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first off season,

Hi all,



just entering my first "off" season and am looking for some advice.

i am entering some fun runs to keep me generally fit and to have something to train forr. 10Km and half marathons.



what i am after is how you structure your winter training so that you get to peak fitness in the spring.



my current training week is as follows:



Monday: rest

Tuesday: Pool session (sprints / intervals) 1hr session

Wednesday, pyramid sprint run session (15min gentle warm up / down) total 1hr session

Thursday, mid effort swim am 30mins, mid distance run pm (5miles)

Friday, squash 1 hr then pub (kind of rest but the missus beats me round the court !!)

Saturday, endurance run. 8 to 10 miles depending on how much i drank Friday, swim 30mins am

Sunday, cycle 25miles, run 3.5miles (brick session)



no weights, only 1 cycle (although it is a hilly route) 3 pool sessions and 4 runs.



i only started 4 months ago and this is what i have build up to. 4 months ago i couldn't run 2miles (just to put it into persective)



i am just wondering should i carry on as i am or change things for the winter ? make it easier or harder ? i know people do change how the train in the winter but i am not really sure why or what they are trying to achieve.



cheers

a novice !

Comments

  • Jason NJason N Posts: 36
    As a relative newcomer myself I will try and offer what little pearls of wisdom I have re: off season. The way I understand it is that the off season is a way to recover from the rigours of competition and re-establish a solid aerobic base from which to build on come the spring.



    As a rule of thumb your training needs to be about 1-2hr per session but at a relatively low intensity. A lot of people use HR to gauge their intensity. Off season base training should raise your HR to between 60% and 70% of your max HR. (roughly 220-age). Me being 33 I aim to keep my HR at about 135 (+/- 5bpm). Treat this with some caution as fitter athletes will have a higher aerobic threshold. If you`re not into measuring HR then gauge it on percieved exertion. Train at 5 where 10 would be flat out - if you struggle to chat whilst training you`re probably working too hard.



    All this serves to improve your bodies efficiency to burn fat and helps re-plenish muscle glycogen stores. If done well this will give you a sound aerobic base for the spring. You can then start upping the speed/intensity but probably reducing the amount of time training. Some people believe that speed work should not be completely ignored during the off season with at least one session being given over to this. I suppose that kinda makes sense as we still do long distance aerobic training during the competition season.



    I expect others here can offer you some more advice but I hope this helps.
  • 10Km and half marathons


    Have you considered an off-road duathlon or two? Lots of fun and encourages you to get out on a bike through the winter.
  • TeaJayTeaJay Posts: 29
    thats not a bad idea !



    thing is when i started Tri i went swimming twice a week and cycled once a week. running was by far my worst event. mainly as i have never really done any. i kind of told myself that i would concentrait on running this year, so much so that i now run a lot more than anything else.



    my strengths were.



    cycling

    swimming

    running



    now its probably,



    swimming

    running

    cycling



    i find it hard with work to get more than 1 bike session in a week durring the winter anyway.

    i guess everybody else has turbo trainers or exersize bikes for the winter do they ?



    thanks for the idea. i am going to look for a duathlon to enter now !!!



  • Not sure where you are but:

    Cirencester in November - http://www.triferris.com/tomac/index.html

    Goring, oxfordshire in May - http://www.hairylegs.org/



    Tried the bike leg of the second one on Sunday and it was quite interesting.
  • TeaJayTeaJay Posts: 29
    cheers,



    just looking at the monsterman serries..... the first is between my brother and i and so would be a good start. seems like a great way of getting the MTB back out, which i have missed to be honest.



    mailing them now to see if there are any spaces left for December....
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