Off-Season Priorities for the Triathlete

This time of year, most triathletes are winding their seasons down. For the most part, your racing season has ended, and the smart athletes are taking a significant break from training to recharge their bodies for next year. What else can an athlete do during the next few months to improve next year’s performance?

After a transition period of two to four weeks of very light, completely unstructured training and cross training, our top priorities should be to clear up any imbalances our bodies have developed during the season, increase our muscular strength, improving our technique in all three sports of the triathlon (the swim, bike and run), and maintain our basic endurance level.  

Strength Training

Developing greater muscular strength during the off-season should be a priority but only after the most important issue of keeping the body balanced and dealing with any injuries is a must for every triathlete. Incorporating strength training will improve efficiency in all three sports, improve workout recovery, and reduce the frequency and severity of injuries.

Improve Technique

To perform better next year, most athletes need to make a significant change in technique. Despite what many athletes believe, simply training more than you did this year isn’t really the key to success next year. Many athletes, even advanced ones, should focus significantly on technique to perform more efficiently. Right now, early in the off-season, is the optimal time to undertake changes to technique.

During the racing season, the pressure of racing well prevents athletes from successfully making major technique changes. Adjustments in technique almost always cause a check-mark shaped change in performance. Immediately following the change, performance usually declines in the short term. Mastering a new skill requires time and frequently emphasizes different muscles, which may not be conditioned for optimal performance. After the athlete has had time to fully master the new skill and their muscles have been trained using the new technique, performance improves will be seen. Making such a change early in the off-season gives the athlete months to perfect the new techniques before they will be tested in competition.

Making technique changes early in the off-season also decreases the risk of injury. Putting new stresses on the body’s tissues during periods of high volume and/or high intensity training is asking for trouble. This time of year, most endurance athletes have reduced training mileage considerably and training intensity is the lowest of the year. By the time training volume and intensity are increased for pre-season training, the tissues will have adapted to the new techniques.

The following are some basic technique changes that triathletes should begin to learn during their off season to make improvements for next year’s performance.  

Increase Torso Rotation in Swim Stroke

Efficient swimmers rotate their torsos further and faster than less advanced swimmers. Maximizing torso rotation allows easier breathing, generates much of the power for propulsion, and puts the body in the water in a position to cut through the water instead of lowing through it. If you want more detail seek your trusted swim coach.  

Increasing Cycling Cadence

Watching the top cycling pros easily drop the competition at the Tour de France by using high cadence pedaling style, many cyclists and triathletes decided to try increasing cadence for themselves each July. Many of them find that increasing cadence leaves them out of breath instead of in front of their competitors.

Increasing cadence will help improve most athletes’ cycling performance, but to do so requires preparation. Increasing cadence is a long term project. Start now. Once a rider has practiced it, high cadence pedaling will be easier on the legs than grinding in a bigger gear. Regardless, sustained high cadence pedaling requires many hours of practice before it becomes more efficient than pushing a bigger gear. Begin adapting your body to higher cadence riding now by using smaller gears at higher cadence for all your winter riding. In fact I tell all my clients that during the first month of base training they should NEVER be in their big chain ring ever, this forces them to get used to the higher cadence and smooth it out so they don’t bounce. Increase gradually and give your legs time to adjust. Purchasing a bike-computer with a cadence function is important as it will allow you to monitor your progress.  

Reduce Running Stride Length and Increase Turnover

Most runners ignore technique, but I have found that even elite runners can improve performance significantly by changing to more efficient techniques. Even at World Championship caliber, those athletes consistently work on perfecting running technique. The benefits are even greater for beginners and intermediates.

Shorter and quicker strides lead to faster running times. Start incorporating these techniques into your running now to allow your legs to learn to run this way efficiently before next season. Shorter strides require less force at push-off and reduce the need for vertical displacement (up and down movement). The shorter stride also decreases the deceleration/braking forces that are result of longer stride when the foot hits the ground in front of the body instead of just below the body.

Attempting to pull the leg backward faster increases both turnover and stride length. The result is such a high running speed that it will not be sustainable. That is sprinting, not efficient distance running. A better strategy for learning higher turnover running is to concentrate on quick leg recovery. This increases turnover, but allows a slightly shorter stride. Remember that you can decrease stride length by 15% if you increase turnover by 20% and still run faster (and be able to sustain it). Make sure that there is no pause at the completion of the follow through and drive the knee forward quickly.

A metronome app is available for use while running (metronome is a small electronic device that beeps at whatever speed you set it to) and highly recommended. Timing your foot-strike with the beeping can be a great way to monitor turnover and gradually accustom your legs to higher turnover.  

Summary

This off-season, keep volume and intensity low for your swim, bike, and run workouts, but prioritize easy workouts concentrating on developing efficient techniques and strength training workouts. When the season starts next spring you’ll be glad you did.

As always if you have questions please feel free to contact me a VeloFit@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!