For one, if you had an injury filled season, then it’s time
to get yourself patched back up. Enter
your health care team. Your doctor will
deal with all the blood work and your internals, while your PT will help fix your
battered body. This is the time to
figure out WHY your body is angry with you and work to make sure it doesn’t
come back to interfere with the next season’s worth of racing. Sure you can read all the internet advice you
want on a certain nagging pain you’ve been nursing along all season to no
avail. It’s time to consult a professional,
the experts, your physical therapist and your orthopedic doctor. If the pain hasn’t resolved itself by now
(after months of hoping, we’re all guilty of this one), more than likely it’s
not going anywhere, anytime soon until you do something about it. Find that provider that understands your
needs as an athlete and your sport. Do
not settle. Your experience and that
relationship are invaluable to your sporting future.
As I’m sure many coaches will agree, allowing your body to
recover physically and mentally are important to your growth and performance
for the next season. I have a coach and
he reminds me of these things.
Professionally, I, too, know how important this is. In a lot of ways, knowing the things I know
can be a blessing and curse at the same time.
I know, for me, the mental part of racing and training takes its toll on
you by season’s end. My last race took a
lot out of me mentally. It was that
exhausting. It took two weeks for me to
reach full clarity on the event. Even in
the weeks that followed, motivation to go out and do big miles (especially when
you don’t need to) was NADA. Physically
could I go out and pound out miles or sit and ride for hours? Yeah.
Do I want to? NO. Using the off season to regroup mentally and
physically get healthy is the time to address this without the pressures of a
race or prepping for a race dangling in front of you.
You can also address any weaknesses. Literally and figuratively. Work with the PT and figure out what needs to
be addressed. What are the muscle
imbalances? What’s weak? What is too
“tight”? Biomechanically, what isn’t
moving correctly and what can be done to address it? This all falls in line with why were you
injured in the first place? Trauma is
one thing, typical overuse and poor mechanics are another. During this time of patching yourself up,
find other activities in order to maintain your fitness. I always say it’s easier to stay in shape
than it is to get into shape. The worst
thing you can do is let yourself go completely.
It just makes it that much harder to come back when the next year rolls
in.
Having
the goals you set “in season” are just as important as those “off season” goals
they just don’t revolve around time splits or performances necessarily. I have my “off season” goals to help improve
next year’s “in season” performance. The
longer you wait to address any issues, the less time you will have to spend focusing
on them the right way and often times the longer it takes to fix it. No better time than the present! We're here to help!
