10. Do’s and don’ts.
• Don’t do speed work just to keep your edge. Speed and
recovery are opposites on the workout spectrum. Avoid the
urge to go hard—no matter how out of shape you feel you
are getting.
• Don’t resume training after just a two-week break. In
the short term, this will certainly get you in better shape than
your wise training partners who are resting up now and
letting their fitness drift south a bit. But when the real
program starts back, your edge will slip into oblivion as
quickly as you can say “overtrained.”
• Don’t confuse reduced training with no training. You
want to let your fitness slide enough that the first weeks of
base training are a bit of a struggle. But you also want to
make sure that you include enough activity during the
off-season so you don’t lose everything. The same principle
applies to the issue of weight. While this is a very individual
matter, everyone should put on a few pounds with the
reduced training. However, in general, anything more than
10 pounds in the plus column might be stretching the
definition of “recovery.”
• Don’t stop running. You can hang up the bike for a while and
avoid swimming like the plague. But whatever you do, keep up a
base of running. If you go cold turkey on running your bones
and connective tissues will lose a lot of the density and stiffness
they have gained in response to running, putting you at great risk
of injury when you resume running. This is something to avoid,
if possible.
• Do listen to your body, have fun and give yourself a pat on
the back for making the decision to treat yourself and your
supporters right.
Have a great fourth season! See you at the races next year.
