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Why You Should Cross-Train This Winter...

Sunday, 16 December 2018 23:10

By Jesse Kropelnicki (usatriathlon.org)

At the end of a long season of training and racing, athletes need a break away from their sport. Some will gladly accept a bit of downtime. Others will fight you tooth and nail. Either way, this is a time when athletes need to focus on recharging their batteries for the upcoming season and work on any known limiters. So, to this end, while the end of the season may not, necessarily, represent off-time, any downtime should be used expeditiously, honing strength and skills for what’s to come.

We all know that triathletes can be a little compulsive, to say the least. It’s what drives them throughout the season, to wake up at those early hours, and commit so much of their lives to the sport. The offseason is an excellent time to apply this compulsion to other things. Things that further their next season’s endeavors, yet nothing like swimming, biking or running. Enter into the discussion, cross-training....

Most offseasons are taken during the fall and winter months, when the leaves have fallen, the temperatures have dropped, and, in many places, snow is on the ground. This change in conditions often elicits a desire to do new and different things. During the fall months, many athletes turn to the serenity of hiking up mountains, and through the woods. As the snow falls, many take family vacations to the mountains, to carve their ways down the side of a mountain.

While it is not necessary to account for every minute spent on the trails, or flowing through the powdery white, many athletes will have their minds put to ease knowing that they are, in some way, working toward their next season’s goals. For this reason, we use the following conversion factors, to help athletes quantify some of their offseason activities, relative to their in-season training commitments. READ MORE