As the TA took it’s quivering liver* out for a post-Christmas run that felt longer than was strictly necessary, we got to wondering “why exactly it was that the run felt longer than strictly necessary?”, which segued nicely into “what is strictly necessary?” which was answered by “because it’s the off-season” which itself segued nicely into “what constitutes an off-season anyway?”.
For large game, an off-season usually means they can’t be hunted, so with that in mind the off-season means people can stop taking pot-shots at me for a while. That would be nice.
Back to sport.
There is a school of thought that says as amateur athletes, we don’t need an off-season. After all, we’re not performing to such a high level or intensity that an off-season is strictly necessary. It further goes on to say that, as age-groupers, we should be striving more for year-round fitness. If fitness is an enjoyable part of our lifestyle, then we shouldn't deprive ourselves of what we enjoy because we are strictly adhering to the notion of "a month off".
The TA for one (Eds note: and this is a personal belief), believes that all is in proportion and yes, while most of us are not racing Elite, a season of continually training and racing eventually takes a toll, Elite or not. We need an off-season to recuperate physically and psychologically. Besides, the TA's race-season only finished a couple of weeks ago and if we don’t get at least one afternoon asleep on the couch with a cup of tea in one hand and the remote in the other there’s going to be murders.
So if we’re agreed that an off-season is in order, what form should it take?
A month or two on the couch with the remote and a cup of tea (or whatever it is that floats your proverbial boat) might just be the ticket. We all know people who have trained like dervishes all winter only to hit the racing season burned out, injured, totally jaded or all three.
A prolonged period of inactivity would drive even the most saintly of us mad, but keeping the training tempo up through the winter could (perversely) ruin the coming season. So perhaps we should stay active. We reckon there are a couple of options.
Instead of bemoaning the season, we can embrace it. Go out and have fun in the snow. Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing or snow-shoeing are all perfectly acceptable ways of keeping your fitness levels up. Admittedly it doesn’t involve any of the sports we profess to enjoy, but if it keeps your heart-rate up and a smile on your face, it’s a winner in our book.
Just be careful taking this option. As we take the roll-call at Navy and Cyclesmith there are always missing names due to snow-related injuries. Of course, exotic injuries need not be snow-related – Laurent Jalabert did his back in changing a light-bulb, but be careful nonetheless.
Now we think about it, while you are at it, avoid Sunday Leagues like the plague. In Blighty these would be football (soccer to you) leagues but we suppose hockey would be pretty close. You’re bound to hear “We’re short a winger/goalie/forward/substitute and you’re pretty fit; join us Sunday?”. Yes we’re fit (thank-you very much), but our knees only work in a nice up-and-down plane. All that twisting and turning? And then an awkward hit? You want to do
The second way to treat the off-season is to change our expectations of it. There’s no reason you can’t stay fit all year, but you needn’t stay in race-shape all year. Back in the day when the TA was a roadie, the winters were given over to the long slow bike-ride. Come the summer, those of us with a certain bent would sharpen our skills (and cough up our lungs) on the chain-gang but the long, slow ride was a sacrosanct Sunday staple in the winter. You could be ostracized for upping the pacing on a Sunday club-run! “You want a race, go find one, you want to be on this ride, stay here” the cry would come from the back.
Yes we know there have been rumblings in the trade-press that the long, slow bike-ride (as well as, we’re sure, long slow runs, swims and bouts of tiddlywinks) are physiologically inappropriate and, worse, uncool, but we tend to agree with BikeSnob on this one. Roadies (it is reputed) are incapable of having fun and a long, slow bike-ride is definitely enjoyable (the Crest CC was a beer club with a bicycling problem). By this rationale then, the winter should be intervals interspersed with longer periods of pain, because if we’re not enjoying ourselves, it must be good for us (and ipso facto, if we’re enjoying it, then it can’t be doing us any good at all).
Besides, the TA reckons long slow bike/runswim/tiddlywinks/whatever definitely has a place. For those with an early-season rendezvous with a marathon or an eye to something even longer, such as an Ironman, long 'n slow is the ticket. You need those long, steady miles with goals such as these in mind; nothing fancy, nothing particularly fast even, just a couple or three hours of good, low-intensity effort. Base-miles (which are 60% longer than base-kilometres). If you think about it in these terms, then far from being a pain in our frost-bitten fingers, winter was actually made for us!
So as we emerge from a week’s debauchery (please tell us we weren’t the only one) and contemplate a snow-and-ice covered landscape, don’t worry. In our case, slow and steady definitely wins the race (and in slightly related news, Eddy Merckx once said the Tour de France was won in bed but that's a different post). Just forget the bricks, their time will come!
AD
*Apologies to Tom Wolfe
No comments:
Post a Comment