What am I doing with my new found time in my day now that I am in the off season. Well as it is planned my busiest work season nicely coincides with my off season. As my days in the office seem to get longer it’s nice that I am not trying to cram in workout time.

Also this is my prep period, my time to look at my racing schedule for 2012 and really decide which of my races will be the peaks and which ones will be spaced out along the way. Years of coaching has taught me some about athlete periodization but recently I realized I need to know more. So the second phase of my off season is to better educate myself about how to most effectively shape my training for maximum results.

As I read through these books over the next month or so I will pass along little nuggets I pick up along the way. For me really this time is to rest up, sleep as much as possible and get the maximum amount of work done. So sorry I have put the burpee challenge aside and am not participating in the push-up challenge this month as many friends are but its time to really rest and hop on the spin bike two or three days a week to keep up the minimum level of endurance, before getting back into it to prep for my 50 Miler in May and the Death Race in June.

I spent months exercising the body now it’s time to exercise the mind some and go into the next year a smarter more educated well rounded endurance athlete. Because as I have told many of my athletes I have coached over the last decade, it’s about the whole athlete not just how fast you can run or how much you can lift.