups/lat pull down, tricep kick backs and shoulder raises will help you to build strength and stability for swimming. Meanwhile core exercises, such as planks with shoulder taps, will improve stability, efficiency and promote better form across all three triathlon disciplines.
Doing less swimming, biking and running and more lifting, to improve your triathlon performance might feel counterproductive. But put the work in with your strength training now and you’ll reap the rewards two-fold. Plus, it never rains in the gym!
Nailing your off season triathlon training will put you in a great place to start dialling in for your next race when the time comes. Balance recovery with time spent focusing on strength, form, speed and technique. You’ll come out of the off season ready for your strongest triathlon race season yet.
