The Deliberate Off-Season: Why Unstructured Training Requires Structure
For goal-oriented athletes, the off-season is a difficult concept. After months of disciplined training blocks targeting specific events, the idea of backing off feels counterproductive—maybe even reckless. Many athletes either maintain race-prep intensity year-round, burning out before their key events, or shut down completely, losing hard-earned fitness.
After 25+ years as a strength coach and endurance athlete, I’ve learned that the most effective off-season is deliberately unstructured. That might sound contradictory, but there’s a methodical approach to recovery that protects your aerobic base while preventing the gray zone creep that sabotages long-term performance.
The Zone 2 Foundation During Transitions
With a few weeks remaining before ultra prep begins—followed by Ironman training in January and Tour de Mont Blanc in August—I’m keeping training “somewhat unstructured” during this transition period, emphasis on somewhat. This isn’t random activity; it’s purposeful low-intensity work that maintains aerobic stimulus without the training load of structured intervals or tempo sessions.
This recent Saturday morning run demonstrates the approach: a 3-hour zone 2 effort at 54 degrees, deliberately kept easy. The pacing tells the story: first 5K in 40:45, second 5K in 44:46, third 5K in 44:59, fourth 5K in 47:45. That fourth split—the slowest by three minutes—wasn’t fatigue or poor pacing.
The Tactical Use of Training Constraints
I brought out the trekking poles after the first 5K. They slow me down, and right now, that’s exactly what I need. During off-season work, the challenge isn’t running fast enough—it’s staying slow enough to maintain true zone 2 intensity. Poles create a physical constraint that prevents the common mistake of drifting into that middle-intensity gray zone where you’re working too hard to build aerobic base but not hard enough to drive threshold adaptation.
This approach serves a specific purpose in periodization. I’m not trying to maintain race fitness or chase performance right now. I’m building a foundation for the next training cycle while giving accumulated training stress time to resolve. That requires discipline—sometimes more discipline than race-prep work, because easy running feels too easy, especially for athletes accustomed to structured intensity.
The Strategic Planning Behind “Unstructured” Work
The multi-event calendar requires deliberate sequencing. Ultra prep starts in roughly four weeks. Ironman preparation begins in January. Tour de Mont Blanc happens in mid-August, approximately three to four weeks post-Ironman. That timing is intentional—close enough to maintain fitness from Ironman training, far enough to recover from race-day intensity.
Between now and ultra prep, the plan includes hitting the weight room for a few strength cycles over the colder winter months, getting back in the pool, and building up an aerobic base on the bike. None of this is haphazard. The “unstructured” label means I’m not following a specific training plan with prescribed intervals and percentages. But there’s a clear intention: maintain aerobic capacity, build general strength, and accumulate base volume across all three disciplines without the training load of focused race preparation.
Your Next Step: Design Your Off-Season With Purpose
If you’re between training blocks, resist the urge to either maintain race intensity or shut down completely. Instead, identify what “somewhat unstructured” means for your training history and upcoming goals.
Keep easy work genuinely easy—use tools like poles, slower routes, or conversational pace guidelines to prevent gray zone drift. Build complementary fitness through strength work or cross-training that doesn’t tax the same systems you’ve been hammering during race prep. And maintain enough structure to preserve aerobic base while allowing accumulated fatigue to resolve.
The off-season isn’t permission to coast. It’s a deliberate phase of development that makes your next structured training block more effective. Treat it with the same methodical approach you bring to race preparation—just with different goals and lower training stress.
