Off season looms. I am interested in how others are configuring their standard week. I clearly operate better with a weekly routine of exercise/training and monthly I can make changes to suit aims/motivation. My family life seems to be better organised when my ‘windows’ for training are fixed and I train the same time each week within reason. I am a teacher so the timetable approach is engrained.
So my question is how do you arrange your exercise throughout the off season week outside of the TR plans. Which I find great by the way.
I only bike race during the season and have no xc, tt or road competition until March.
Points for me to consider:
I value strength training and I’d call it running, but at the moment it’s jogging, for the joint/bone benefit and ease of preparation/change of scenery.
Regards strength, I have invested time (2/3 30 min sessions a week) over the last number of years and don’t see the benefit of doing much more. Just an opinion, if I push too hard in these sessions I am pretty fatigued for supplementary bike sessions during the week.
I enjoy Mtb and off road/gravel rides in the winter.
So what are your plans for off season: and how do you get the beat out of the week for motivation/consistency and enjoyment?
Here is my current week:
Monday: 30 min gym and run or 1 hour tr session
Tuesday: 90 min morning outdoor gravel ride or pm spinning 90min
Wednesday: 20 min jog (building time up) 60 min trainer road
Thursday: am Mtb 90 min ride
Friday: 30 min gym indoor soccer 60 mins
Saturday: 90 min spinning class or 2 hour Mtb/ gravel or local 5km Park run with some extra kms.
Sunday: club spin or evening trainer road outside workout 2/3hrs
I’m following the FasCat 10-Week Weight Lifting Plan, so it changes during the Adaptation and Hypertrophy phases but right now it’s lift Mon, Wed, Fri; ride Tue, Wed, Sat, Sun; off Thu. Realistically I add in a recovery ride on Thu for five rides and three lifts per week, doubling on Wednesdays, work and life permitting.
This “off season” I will be doing the TR Base plan for the first time. I am also a teacher and appreciate the fixed schedule… but I tend to keep mine pretty fluid in the sense that if it is nice outside I ride outside. I am lucky in that our winters are mild here, usually 50-60F and not too much rain thanks to our California drought (though we need it) and will bump a workout later in the week if the riding is nice.
I’m going back to something like what I was doing before in the off season as it worked well for me in the past. I was following a MV plan but often substituting the week end for Group rides. With AT I was advised to switch to a LV plan to help it calculate but as the season has went on I think the three HIT sessions was wearing me down. The MV plans have 2 HIT sessions and 1 LIT session midweek. So I am swapping out the middle HIT session of the LV plan and after a few wees of doing so it seems to be working for me again.
The plan at the moment is:
Mo - Rest
Tu - Cycle Commute / HIT (currently SS)
Wed - LIT
Thu - HIT (currently threshold)
Fri - Rest
Sat - Group Ride (Circa 60miles road)
Sun - Group Ride (social gravel ride)
I was doing a group ride on the Wednesday evening a reasonable tempo chaingang but with the darker evenings and less stable weather that may fall by the wayside.
For me at the moment it is basically just strength and maintenance until the new base season starts. I’m building towards a peak on July 2 for a long mountain Gran Fondo.
So right now:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday am: Gym (squads, deadlifts and core)
Tuesday pm: Endurance ride 60-90min (some low cadence tempo after 60min)
Wednesday: 2-4 hour Endurance ride
Thursday: Endurance ride 60-90min (some tempo after 60min)
At the moment I’m in limbo between base training as a focus, weight training and running for off season gains. On that note this popped into my inbox today. Throw on top of that the sessions from tr. as a result I almost mix and mash up a selection each week with a ‘non negotiable’ back bone or core of the week.
It probably isn’t super progressive in returns but seems good to variety, motivation and general fitness.
Nothing new here, rather a reinforcer of good practice. Some nice takeaways however.