Restarting After an Offseason

After some precious downtime away from the bike and the physical strain of structured training, most riders come into November fired up and ready to work their hardest. 

For many cyclists, November marks the end of the off-season and the beginning of training for the upcoming season, and they’re raring to get back into structured training. That deep well of motivation is a good thing, of course. It’s the main reason we take an off-season break in the first place. But that drive to train, to level up every part of your game and achieve lofty goals can be perilous as well. Pushing yourself too far in early winter training can ruin your season before it starts.

I have seen it many times in the athletes I coach and have certainly done it myself. We get on the trainer in November and start hammering intervals and racking up virtual miles. We constantly push at the upper end of the power ranges our coaches provide, racing for Zwift KOMs and obsessing over our numbers to stave off the inherent boredom of indoor training. 

Before we know it, it’s February, and we are flying on the bike with racing on the horizon. We might even win big early on, as I did winning the coveted season-opening hill climb at the San Dimas Stage Race. But then, the magic form slowly begins to leak away. We get sick, we have inexplicable jours sans at the races, our willpower cracks, and we stop doing the little things that hold our performance together. It’s one of the worst feelings in the sport, feeling our hard work slip away. Thankfully, it can all be avoided by taking the right approach this winter. 

Hold Back

Often, my athletes finish their first three-week training block of the season and start hitting numbers they haven’t seen all year, especially in short, punchy interval efforts. That’s the value of a proper rest period. Your body regains its edge after months of constant low-grade fatigue. I love seeing the comments in Training Peaks like: “I feel amazing, the power is so easy.” I always tell my athletes to preserve that feeling as long as possible. Don’t leave it all on the table in workouts, don’t force the extra interval when you are already tired, keep fuelling well and give yourself time to rest. 

It is tempting to make every ride hard when most of your training is indoors. The time passes faster when you are pedaling hard and fully engaged in the effort. It is important to resist that appeal and start your training at a controlled, moderate pace. The early weeks should focus on rebuilding fundamentals like strength and efficiency with elements like cadence and torque in focus rather than power output. 

Add volume slowly and scale back if you feel sore and fatigued early on. If you are motivated to do more, consider hitting the gym to build a base of strength for the season or add extra low intensity riding or crosstraining rather than more intensity. I’m a firm believer in the idea that your body has a limited number of empty the tank, sit-down-in-the-shower type of rides in it for a season. Think twice about burning too many of those matches on the trainer.

Avoid Burnout

Ironically, holding back and carefully balancing training can lead to mental burnout almost as easily as pushing too hard. Self-control is tough, and for the vast majority, training needs to be rewarding and not a chore. To avoid that, I frequently give my athletes one “push day” a week to enjoy their hard-earned fitness and see what they can do. 

Sometimes, that comes as a challenging workout, but often, it is a day to race on Zwift or other platforms. Many athletes need a “cheat day” to do their best work in training overall, and a small dose of high-end work can be a valuable component in training anyway. The poison is in the dose when it comes too high. 

Another effective way of avoiding burnout and staying on track is to break up the winter monotony with a warm-weather training camp. Knowing that you have a reprieve on the calendar and will get a chance to ride hard with a group in the sun can go a long way. Some athletes try to get their camp lined up a few weeks before the racing season starts in early spring. That can be a great way to get a final boost and get up to speed on the road before taking on the competition. 

But waiting that long also means several unbroken months of grinding away on the trainer. Mid-winter camps can be a better solution mentally and even physiologically. I help run a late January camp here in Tucson for TaG Cycling with that strategy in mind. The camp effectively breaks winter training into two parts rather than one unrelenting grind. Athletes are motivated to train well up to the camp so they can ride strong in the group, and then they return home with a significant fitness boost and motivation to carry that through to the Spring. It comes down to personal preference, of course. If you can make a warm-weather training getaway work, don’t stress about perfect timing. It will still be a big positive for your training. 

Start Slow and Ride Fast When It Counts

The start of training should be an exciting and fulfilling period in the season. It is a time to dream big for 2025 and enjoy the process of self-improvement. It is important to remember though, that you can’t win your goal races in November. Patience and keeping an eye on the big picture are crucial. Hopefully, some of the advice I’ve provided here can help you do that and lay the foundation for your strongest season yet. 

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