Make 2019 Your Best Race Season

WINTER CAN BE a difficult time for triathletes. It’s a time to rest, recover and reassess. However, the concept of slowing down to reenergize doesn’t come easily to many endurance athletes. An undisputed fact of endurance sport is that both your body and mind need a break, and winter seems the logical time to do just that. There’s factbased and anecdotal evidence that taking such a break will translate into a better and happier athlete. Those who adhere to a suitable endof-season break typically have greater longevity in the sport and have a higher chance of attaining race goals from year to year by resting, building, peaking and tapering at the appropriate times.

When it comes to winter triathlon training, variety is as vital as consistency. There’s little need to log endless hours of training in dark, cold and/or wet conditions. Instead, take a complete break from all physical endeavours and enjoy some family/friend time (total rest). Then begin moving again, but steer away from the three disciplines of triathlon for a time by incorporating light unstructured workouts of various other fun activities (active recovery). Then return to the specific challenges of triathlon and focus on a handful of short, quality workouts each week for several months (prep phase). This will set you up for the increased training and race demands of the spring and summer, when training hours ramp up as the temperature rises.