The road running season has ended, now it’s off-season and then prepping for next year!
How should you approach planning if your ambitions include spring and summer races? Here’s a guide to maintain your progress and keep your momentum!
Don’t Lose What You’ve Built!
The running off-season isn’t that long — about three months. But if you’re starting from scratch again in spring, many early summer races could end up as missed opportunities along with your fitness level. So, planning a meaningful off-season is always a good idea.
What’s Possible When Many Things Aren’t?
The off-season runs from late November to the end of January and presents both environmental (cold weather) and festive (and the aftermath) challenges. During this time, it’s objectively difficult to do some types of runs, like long tempo runs, extended intervals, progressive running, or hill sprints. These are especially tough outdoors due to low temperatures, slippery surfaces, and limited daylight. However, you can still do easy, low-heart-rate runs. Just make sure to dress appropriately for the weather!
How to Go from Theory to Practice?
The lack of intense, long workouts is a perfect reason to make your late autumn and winter training purposeful. This not only boosts motivation and mood but also provides tangible results in spring and summer. Heard of a base training period? That’s what this time is for. So, use this opportunity and focus on:
- Long, slow runs for building foundational endurance.
- Short speed intervals in the stadium to maintain VO2Max.
- Strength training to improve muscle structure and ligament strength, preparing them for spring race training.
Making It Happen in the OMY! Sports App
In the OMY! Sports app, the “Improve Physical Fitness” mode is ideal for this purpose. You can set this up in Settings → Update → Set New Goal.
There is one thing — determine your adequate weekly running volume. Use one of these two approaches:
- Stick with your current volume if it’s manageable in the challenging weather
- Consult a coach in the chat for advice on what suits you best.
This plan should carry you through January, focusing on easy, long runs and strength exercises (core, legs, etc.), along with technique drills from the video workouts. Starting in February, you’ll be ready to kick off targeted race prep!
Happy Off-Season!
Your OMY! Sports Team