You just finished your last race of the season and set a new personal best for that course. Once his achievement sinks, it is quickly replaced by a feeling of emptiness. What do you do now that the racing season is over? What could you have to look forward to for the rest of the year? The answer… next season.

Now is not the time to stop training for four months. Sure, go ahead and relax for a few weeks after a good season, but you should already be gearing up for next year and keep your current fitness levels from dipping too low. Your goal doesn’t necessarily have to be fitness, but your top priority should definitely be maintenance. Why waste all the hard work you did last year? Stay on your game and come back solid next year. So how do you do this?

Off-Season Tip #1: Don’t train like a maniac

Chances are you’ve been training like crazy all season and your body needs some active rest. If you were training to your full potential, it would be very difficult for your body to withstand very intense and long training cycles year after year.

Now is the time to give your body and mind a break by taking it easy and trying something different. Maybe spend time with family or call some friends and family you haven’t talked to during the last eight months of training. They would probably be excited to hear from you.

Off-Season Tip #2: Cross-train

If all you do is swim, bike, and run, you’ll have severely underdeveloped muscles that go unused during these activities. This can affect performance and lead to injury. Take advantage of this off-season to do other things you enjoy to activate forgotten muscles.

Go surfing, hiking, skiing, or play football, soccer, hockey, etc. Definitely swim, bike and run from time to time, but keep the intensity below the maximum and keep it unstructured. Just go with the flow, and if you’re the type who feels the need to punish yourself at every workout, you may need to structure your off-season workouts to be less intense.

Off-Season Tip #3: Hit the Gym

I can talk ad nauseam about the benefits of resistance training for endurance athletes, but many still refuse to do so, mainly due to time constraints. Now it’s the off-season, your workouts are shorter, and it’s time to hit the weights.

Strength and endurance training is probably the best thing you can do to increase power and prevent injury. Just start slow if you’re new to resistance training, then increase the sets, reps, weight, rest length, etc. as it advances. It would be better to find a training plan or get a personal trainer, but simply doing it is better than not doing it at all. Just make sure you’re using proper technique or you could hurt yourself.

Start slow and work your way up. Don’t feel like you need to throw heavy weights and barbells to train for more power. Resistance bands, stability balls, medicine balls, and many bodyweight exercises can be almost as beneficial and far less dangerous. Two to three days a week for 20 to 30 minutes is all you really need. Try doing circuits with movements back to back without rest.

Off-Season Tip #4: Stay Focused

Now is the time to correct the problems you have with your technique. Your workouts should be shorter and less intense, so now you can really focus on correcting flaws in your swimming stroke, pedaling efficiency, or running form.

What’s the use of logging countless hours using poor form? Your body will just learn the bad technique and it will be harder to correct later on. Use this offseason to buff technique on your weaknesses, allowing you to go faster and use less energy. Have a coach look at your technique and maybe even get a video of yourself so you can see what you’re doing wrong.

Off-Season Tip #5: Plan Your Race Schedule

What is the best thing after racing and training? Planning your races and training, of course!
Do some research on what races you would like to do next year. You can start planning your training early to be prepared for those races based on the distance and terrain of the race. Do not decide that you are going to try your first Ironman a month before the race; you won’t be able to be ready on time.

Hopefully some of these tips have been helpful. It is very easy to become complacent and lose fitness in the off-season. Be the person who maintains or even improves before the next season starts. Now go out and socialize for the next few months, it won’t last long.