The offseason: how to recover beautifully and set yourself up for success moving forward!
So you finished your race. Now what?
For months, all eyes are on race day. And now that’s it’s over, it’s tough to navigate your next steps.
When is it ok to run again?
Will you lose fitness?
Where can you learn and build from your experience?
The offseason can be a tough period to navigate. But with a little guidance, reflection and patience, it can be a valuable period to launch you towards big things in future, as well as improve your enjoyment of the sport.
So let’s dive into our top tips to ensure that your offseason is a huge success!
Recover
And know that this probably takes longer than you think.
Tap into other interests. Sleep. Connect with friends and family outside your usual running world.
We like to emphasize two points here:
Training and racing are a big ask physically, mentally and emotionally. Consider what it looks like for you to recharge on all fronts.
The greatest foundations of recovery are rooted in sleep, nutrition and managing the daily dance of life stress vs training loads. While there are plenty of recovery tools out there that have potential to support your efforts, make sure that you prioritize those foundations and use other strategies as an extra boost.
While your legs and brain may feel up for a run a few days post-race, the science suggests that signs of your massive effort are likely to be physically present in your body for up to 2 weeks. We’re talking signs of muscle breakdown, impaired immunity and inflammation. We know it isn’t our forte as runners, but chill!
2. Reflect
This is your super power to be effective in leveling up in future. Without it, we lose out on the best strategy to learn and grow from our experience, as well as running the risk of being far too focused on times and race outcomes as primary determinants of “success”.
There’s no “right way”, but our go to is to find a comfortable spot free, cozy drink recommended, and bust out a notebook to consider:
Where were you incredible?
What are you proud of?
What have you learned?
What are you excited to build on moving forward?
And reminder, this reflection should go beyond race day. Of course race day matters, but don’t forget to also consider the season as a whole.
3. Manage lingering pain and concerns
You know that cranky knee that may as well have been held together with band aids and a prayer heading into race week?
While time off may mean that it’s no longer shouting questions about your life choices on a daily basis, chances are the problem hasn’t been solved. It’s simply not being tested.
We see a cycle of pain, offload, return to sport, return to pain every day in clinic. Don’t let yourself fall into that trap!
Now is the time to get a better understanding of what’s driving that discomfort and create a plan to ensure that it isn’t part of the story in future training cycles. Without the pressure of training weeks flying by and long runs to be tackled, you’re in the perfect position to figure it out once and for all!
4. Revisit goals
We've all joked about swearing that we’ll never run again mid-race, only to whip out credit cards to register for eight more races moments after finishing. While we love that post-race enthusiasm, we recommend a little time to consider what goals are really energizing us without the influence of post-race endorphins. This is that time!
And while we’re at it, gentle reminder that:
Process goals are the secret sauce to acheiving the goals that make your heart race. It’s great to say that you want to run a distance in a given time, but how are you going to show up for yourself on the regular to get there?
Just because you’ve run X distance, doesn’t mean that you should run X+Y distance next.
A half marathon doesn’t mean that you must or should run a marathon.
Just because you have run a 10k doesn’t mean that you can’t or shouldn’t play with the 5k distance anymore.
We’d argue that there’s immense value in going “shorter and faster” to level up your capacity to show up and tap into possibility at longer distances.
In short, as you set your goals, consider the races, distances and challenges that really excite you. If a given race/distance (and more importantly, the training for it) isn’t a “heck, yes!”, have a moment to gut check whether now is the time for that goal to be put to the test.
5. Make a plan
The offseason is the time to level up on the things that get dropped or just aren’t a reality as mileage ramps up.
In other words, it’s strength training season, friends! If you don’t have a clear plan that targets the specific demands of running, and even better if it addresses your unique goals and opportunities, this is your moment!
It’s also the perfect time to consider a running gait analysis to identify opportunity for improved resilience and/or performance.
If drills aren’t part of your regular routine, consider how they could be a valuable strategy to help you level up. Build them in now so that they become auto-pilot in your next build.
Maybe you finally dive into that weird ankle thing that always pops up at 20k.
It’s a big ask to be starting a new training block while also introducing a big strength block, refining your approach to recovery and mobility, fine tuning your approach to the skill of running mechanics and juggling the rest of life. Use this time to level up on the non-running side of running and you stand to make great gains!
6. Don’t be afraid to drop training loads and fitness a bit!
Fact: the pros aren’t at peak fitness at all times, and you certainly can’t be either. We know that you worked hard to build fitness, but we promise that the best way to level up from here is to temporarily ease off.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that a hard stop on running is the best plan of attack (although, depending on where you’re at, there are cases where it might be!).
When it comes to maintaining some running base, we know two things:
While it may feel like a week off will “undo” all your hard work, you will maintain more fitness than you think. You’ll also build it back faster than you think. We promise.
The greatest risk of injury comes in those with extremely low or very high training loads. So a “moderate” ask is a good way to protect from injury and ensure that you’re set to dive in as you look to ramp back up.
“Moderate” can mean different things to everyone. Consider that the load of running specifically is dependent on a lot of factors. Adjust volume, intensity and frequency to find your sweet spot, and remember that factors like general life stress and sleep patterns can impact whether a training load is just right or enough to push you into high risk territory.
And on the note of intensity - there is some evidence that maintaining some intensity has a protective effect. So let’s leave the behemoth workouts for build phases of training, but some speed and hills once a week are still fair game once you’ve passed the initial recovery phase.
7. Enjoy!
This is a big one.
Consider exploring a trail. Live it up without worrying about a 5 am wake up call for a long run (and the potential stomach drama that it might bring). Tap into interests outside of running. Move your body in ways that bring you joy and connect with folks who light you up (that can absolutely include yourself!).
Now’s the time to play, explore and fill up your cup outside of running.
Consider how to bring a hair more joy to your running and we promise, promise you’ll be stronger for it!
As always, we’re here to help you find joy on the run! If you feel like a little guidance on managing injury, launching towards performance goals or otherwise, don’t hesitate to reach out!
Happy offseason, friends!