Offseason

If reducing your training volume scares you check this out. Hopefully it will change your mind. If it does come back here.

My favorite offseason benefits

• A mental break - The more we do something the more bored we can get. That can spiral into not wanting to train.

• A social break - We potentially sacrifice some of our social life for weekends away at a race and early nights to bed. Reducing the volume of our training allows us more time with friends and family. This is especially important during the holidays found in November and December.

• A physical break - The advice and science below doesn’t suggest we completely stop exercising but the offseason is a good time to be able to take a physical break from our sport. Repetitive motion is one of the causes of poor posture and injury. Moving our body in different ways in the offseason is beneficial for many reasons.

• Extra time to strength, mobility, and cross train - Again, sport tends to be repetitive. This repetitive motion and hunched position on our bike can wreak havoc on our posture. Cycling also doesn’t do any favors for our strength and bone density. The offseason is a great time to reset and find those other important gains.

Offseason does not mean inactivity

I think this article is fantastic. It summarizes information about detraining from 50 scientific studies. It also provides guidance for training during and the length of your offseason. Here are some bullet points about detraining (doing no exercise at all) that stuck out to me:

• “VO2max can drop by as much as 4-14 percent in as little as four weeks”

  • VO2 max is the total amount of oxygen your body can take into your lungs, absorb into your blood stream, transport to your muscles, and use inside your muscles in one minute. A higher VO2 max allows you to potentially have a higher FTP. A higher FTP is what it’s all about.

• “as little as a week of inactivity can also induce a loss of muscle glycogen stores”

  • Glycogen is gold. Without it we will slow down and lack the ability for short explosive efforts. If you’ve ever “bonked” during a long exercise session then you have experienced the feeling of running out of glycogen. Glycogen is the stored and packaged up form of carbohydrates that can be broken down into glucose. We can store around 2000 calories worth of glycogen in our liver, blood, and muscles. Since it is possible to run out of glycogen (carbohydrates) we want to be able to store as much as possible for the start line.

• “Blood volume begins to drop off after as little as two days of inactivity and after four weeks can be 12 percent”

  • More blood means more oxygen carrying capacity.

  • More blood is beneficial for exercising in the heat. When we get hot we sweat. Sweat evaporates and cools our skin. Blood vessels beneath the skin dilate to send the blood past the cool skin. This cooled blood returns to the core and cools us down. When more blood gets sent to the skin less can be sent to the muscles. There is a competition between preventing overheating and pumping out the watts. If we have less blood volume then even less will get to our muscles. This is a main reason to make sure we are hydrating properly.

• “All of these losses lead to a general decrease in endurance capacity of as much as 25 percent in as little as two to four weeks”

  We know that we should take an offseason and that it is beneficial, but doing zero exercise for even a few weeks can set us back a tremendous amount. Below is some advice to find the right balance between reduced volume and losing fitness.

Offseason Guidelines

Frequency, intensity, duration, and type of exercise (cross training exercise counts here) for the offseason:

• “Training frequency, or the number of times per week you ride, should only come down 20-30 percent in the offseason.”

• “Bergman speculates that actual training intensity should be reduced only by 10-20 percent over any given reduction in training.”

• “Research suggests that if frequency and intensity are maintained at correct levels, actual training volume can drop by as much as 70-80 percent.”

The total duration of the offseason:

• “As with all things sport-related, individual reduction should be personalized and reflect your age, mix of training intensities, and experience level.

  A masters athlete who is new to cycling (under two years) should probably minimize their actual “offseason” in favor of improving overall aerobic conditioning via maintenance of some long rides. Conversely, an athlete with 10 or 15 years of racing experience can easily cut their volume a lot and come back to their normal training fresh and ready after a few weeks.”

Cross Training

It is important to remember that cross training counts here. Running, swimming, HIIT, fitness classes, etc. This can also be a double benefit if you’re someone who is without a bike for parts of the year. Maybe you take frequent trips that you can't take a bike on? If you figure out some cross training in the offseason then that can be used to keep your fitness up during the year when you’re away from your bike.

Conclusion

The offseason can go either way. You might be so afraid to lose fitness that you don’t take one. On the other hand, one week completely off the bike could accidentally turn into several. If so, you will experience the detraining effects listed above. Both approaches can be detrimental for the following season.

I agree with this approach to the offseason. The research suggests to train one or two fewer days a week, keep the intensity up, and drop the total duration by 50-75% for 1-4 weeks. Honestly, it feels like it’s possible to stretch it out even a little further. This will maintain your fitness and freshen your mind and body for the season to come!