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8 Hours of Sleep & Remembering Your Kids' Names...

Thursday, 22 October 2015 06:10

By Neil King (HeadwatersTriClub.org)

For most of us the triathlon season in northern Minnesota is behind us. We are 2 to 4 weeks into that period loosely know as the “Off Season”. Just what is this off season and what am I expected to do here? It seems like you just finished with all that focused training and now the coaches are telling you that you need to stay focused? Well not really. The first part of the off season is time for Recovery, Reacquaintance and Reflection.

RECOVERY:
Deep Recovery, is the physical, mental, and emotional relief from all the stress you have placed on yourself for the past six to eight months. Sleep in longer. Stay away from watches and gages, even tri bikes, lap pools, and running on tar. For two to six weeks place your focus on recovery and easy workouts. This is the time to cross train. Mountain bike, kayak, trail run, rollerblade, tennis, golf, just stay active and have fun....

REACQUAINTANCE:
It is time to get reacquainted with your family, friends, work, and other things you have put somewhat or completely aside. I like to call this Social Recovery. This might count for more than any other kind of recovery. Go out and have coffee with your friends. Have dinner out without paying attention to nutrition or calories.

REFLECTION:
While you are in this early off season it is time to reflect on the past season. Did you set goals at the beginning of the past season? If you did, go over them now and evaluate your results. If you didn’t then go over your season race by race or month by month and take a analytical look at how you did. Did you meet your expectations, were you happy with how you did? What was the best achievement this year and what accounted for it? What was your biggest setback and how could it have been avoided? Don’t just focus on race results–look at training also. From the answers you find you will start to get a picture of where you want to move forward toward next season. READ MORE