Where should I focus?

Where should I focus off season training?

What area should you focus your training on during the winter?  That’s a great question.  First, the bad news – there is no correct answer!  There are concepts I’d suggest most athletes could benefit from.  But what about you?  Should you focus on strong areas or weak ones, for example? 

Most athletes are time-limited.  As a result, if we put too much focus on a weakness, our strong areas can degrade, leaving us unable to perform as well overall, even though we may have improved a weakness.

So, as you work through this winter, if you have an area you are really weak in, a little extra work there early in the “off season” can help, but don’t let your best area fall away as a result. A good strategy here is to consider frequency vs. individual session volume. 

For example, for a weak swimmer who cycles well, could you dovetail 1-2 extra SHORT swims (10-20 minutes duration) per week onto a short run at the gym or your strength workout, thus saving solid time on other days to keep your cycling up?  Or for a weak runner, could you do a 10-15 minute run after every bike workout, even if that means shortening your bike workouts by 10 minutes to fit your life? That sort of frequency-based approach can really help improve weak areas, while maintaining your strengths!

Will Kirousis, MS, CSCS, CISSN
Tri-Hard | Director
USA Cycling Certified Coach

USA Triathlon Certified Coach
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

Certified Sports Nutritionist

508.633.2708 | will@tri-hard.com | www.tri-hard.com | @willkirousis

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