Tips for an Active Offseason
This article is by Roberto Mandje, NYRR’s Senior Advisor of Engagement and Training. We’ll continue to bring you advice and tips from Coach Roberto in the months ahead.
Winter is here, and in most of the world, it’s cold and daylight is fleeting. You may be low on motivation to run, and short on time, too, given the demands of the holidays.
If you raced a half marathon or marathon in the fall, you may also have a “bleh” or “now what?” feeling or a mental hangover following the months of training and the excitement of race day.
Most of us want to stay active during this “offseason,” but we may need some guidance. Here are tips for how to stay fit through the coming weeks, and why it’s a good idea.
What Is an Active Offseason?
For runners, an offseason is a time between blocks of training for our goal races. For example, if you ran the TCS New York City Marathon and are planning to run the United Airlines NYC Half or another half marathon next spring, now is your offseason because your big 2023 race is behind you and don’t have anything major on the immediate horizon.
During this time, you can celebrate and reflect on your achievements, as well as back off your training intensity to allow your body to recover. At some point, through, you’ll want to gradually get back into running, especially if you have big upcoming goals. That’s where an active offseason comes in.
Strategies for Your Offseason
Follow these tips for a successful active offseason—a time of exercising enough to stay healthy, keep up the habit, and maintain a base for your next training cycle, but less often and intensely than during the lead-up to a big goal race.
Reduce your volume and intensity: Running a few days per week with a reduced level of intensity keeps you both mentally and physically fresh.
Cross-train: You may also substitute one or two days per week with cross-training. This allows you to maintain fitness, while reducing the general wear and tear of running.
Run socially: Social runs are a great way to stay connected to your running community and perhaps experience running in a different way. In the NYC area, check out free Open Runs in parks throughout five boroughs, and NYRR Group Training coached workouts for all levels.
Embrace time with family and friends: Catch up with loved ones, especially those you may not have seen much during your busy training and racing months. Give yourself grace and time to spend with those who formed your support circle.
Look toward your next goals: The new year isn’t far off, and with it will come spring races. An active offseason now can lead to a reinvigorated start to 2024. You could start the year with the Virtual NYRR Resolution Run 5K in January and apply to run the RBC Brooklyn Half next May.
Offseason Training Resources
We have lots of training tips and advice from coaches and other experts to inform and guide you during your offseason or wherever you are on your running journey.
Our Runner Resources features dozens of articles; those below offer specific guidelines for running at this time of year: