The primary focus during the off-season should be to rest, recover, and relax. After a big season of training and racing it is likely that your body and mind are in need of some rest – take it, and enjoy it, because you’ll be back at the grind before you know it.
The Return to Running: What to Focus On
When it comes time to ease back into running, there are two areas you can work on: 1. The General 2. The Specific.
When I say the “General,” I am talking about types of runs or activities that are beneficial for all runners, whereas with the “Specific,” I am referring to the needs of an individual athlete. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and the off-season is a good time to address your specific individual weaknesses.
Let’s start with the General. There are a few key physiological areas that all runners should be addressing in their training. They are as follows: aerobic endurance, running economy, lactate threshold, VO2 max, and anaerobic capacity. Your specific event or race distance will determine just how much emphasis is put on each of these areas in training, but they all play a part.
Seeing as we are triathletes, and this is the off-season, I would immediately take lactate threshold, VO2 max, and anaerobic capacity work off the schedule. Improving these areas requires high-intensity, structured, and serious hard work – the off-season is no time to be thrashing yourself on the track or trails! To further that thought, in triathlon, I will rarely, if ever, target anaerobic capacity in training. If I am doing that type of work it will be done on the bike.
This leaves us with aerobic base fitness and running economy. These two areas are ideal to work on during your off-season.
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Aerobic Base Fitness: The Foundation of Running Excellence
Having a well-developed aerobic engine is the foundation of all fast running. If you don’t have a solid base you will struggle to reach your potential in running. Building a base takes consistency and time, but fortunately it does not put too much stress on your body.
One of the best things about base building is just how “easy” it is. The intensity of these runs is quite low: this is “zone 2,” or 65-75% of heart rate (ish) – in other words, conversational pace and effort.
Although these runs feel easy, there are numerous benefits to be had such as improved mitochondrial function, enhanced fat metabolism, improved cardiovascular fitness, soft tissue resilience, and capillary growth.
Importantly, base training is never complete. There is always more we can do. The most important element in building your aerobic endurance is to be consistent. Lace up the shoes, head out the door, keep the effort relaxed, and simply put the work in your legs. As we tell our Mile2Marathon athletes, it is about quietly “stacking the work” – and the miles. (And your future self will thank you when all that quiet work eventually shows up in fast intervals and on race day!)
Running Economy: More Speed at Less Energy Cost
The next area to focus on during the off-season is running economy. Running economy is a rather broad term that covers an array of zones and systems (including metabolic, neuromuscular, biomechanical, and tendon/muscle elasticity). Essentially, it is how efficiently your body uses energy while running. The less energy expended at a certain effort the longer the body can sustain said effort.
While running economy can be enhanced through hard intervals, we’re not focusing on those at this time of year. Instead, one of the best things you can do to boost running economy during the off-season is to hit the gym.
Resistance training is proven to improve running economy, especially sessions that focus on low reps with high weights. Squats and deadlifts are awesome lifts for runners. If you do decide to lift, just make sure that you are using proper technique and being safe. Lifting with improper technique is a surefire way to get injured.
You can also implement plyometric drills such as bounding, walking lunges, single legged hops, box jumps, and ankle bounces. These exercises can help strengthen your lower leg muscles and tendons to better absorb and produce force while running, which enhances your running economy.
Strides are another way to help (and they are also a low-risk way to maintain some speed and snap during the off-season). Once or twice a week, at the end of your run, you can add 4-6 x 15-20 second strides. These are efforts done at about 80-90% of full speed where the focus is on good form, quick cadence, smooth turnover, and knee drive. Basically try to run like Usain Bolt for these and you’ll be all set!
Addressing Specific Limiters
While focusing on aerobic endurance and running economy is something that we can all do, the off-season is also a time to look at your own individual specific needs as an athlete.
Take some time to reflect on your running, including how you structure your training, your approach to rest and recovery, your nutrition, your equipment, your pacing, and your mental skills. Running is not only about physiology, and the off-season is a good time to do a full audit on the little things that, when fine-tuned, can help your performance.
A good thing about these specific tweaks is that often they are low-effort adjustments. This is the “work smarter, not harder” side of the sport. I know people who have gotten faster when they started taking their diet more seriously, or when they added a daily 20-minute nap. I’m sure there are areas in your training that you could tighten up, and the off-season is a great time to implement new routines and make the adjustments.
All in all, while the off-season may feel like a “quiet” or less exciting time of year, it’s where the foundation for next season is laid. By focusing on your aerobic base, improving running economy through strength and gym work, and addressing the broader factors that support your individual performance and recovery, you’ll be setting yourself up for success. Then, when it’s time to turn the screws and lean into your next training cycle, you’ll already be ahead of the curve.
Train smart, train hard, and embrace the process.
Rob Watson is a former professional runner and the Head Coach of Mile2Marathon Vancouver: visit https://mile2marathon.com for more information.
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