Typically, most of us would have a mid-season reset or break for vacation, as a post-peak-race recovery week, or even some downtime from injury or illness. This season, it likely looks a little bit different, as races came off the calendar and it’s been all training and virtual challenges. Have you taken a week off, a vacation, or just some down time away from your primary sport? If not, you may need one, despite not racing. Downtime, or a mid-season reset, helps give us a mental and physical reset, and keeps us more psyched on sport in the long term.
This can also go for work: A lot of us are working remotely now, which means weirdly, we’re more connected than ever. When was the last time you took an email-free day? (We recently did a 3 day camping trip where we were actually offline for a whole 66 hours (yep, I counted.). And it was AMAZING. It turns out that despite — or maybe because of — not racing, I was definitely in a place where I needed a mental and physical reset. I wasn’t overtrained, but I was definitely working my way into a bit of a rut, and a few days in the backcountry really helped give me that ‘weekend’ vibe that I had been missing.
Peter has a few tips around taking a mid-season reset:
- First, take 3-14 days off and re-start training towards something different or with a different focus (maybe return to base/endurance after race/build phase)
- Consider starting to plan out a 2020-2021 seasonal plan starting from now and looking towards spring, adding in the goal races you’re hoping to do next year
- Have you done a training block or a focused few weeks on an element of fitness or skill or sport? Mix it up and focus on something a bit different (bike vs. run vs. hike vs. strength)
- Take care of any nagging injuries/illnesses. Ask yourself, Can you be healthier? (Can you improve an element of diet, sleep, mobility, et cetera… and our free 7-day habit guide might have some suggestions for you!)
READ: There Isn’t As Much Time As You Think (For Training)
http://ConsummateAthlete.com/there-isnt-as-much-time-as-you-think-for-training/
We’ll be covering this plus a few specific questions in a Q&A podcast episode on Friday so make sure you’re subscribed to The Consummate Athlete Podcast so you don’t miss it!
