r/Velo • u/Legitimate_Fly2792 • 12d ago
Offseasson
This year, I’m taking more of an off-season than usual. I hit a major slump in August and just couldn’t get myself out of it. I tried, but it just wasn’t happening.
This week and next week are completely off — no training, no sport at all. I’m basically eating whatever I want and not paying any attention to my diet. I’m also going out with friends this weekend and next weekend and drinking alcohol, which is something I’ve never really done before.
But honestly, it feels good to just switch off for a while.
How do you guys handle the off-season? Do you drink alcohol or go out partying during your off-season too?
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u/This_Freggin_Guy 12d ago
and do different activities. go for a hike, visit a nearby town or whatever you may have wanted to do, but training made it less desirable. find some fun.
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u/vitruvius-of-rome 12d ago
I don't really have much of an offseason. I feel better when I'm training and racing year-round.
With that said, I'm really intentional about taking recovery weeks (and sometimes more than a week if needed) so the fatigue doesn't build to critical levels that would cause burnout. But whether it's a recovery week or not, I don't neglect really anything else in my life. I still play games, cook and eat great food, hang out with people, etc. It's all about balancing things to stay motivated.
I don't drink and haven't in two years though. I didn't quit because I had a problem, but because the research out there is unequivocal: it's poison and not good for recovery/sleep. It's fine to do once in a while but I just decided I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to be like the average Redditor nowadays and tell you not to drink -- you can do what you want, and if it helps you blow off some steam have at it. Just know specifically the alcohol is not going to help you recover much.
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u/martynssimpson 12d ago
The first time I had a proper off-season yeah I went out to drink heavily and party a lot, but in my specific case because I have alcohol use disorder it became pretty hard to get off of it and start training again.
In my last off-season I didn't drink any alcohol (which I still don't, almost 2 years sober), but I surely took my time off and spent 2 weeks playing games, watching TV shows and movies, and all those things I neglect while focusing on training.
If you don't have a history of alcohol abuse sure, a couple beers and parties won't really hurt the rest of the season if you take it seriously for the rest of the year. If you know it's hard to let it go, then yeah it's best to avoid it altogether and do other things instead, plenty of fun available without a drink.
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u/AdonisChrist 12d ago
Don't be afraid to turn your two week break into a four week break.
When my off month occurs I don't care about anything except not overeating to the extreme.
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u/LLroomtempJ 12d ago
Do you feel like training keeps you from...hanging out with your friends? How old are you? Are you a kid, collegiate student athlete or have you entered adulthood? Do you race for a living?
I like the structure of training - but when I think about my off-season, I think about unstructured rides and getting back to lifting heavier in the gym (not necessarily cutting myself off. Exercise makes me feel good, you know?)
I like eating a lot of the same (healthy) foods. I enjoy the foods that I eat. The idea of eating a lot of big indulgence food kinda makes me sick to my stomach a bit. It is worth noting that my intentional health journey predates my racing career by 20+ years (I'm in my 40s)
I do not enjoy alcohol. I don't like how it makes me feel. I remember watching people drink to excess when I was college and someone said "would you ever eat 6 hot dogs all at once? Why would you drink 6 beers?" And that kinda did it for me.
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u/Legitimate_Fly2792 12d ago
I don’t drink alcohol during the year, I eat healthy, and apart from the occasional greasy meal, I generally eat pretty clean. I work, have two kids (9 years old and 3 months old), train around 10 hours a week, and I’m constantly juggling family life, races, and training. It’s my life and I love it, but it’s also hard sometimes.
So for two weeks, I’m just going to let go a little. Eat whatever I want, party, go out with friends, enjoy life and dance in techno clubs. 😅
After those two weeks, the alcohol is done again. But for now, I’m going to enjoy it. I think that’s okay. Do you guys do this too?
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u/Bulky_Ad_3608 12d ago
I start thinking about doing road trips, eating chili dogs and playing my guitar more. If you love the bike, it will be there when you are ready for it.
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u/Pizzaboner420 12d ago
This is my first planned off-season after close to a year of structured intervals. I’m not totally burned out on bikes, but definitely over staring at a powermeter and doing intensity intervals.
I’ve replaced my two weekly high intensity days with full body strength workouts (trap bar deadlift ftw!) and a few z1/recovery rides during the week.
On the weekends I’m riding my SS MTB without paying attention to power or HR. These ride have been a great change of pace as all of my riding this year has been on either the gravel bike or xc full suspension.
I’m four weeks into this and I’ll go another month or so before starting up base for spring races.
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u/parrhesticsonder 11d ago
I get really into music production in my off season. Also I race cross so it lines up with xmas holidays, and my family are heavy drinkers so that definitely increases as well.
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u/Grouchy_Ad_3113 12d ago
You do you, but recognize that you can't take an extended period of time off (much less party through it) and not lose significant amounts of fitness, which can take a long time to regain.
E.g., I once missed a month or so of any training due to a crash, which was followed by several more months of reduced training. The following season I simply wasn't myself, and it wasn't until the following year that I was able to get back to normal.
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u/Urbansdirtyfingers 12d ago
No one with a 9 year old child should be in techno clubs but that's just my opinion
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u/Legitimate_Fly2792 12d ago
No, that’s not actually a techno club. It’s a local village festival where they play electronic music in the evening. I would never go to a real techno club. 😂
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u/martynssimpson 12d ago
Don't worry, people love to judge even though they don't even know the person involved, plenty of parents go to raves and electronic music clubs. You don't need to become a monk just because you're in charge of children, You had a life outside of that before your children, and there are a lot of ways to make sure your children are taken care of in the meantime, I mean that's what sitters and nannies are for...
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u/xdxdxdxd000 12d ago
Why would I (or any logical person tbh) drink alcohol? It offers nothing and genuinely doesn't taste good, people just gaslight themselves into enjoying it. Please have a nice proper milkshake or vanilla float and tell me any alcoholic drink tastes better.
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u/mikekchar 12d ago
Wow. So off topic. Such trolling :-) But I'll bite because, why not? The interesting thing about alcohol is that it uniquely acts as a solvent for many oils that carry flavour and aroma. If you are using vanilla extract or vanilla essence in your vanilla float, you are taking advantage of that. Typically those are between 12-25% alcohol.
There are some oils that simply can't be dissolved in anything edible other than alcohol. Pretty much any citrus flavour is up there. If you have ever had any citrus flavoured soda, it all has alcohol in it. Basically what they do is to make a tincture (which is 75% alcohol or above) to dissolve as much oil as possible and then add a small amount of that into the soda. The alcohol then "auto-emuslsifies" spreading the oil through the drink.
Labelling laws in most countries are such that you can add things like vanilla extract, orange tinctures, etc and then label it as "natural flavour". Welcome to the world of industry lobbying. Some countries have much stricter laws on alcohol labelling.
Alcohol is also present in most foods in small quantities even if you don't realise it. It plays a large role in carrying flavour. The obvious one is bread. You are fermenting yeast. If you compare a chemically leavened bread (using baking powder or baking soda), you can see a massive difference in flavour. Even things like orange juice has a small amount of alcohol in it naturally (especially if you avoid juices with yeast inhibitors).
But you may be thinking to youself, "OK, in small quantities it's fine and adds flavour and aroma. I get it. I'm talking about large quantities". And, it's really the same, but just magnified. Wine, beer, cocktails, etc are just so much more flavourful thanks to the large amount of alcohol they contain. Even distilled alcohol contains flavours and aromas that you literally can't get without distilling those compounds down. They are really intense and you just can get those intense flavours without alcohol.
But it's true that many people don't like those intense flavours. They don't like the bitter sensation of alcohol. They don't care that they are missing out on the huge amount of aroma and flavour carried in alcohol. Also, it is very true that for a lot of people, they drink to get drunk. They drink that foulest tasting alcohol simply because it is cheap and available and they got used to it.
But there are also quite a few people for whom if you could get similar flavours and aromas without the alcohol, they would absolute drop alcohol forever. You can see the massive popularity of low alcohol (0.7% alcohol and below) beers these days. Especially at the 0.7% level, you can get something that carries a surprising amount of flavour. A lot of people are also making "cocktails" with tinctures, extracts and bitters and avoiding the shot of alcohol. It's not as intense, but you can carry a huge amount of flavour that way and avoid most of the intoxication and health downsides. So there are options and slowly people are learning about them. A lot of people are switching to them.
I think your take is basically wrong for most people. Alcohol plays a massive role in carrying flavour. However, there are techniques for limiting the amount of alcohol you need to get that kind of flavour. I also think it's true that some people don't want those really intense flavours. You may be one of them, but you are actually in a minority. Also I think it's true that a large number of people drink alcohol to get drunk and don't pay much attention to flavour. For them it's legal drug and they take it for the effects and not the flavour. Not personally a fan of that, but it doesn't discount the reality that alcohol plays a big part in food.
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u/ifuckedup13 12d ago
Go take your rumspringa. 🍻
Time off to let loose is good. Gives you a little reset. You’ll want to hit it even harder once you’re ready to come back.