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The Mid-Season Break or Lost is Good or How to Avoid late season Burnout or the Non-Training Training Workout
By Kevin Moats, IM 50-55 Hawaii World Champion and world record holder.
"With Master Amino Acid Pattern (MAP), I find I can train harder and recover better. I have been able to build muscle mass and minimize tendon soreness with MAP."
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The typical hard core triathlete’s season starts in March/April and ends in October/November, or roughly 7 months. Additionally if you are trying to qualify for Ironman, it’s means peaking by May or June, then trying to maintain one’s form and focus until mid October. It just can’t be done.
As a typical obsessive/compulsive, doing nothing is an impossibility. So I am not suggesting you do nothing, but I am suggesting you redirect that energy for a two to three week period mid season. Late June/early July is good time to just take two to three weeks and do something different. I am not suggesting you sit on the couch and eat bon bons. But I am suggesting you break the routine. As much as one fears a loss of fitness, so long as one does training lite (distance, but not intensity), you won’t lose anything, and hopefully help rebuild your base. The other advantage of taking some time off is that, hopefully, those nagging injuries, the plantar fascitis, the sore Achilles, or tender knee, will have a chance to mend.
Change of venue is the best approach. Get out of town if you can. If not at least get away from your training partners. Ride courses/routes you have never ridden. Run on trails/paths you’ve never run. And you can usually find some body of water, whether it be the ocean or lake where you can open water swim. Get out of the pool. It’s important not to do nothing, but train with low intensity in places you don’t know. That way you won’t put pressure on yourself to time each climb and compare it with last week, or the week before. The unknown is good. Lost is good. It’s hard to push the pace when you don’t know what’s around the next bend, or if one’s lost. It’s even better if you don’t speak the language .You go hours longer than you expected. Just be sure to carry a $5.00 bill or whatever the local currency is, and few energy bars.
My favorite non-training training rides are road bike touring rides. f course, it helps to have an amazing venue, like the Alps or the Pyrennes or the Rockies. On a large scale local map, I layout a general loop course, grossly underestimating the severity of the climbs and length of the ride. I’ve ridden 6 to 7 hours, where every bend unveils another post card, and kept my heart rate below 120 beats/minute. It’s important to hold something in reserve in case you find you are still an hour from the hotel after 6 hours. It’s the one time it’s OK to gawk, to literally smell the flowers.
Here are few of my favorite non training training workouts.
Riding from Girona , Spain to the French border;
Riding various mountain stages of the Tour de France in either the Alps or Pyrennes;
Open water swimming in Cap Ferat near Nice and brunch at the Vol D’Or afterwards;
Swimming 4 Kilometers on the 1992 Olympic Rowing Venue in Banyoles near Barcelona;
Riding ,Swimming and Running around Lake Garde near Verona;
Running long on Lido near Venice (Who says you can’t run in Venice);
Running to the top of the Kitzbuhlerhorn in Austria (8,000 ft elevation change);
Running and swimming in the English Garden in Munich
Climbing the Alp d’Huez;
Riding, swimming,& running around Lac Annecy in France.
For any of you lucky enough to spend some time in Europe next summer, I would be glad to e-mail you krmoats@aim.com my top 10 training venues/courses.
I’m sure you will have fun creating your own non training training courses. You need to find your own way to take a break. Redirection is the key. Your body will thank you in late August and September when you are trying to peak for that one last Ironman of the year.
I almost forgot, be sure and take your MAP. Good Non-Training, and good racing.
Other articles from Kevin
Articles from Kevin:
The Eight-Week Winter Marathon, or Early Season Triathlon Training - Age Group Excellence: Part 1: Running Off the Bike - Part 2: The Challenges of Kona - How to train to run 26.2 Miles after swimming 2.4 miles and bicycling 112 - The Mid-Season Break - 30 Days to Kona: Peaking/Tapering for the Big One - Kona Spring Training Camp -10 Things about Training - Winter Break and Off Season Training - Turnaround Buoy in Kona! - Lavaman Race Report
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