THE VALUE OF AN OFF-SEASON

Here in Minnesota we have a definite cycling "off season" where snow and freezing temps keep us confined to trainers and spin classes. There are a few brave souls that cycle commute year round, but even they seem to disappear when the daytime high's don't crest above sub zero. It's crazy training when your plan calls for a four hour ride and all you can do is look whistfully at your new Flash-Points hanging in a basement window framed with snow, roll your bike onto your trainer and watch yet another installment of Project Runway, and another and another..

I imagine this is what Paul Huddle had in mind when he spoke at a tri camp I attended last summer about having an off season. The triathletes I know are thouroughly dedicated to the sport, we love our swim, bike, run, and we love it year round. But I think I understand what Huddle proclaimed with incredulity, "Take an off season!"

In 18 months I transformed from an overweight, stay at home mom who thought it would be fun to try a triathlon to a 13:XX hour Ironman. What an incredible year and a half, but it was long. Every workout, every training session I did in spite of myself, every race, every thing I ate was essentially about Ironman. It's good to have a goal, and it's incredible to achieve a dream, but it's also essential to have an off season. So, in the last several months since Florida I've done all the things I cautiously avoided during those 18 months. I've played and coached basketball, I've returned to trail running, and I've dropped training sessions. It's been a great mental break without sacrificing my baseline fitness. I can still churn out 3000 yards in the pool, cycle the hills and flats and run like the wind (ok, maybe more like a summer breeze), and with the thanks of an off season I can do it with mental sanity and focus once again.