The secret is to direct your focus from being a triathlete to becoming a better athlete.
More: 8 Ways to Stay Focused This Offseason
Think about it this way. Excellence in short and long-course triathlon requires full body athleticism--a combination of aerobic capacity, muscle strength, mechanical efficiency and coordination.
Most of us spend the majority of our training time building aerobic capacity and that's a good thing. Let's face it, if you can't cover the race distance nothing else matters.
More: 4 Fun Cold-Weather Cardio Workouts
The offseason is the perfect time to shift your attention away from aerobic training and get focused on the other three pillars of long-course triathlon training.
Just keep in mind, there's no right or wrong way to do this.
The Three Rules
- For best results, mix the activities below in between recovery days ...remember this is a down time.
- Do things that you don't normally do.
- Have fun.
The following tactics offer some out-of-the-box ways to stay fit while reconnecting with a part of your physical life you may have forgotten about.
More: How to Build Speed in the Offseason
Remember camp, high school gym class, and horsing around with your pals when you were young? It's time to tap into your inner kid again and remember physical fitness is more than just swim, bike, run, stretch, lift, repeat.
Muscle Strength
Lifting weights is the most obvious tactic and a good one. But how about these:
- Load one or two kids into a wheel barrow and push it around the block or uphill;
- Fill a couple of buckets with water and attempt to carry them up and down a hill without spilling a drop. I got this one from a crazy strong body-building friend.
- Take a hike with the family and carry a heavy backpack, one of the kids, or most of the gear.
- Remember chicken fights? Toss another human on your shoulders, and spar with a partner -- might want to do this one in your local swimming pool to keep it safe.
More: 7 Indoor Triathlons for Winter
