Running/Hiking
Congrats on completing another season of racing and frolicking on the trails! As the trail season winds down, it’s time to start thinking about your game plan for the off-season. Generally, when you think of the off-season, you might be thinking about taking time off from training or letting intra-run fueling fall by the wayside. While these can exist within the winter months for runners, it’s important to continue training and prioritizing nutrition, even when frequency or fine-tuning is down.
If I’m being honest, before I became a Running Coach I used to think the off-season was the time of year where I could neglect my cardiovascular system and get back to my roots of lifting heavy weights. While strength training volume does generally increase in the off-season, I quickly learned the hard way that avoiding getting the heart pumping is absolutely not helpful come spring time. Fortunately, a lot of knowledge, growth, and consistency has been gained since those days so I can confidently share the benefits of off-season training and how to approach strength training and running this winter.
Now as a runner, you know that training is only one piece of the puzzle. To assist you from the nutrition side, we are collaborating with Registered Dietitian, Alyssa Leib, to help you fuel confidently this off season. Alyssa is the owner of Peak to Peak Nutrition. She works with runners, hikers, and mountain athletes of all levels to help them dial in their nutrition to perform and feel their best. Alyssa believes that mental health is just as important as physical health and supports everyone she works with in building and nurturing a positive relationship with food and body. To learn more about Alyssa’s services, visit www.peaktopeaknutrition.com or follow her on Instagram @alyssaoutside_rd.
First, we will take a deep dive into the benefits of off-season training, goal setting, and how to set yourself up for success.
When you dedicate time and effort to things like strengthening your body, addressing weaknesses, and building your aerobic base, you can experience a big pay off by the time race season rolls around. Here is an extensive list of benefits of training through the winter months:
1. Build consistency
2. Gain strength
3. Build muscle
4. Develop aerobic base
5. Improve endurance
6. Adapt heart rate
7. Increase speed
8. Address weaknesses
9. Recover from injuries (with a Physical Therapist)
10. Improve downhill and/or uphill running
11. Reduce risk of injury
12. Improve flexibility and mobility
AND continue to…
13. Improve brain health
14. Improve mental health
15. Improve cardiovascular health
16. Improve and maintain bone health
17. Manage chronic conditions
18. Boost mood, energy, and confidence
These 18 benefits are only a few of many. Convinced yet? Join Kathletics Trail to get started with your off-season training.
Although we are primarily talking about the off-season in this article, goal setting is cyclical and affects training all year round. Your recent race season impacts your off-season, next year's race goals impact your off-season, and your off-season impacts next year's race season. Did you follow that? Let’s break it down.
Assuming your race season ended recently, you will want to review it in its entirety to gather data. What went well? What could improve? What would you implement again? What injuries occurred, if any? Answering these questions for yourself will give you baseline information for planning what to do in your off-season.
Once you have analyzed your race season, consider your goals for next year. What distance(s) do you want to train for? Have you run in similar race conditions before (distance, location, environment, etc.)? How do you want to approach the event(s) (finish it in general, get a PR, etc.)? Knowing what you want out of your future race season will directly influence your off-season plans.
Being intentional about how you run and lift weights is imperative over these next several months. Although, recognize that your consistency of doing both will matter most. Specificity in your workouts will become more important as you get closer to your race, but off-season training gives you the opportunity to do so.
As I mentioned earlier, training volume ebbs and flows throughout the year based on your race season. Now is the time to beef up your resistance training volume to gain muscle and strength for next year. If during your race season you typically resistance train 0-2x/week, now is the time to increase it to 2-4x/week.
Follow a training program that follows progressive overload and focuses on quality over quantity. Join one of our hybrid training programs to take the guesswork out of your workouts.
It’s easy to get a little carried away with the post-race recovery days or week(s) when it butts up to cold fall weather. By the time you’ve recovered, it’s 40 degrees and cloudy and that brisk air isn’t calling your name. I get it. But lean into the cold. Take advantage of having a lower working heart rate due to the cooler temperatures, develop your aerobic base over the next several months, and keep up your consistency so you’re feeling ready to rock next season! Find a baseline that works for you, be it weekly mileage or duration, and stick with it.
Whether you experienced a little tweak or noticed some muscular compensation during your runs, now is the time to address those issues. Work with a Physical Therapist to manage your injuries and follow up with a Personal Trainer and Running Coach to make sure your training plan is meeting you where you are in your fitness. You know your body best, but having a team that is on your side and who wants to support you can make all the difference.
The off-season is where the magic happens. This is where you can get strong af and build consistency while also prioritizing your rest and recovery. Recovery goes beyond just training volume. It also includes quality of sleep, stress management, nutrition, and hydration. With that said, I’ll let nutrition expert Alyssa take it from here.
So, you’re on track with an off-season training plan. Awesome! Don’t forget to include one critical component of your training: nutrition. The off-season is the perfect time to dial in your nutrition basics - so that when spring training ramps up, you have a solid foundation to build off of. Your off-season nutrition strategy can look a lot of different ways, depending on your on-season nutrition and your off-season training. Here are some ideas:
1. Match your daily fueling to your activity level.
You don’t need to cut out your favorite foods or go on a diet, but you don’t need to eat to support marathon training if you’re not, you know, training for a marathon. Here are some components of your diet to consider modifying during the off-season:
Carbs are the muscles’ preferred source of energy. The more you train, the more carbs you need - which also means that as you ease off of the gas pedal, your body needs fewer carbs to support training and daily life.some text
- Tip: Aim to fill ¼ of your plate with carbs on rest days, ⅓ of your plate on moderate training days, and ½ of your plate on hard training days.
Protein needs don’t change from day to day like carbohydrate needs do, but if your off-season consists of less activity, it should also consist of less protein. On the other hand, if you’re shifting into a strength building phase, you may need to eat more protein. Here are some general protein recommendations:some text
-Sedentary adult: 0.8-1.0 g of protein per kg of body weight
-Endurance training: 1.2-1.4 g of protein per kg of body weight
-Ultra-endurance training: 1.4-2.2 g of protein per kg of body weight
-Strength training: 1.6-2.0 g of protein per kg of body weight
-PS: Don’t neglect carbs for strength training either.
- Feeling confused? Book a nutrition consult now!
Your parents were right when they told you to eat your fruits and veggies! During peak training, prioritizing calories, carbs, and protein can sometimes mean you aren’t getting in quite as much color as you should. The off-season is a great opportunity to pack in some extra vitamins and minerals by adding more color to your plate.some text
- Tip: Aim to fill ½ your plate with fruits and veggies on rest days, ⅓ on moderate training days, and ¼ on hard training days.
Don’t forget about changes in hydration needs! You may need to decrease fluid and/or electrolyte intake if:some text
- You’re spending less time exercising in the heat. (You still sweat when it’s cold outside, so make sure you aren’t totally neglecting hydration!)
- You’re spending less time exercising… period.
- You’re spending less time at altitude. The higher in altitude you go, the more fluid you lose in both breath and urine. If your off-season adventures are a little closer to home, your body may need less hydration. (Note that if you spend time in the winter hiking, snowshoeing, or skiing, you’ll need more fluids to stay hydrated.)
2. Try something new!
There’s no better time than the off-season to test out some new fuel sources to use on runs or hikes. It’s fine to have your “old reliable” go-tos, but variety is key, especially if you’re planning on some long days in the mountains next summer. Testing new options now ensures that you aren’t scrambling to find something that works once spring training ramps up. Head to The Feed or your local running store to browse gels and chews or check out the bulk bins at your local grocery store for inspiration. (Remember to take a break from your tried and true fuel sources too so you don’t get sick of them.)
The off-season is also a great opportunity to try something new in your day-to-day nutrition. Spice up your meal rotation by finally making some of those recipes in your “saved” folder on Instagram or recreating your favorite restaurant meal. Set a goal to cook one new recipe per week - and before long, you’ll have a whole new set of go-to meals to keep eating exciting.
Experiment with different meal planning strategies while you’re at it. Whether you’re preparing all of your meals for the week on Sunday or simply writing out a schedule, having a plan can keep you on track toward meeting your nutrition goals even during the busiest of training schedules.
3. Work on your relationship with food.
A fueled athlete is a strong, fast, and resilient athlete. If you are constantly at war with food or your body, it’s hard to fuel adequately.
There is no one-size-fits-all program to develop a healthy relationship with food, but here are some things you can try to get started:
The foods you restrict are the ones you can’t stop thinking about. For many people, making peace with these foods (and with food in general) is the key to ending food anxiety, binge eating, and so much more. Rather than saying “I can’t eat that”, the magic happens when you eat what you want, as much as you want, when you want it.
A food is not “good” or “bad”. It may be more or less delicious, have more or less fiber, or make you feel more or less full. But all foods are neutral. By calling a food “bad”, you feel like a bad person for eating it. Changing your language can change your feelings.
When your relationship with food is unhealthy, it can be easy to convince yourself that you love the healthified versions of foods that you wouldn’t otherwise allow. Eating foods that you actually like is a radical act of self-love.
Follow people doing badass things in bodies of all sizes and shapes. Normalize normal bodies. Remember that social media is a highlight reel and it isn’t fair to you to compare your average to someone else’s carefully-curated best.
4. Set goals and celebrate your successes.
Without races or other events, the off-season can feel a little lackluster. While successfully eating more veggies may not feel quite as sweet as setting a PR or checking off a bucket list hike, setting nutrition goals can help you stay motivated throughout the off-season.
Start by conducting an assessment to figure out any deficits. Track what you eat for a couple of days in an app like Cronometer - this should give you an idea of any major gaps in your diet (note that calorie estimates on these apps are often inaccurate). Blood tests can help identify some deficiencies (I recommend athletes get their vitamin D and ferritin checked annually, but please consult with a healthcare provider before beginning a supplement). And, of course, if you know that getting enough veggies or eating breakfast is a struggle, start with this low-hanging fruit!
When setting goals, focus on what you can add rather than take away. Rather than cutting out dessert, can you try to eat more fiber? Rather than decreasing bread, can you experiment with other grains like quinoa or farro? Focus on process goals too, like cooking more meals at home or buying a fun new vegetable every time you grocery shop.
These workout and nutrition tips for runners will help you approach your winter training season with confidence. Don’t wait until the New Year to start prepping for your race goals! Start tackling your training and nutrition now!
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