Tag Archives: winter training

Conventional wisdom: the off season and base training

The off season is seen as a period of rest that follows on from the last race of summer and can be a period of between two and six weeks in length. Conventional wisdom always seems to follow what elites do in the sport: coaches assume that every athlete is the same in terms of the stresses race season exerts.

Let’s look at an example of the elite athlete and then at the amateur athlete.

Elite athletes tend to get to that last race of the season spent, both physically and mentally. They push their bodies beyond normal levels in the pursuit of excellence and that, coupled with travelling and a lot of racing, brings a high level of stress for the body.

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