Off-Season & Change in Training Plans

Mr. Webster defines the word 'Off-Season' as the following:

off-sea·son (also off·sea·son or off sea·son) • n. a time of year when a particular activity, typically a sport, is not engaged in: during baseball's winter off-season. ∎  a time of year when business in a particular sphere is slack: [as adj.] off-season rates. If you asked me the last time I took an off-season from running and racing I couldn't tell you. Triathlon is a different story. Although I swim year-round, I ditch my bike after my last triathlon of the season and don't see it again until May at the earliest.

I typically road race year-round and there never seems to be a lack of races on my schedule (more than a month without a race would be very unusual for me). Case in point last year with marathons alone: last year I ran a marathon in November, December (PR 3:10:25), January (Goofy's Challenge), February, April & June. All were run at hard efforts/sub-3:20 performances. After my June marathon, I went right into 50-miler & Half-Ironman training. I'm definitely not saying this was smart, just trying to illustrate a point.

For the past few years, I've also always had big goals. First Half-Ironman. First Ironman. Goofy's Challenge. First 50-miler. From one to the next and the next.

Lots of folks do their big race and then flame out for a while. Not me. I'm usually able to stay focused. So, right now I'm fighting the "blahs" because I don't know what big event is next on my calendar. Sure, I have Rock & Roll Phoenix in January and Boston in January, but if I fill my calendar with other races as I usually do, they become just another race in my string of races. And, sure, I might even PR in those races, because as always I will give 100%, but am I really reaching my potential as a runner?

Dan had a conversation with someone about my running - someone who knows a lot more about running than I - and that person thought that with proper training - nix the majority of the races, have 1-2 'goal' races per year, a training plan, proper recovery, etc - that I could crush my sub-3:10 marathon goal and run a marathon a helluva lot faster than I think. So, after all these years of just racing, racing, racing, maybe it's time for a change in my approach. I'm thinking about nixing pretty much all races between now & Phoenix, and between Phoenix & Boston, with Boston being my "A" race. While I really enjoy racing, I'm also intrigued with trying something new. I'm even thinking about following a training plan to tee as well - specifically Pete Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning Plan.

Which brings me to my next topic: off-season. I'm also leaning towards taking an actual off-season this time around during the month of December. While this wouldn't mean 'no running' (that's not going to happen), it would mean no racing, it would mean more easy running, it would mean changing up my running (more trail running, less road running), it would mean trying new things (yoga, pilates, spinning classes, Zumba), and it would mean being more flexible and saying 'yes' to things I have been saying 'no' to because I'm always training for something (lunches/happy hours with friends, anything that will keep me up past 9 pm and lazy weekend mornings and brunch with my favorite red head). There are also non-running things I've been meaning to do, but never have fit into my schedule due to training: volunteer at the animal shelter; ballroom dancing classes with Dan; work on the guest rooms in the house; check out some live music downtown; re-learn my foreign languages (I used to be fluent in French, Spanish & German).

So, we will see how this works out for me. If it doesn't, I'll just go back to being a race addict.

(I did realize, as a bonus, I will have more money from not paying race fees to spend on Lululemon or my basset hounds :)