I hear a lot of people say that there is no off-season. Their logic makes sense if you use periodization to plan your training year. You start of with building strength and base over the winter; then you build into the spring and early summer; then you try to peak as you head into your “A” race. Even following periodization, the time after you recover from your “A” race, which at one time was thought of as the off-season, is referred to as a transition period, where you are to keep active but do less of the sport that you trained for all season and instead do alternative activities to refresh your mind and body – this period should typically last for 3-4 weeks. Then you go back into the strength and base conditioning period. No off-season.
Today I am in the middle of a short visit at my parent’s place in a smal town in northern New Brunswick (or a small city by New Brunswick standards). As we await the arrival of the dreaded “Frankenstorm” – or the remnants of hurricane Sandy – it is a grey and somewhat dreary day outside. The ground is wet but it isn’t raining and it is mildly windy. Temps hovering around 10 degrees. On vacation, this is the type of day where it is nice to just kick back with a cup of coffee and a good book. However, as I am constantly reminding myself of how little “training” I’ve done in the past few weeks, and knowing that the next few days should be a miserable mixture of bad weather, I decided that it would be a good idea to get out for an easy run. I’m not training for anything in particular, and it is the “off-season”, but it is still nice to get out for a run if for no reason other than to get some fresh air and clear the mind.
I put on my long-sleeved fall running shirt, laced up my runners and went out the door with no real plan other than to go for an easy run. After only a few steps, I was immersed in a bubble of fog – the outside sounds were still there but slightly more muffled, and the sounds of my own footsteps echoed eerily off the walls of this imaginary bubble. In small-town NB, free of the noise and air pollution of the city, the sounds from inside my little cocoon of fog were peaceful and soothing. As I ticked off the first couple of kilometres, I began to question the merits of the “there is no off-season” approach.
The road took a turn and began to descend towards the small but busy downtown. Rather than the sounds of sirens, honking horns and screeching tires I heard a rail car being loaded with wood chips, some heavy equipment working on expanding the ever-popular downtown car wash (a great business venture in any small town, as it gives the local boys an opportunity to rinse the mud from the chassis of their 4×4′s after a weekend in the woods, after which said 4×4′s can be put proudly on display as their friends and peers drive by and admire them). Following this, I passed through a tunnel under one of the main roads and onto a crushed gravel path that ran through a marsh next to the river. As I passed a gentleman out for a walk he smiled and said hello (This never happens in Ottawa or Edmonton!), and even though I may have given up small town life for big city living some years ago, I still remember how to be courteous in my home town so I smiled back and gave him a hearty “hello” in return.
I reached my turnaround point and started to head back along the same route, past the friendly fellow, the ever-expanding downtown car wash, the now quiet rail yard, and back up the seemingly endless hill that I had come down not long ago. By this time, the fog had lifted slightly and buses were lined up at the local high school awaiting their daily load of our future community leaders. The fall smells of rotting leaves and wet ground were still very pungent in the air and even though I had lost my peaceful cocoon of fog, I was still very pleased with my decision to just go for a run for the sake of getting outside.
I realize there is nothing quite like the endorphin rush that comes after a hard tempo run, but there is something very sublime about the long, slow run… especially when your main purpose is to just get outside and enjoy your surroundings, and you’re not all that worried about things like your average pace or heart rate, or how this run is going to help you build for your next PB (which you definitely should have achieved in your last race, had you not made a few critical training errors!).
Now I may have long been an advocate of the “there is no off-season” approach, but I am beginning to wonder just how much merit that actually has. I do think that there is a lot to be said for an off-season, and getting back to doing the things we love without having a plan or schedule or workout involved. It’s refreshing, and in some ways may actually be a form of “base training” for the mind… think about it! I do highly recommend going for an off-season run, and no matter how hard core you may be, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
-Chris