Off season is the season of “Yes.” Saying “yes” to the wine, extra family time, sleeping in, going to bed early, or trying something new. Off season is not the season to lose weight or increase the volume and intensity of your training. Early in my career, I did not have a professional mindset during off season, instead, I pushed too much and did not let my body, mind, and soul heal from the previous season of racing and training.

One key fundamental to work on during off season is strength. Building a solid foundation of strength will help you stay injury free for the duration of your season, help you maintain a high volume and intensity load, and helps from peaking in fitness too early in the season. Strength can be derived from having 1-2 extra gym sessions a week, focusing on hill repeats for runners and cyclist, big gear efforts for cyclist, and other forms of cross training to help work different muscle groups than your in-season sport. Building strength and getting strong should be fun, mix it up, add weights, add reps, and try something new!

After winning the 2024 Lead Challenge, I needed a big off season. Racing the back-to-back 100s after having already raced the Leadville marathon and both 50s, my body, mind, and soul, was empty and exhausted. For my first two weeks of off season, I slept, took dog walks, and lifted. There was no running, no biking, and there was no forcing myself to do something I did not want to do. The next two weeks, I started to lightly jog and cycling while maintaining lifting an extra 2 times a week. Finally, after 4-5 weeks into off season, I started including intensity back on the run and the bike by incorporating hill repeats for running strength and big gear efforts for cycling strength.

As 2024 winds down and we roll into the Holiday Season do not forget to relax, reflect on the successes of the season, get excited about the upcoming season, and say “Yes” in the off season!