For some of us, the end of the running season has started or will start soon. For me, my last race of the season was this Sunday.

What is meant by off-season?

The off-season is a time off from competing in running events, not necessarily stopping from running. As a runner, the off-season is a time to reduce the amount of running. It’s a time for me to spend more time with my family. A time to work on new methods of training. The plan is to go into maintenance mode until next year’s training block, which will be around January or February.

How should you train in the off-season?

This is the time to recover from any physical injuries. A time to work on any imbalances (e.g., favoring one foot over the other). A time to psychologically detox from constantly training and competing. A time to try out new things. 

If you haven’t done so, this is a time to implement strength training into your workout routine. A time to experiment with new nutrition plans—see what works for you—maybe something will work better than before. Try out new shoes; perhaps the shoes you’re currently wearing are putting too much strain on your legs. I like to read training books on ultra running, such as Training Essentials for Ultrarunning- Second Edition by Jason Koop. 

How much should you run in the off-season?

Keeping the same running load can cause overtraining, which can cause overuse injuries and mental fatigue. The amount of running should be reduced to about 50% to 60%, so for me, at the height of my training, I ran six days a week, so I’ll reduce the weekly load to about 2-3 times a week coupled with a few long runs a month rather than one or two every week. 

Some runners offset their running with crosstraining, such as skiing during winter. I’ll be implementing the rowing machine to keep up my cardio endurance. 

Should you do speed work in the off-season?

The off-season is a great time to work on speed work. This is something that I’ll be working on most of the off-season. Speed work is usually quick workouts ranging from 15 to 60-minute blocks with excellent results. I started speed work in midseason, and my pace for long-distance improved dramatically. My marathon time improved by 35 minutes in less than four months.

Speed work consists of progression runs, fartlek runs, interval runs, tempo runs, threshold runs, etc. I hate treadmills, but this is something that treadmills can be helpful with their programmable speed settings.

Running Off-Seasons Are Important!

Off-Seasons are an opportunity to improve on weaknesses. My goal next year is to tackle at least one 100-miler race, and I found that my legs are weak, so I will work on leg strength heavily throughout the off-season. 

This is the time to self-experiment, make mistakes, get attuned to our bodies, and improve for next year!

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