Nate encourages his athletes to enjoy about a month away from structured training once their racing seasons come to an end. You should do the same. Taking that time to rest and recharge becomes all the more important as your racing becomes more demanding. You need deep physical and psychological rest to absorb the stress of pushing your body and mind to their limits for 11 straight months. A good off-season will leave you healthier and rejuvenated, so you can build towards your next goals with greater strength and motivation. Nate recommends a two-phased approach, starting with complete rest, before beginning light exercise and fun cross-training.

“Ten to 14 days of physical rest is a must,” Nate said. “From there, you should have at least another two weeks of mental rest. That gives you about a month away from your sport, away from the rigor and the routine and daily sense of success or failure and tasks to accomplish. That ongoing pressure can be exhausting. The key reason to have an off-season is to give yourself a break from that routine.”

Nate stresses the importance of taking a break from all forms of training during the first phase. Athletes often want to jump straight into running or hiking or gym work when they first get some time off of the bike, but all forms of exercise inflict a physical toll that can hamper your body’s ability to rebuild and rejuvenate. After you have taken those first 10 to 14 days of deep rest, you can go out and play however you like, but it is crucial to take it easy at first. That is not to say that you have to remain on the couch. By all means, go out and get some fresh air. Maybe go for a walk or enjoy some other light activity, but avoid the urge to push yourself. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to exert yourself later. A complete break from exercise will help you to absorb the stress of a hard season and increase your capacity to return stronger.

“A whole season of training and racing is a huge stimulus,” Nate said. “When you rest, you give your body the space to make new adaptations and improvements that will benefit you in the future. If you don’t rest, you limit your ability to receive the maximum benefit from the work that you did during the season. There is a tradeoff. At a certain point, detraining will outweigh that positive adaptation. You don’t want to go from eight rungs up the ladder down to two. The goal would be to take enough rest to go from being eight rungs up to six and in some of that detraining, make positive adaptations so that when you start to rebuild you can come back stronger and be a better athlete.”

From Nate’s experience working with Olympic champions, Tour de France Femmes winners, and WorldTour athletes, the two-phased off-season he described above strikes the right balance. Remember that your goal for the off-season is to come back healthier and more energetic.

During your time off, you want to try to eat well and sleep well and enjoy lots of relaxation. Avoid swinging from one extreme to another. After months of disciplined training, you might be tempted to go on a huge bender or eat a lot of unhealthy foods or travel across a continent or pack a semester's worth of course work into your time off. While the off-season should be a time to enjoy the things you’re less able to do during big blocks of training and racing, enjoy those things in moderation, so you end your break feeling refreshed, not tired.

“In principle, the goal is to come out of the off-season healthier and more well rested,” Nate said. “That does not just come from a break from training, but also as an outcome of your total lifestyle. If you have alcohol-impaired sleep six nights a week, that won't be restful. That doesn't mean you should never have a sip of alcohol or never have a super rich meal. Have some fun, but don't use the off-season as a license to just treat your body like trash. You don’t want to trade one stress for another, when what you actually want to do is reduce stress–and not just physical stress. The tricky thing with real life is that you always have a bunch of stuff that you want to accomplish. Sometimes that is just the reality. When you’re training less, you can accomplish more off the bike. But you want to go into the off-season with the idea that you want to reduce stress wherever you can. I tell athletes to be smart and keep that in the front of their thinking, so they can enjoy their off-seasons with a bit of moderation.”

Nate also counsels moderation when you resume exercise during phase two. The whole point of off-season activity is that it should be fun. You still need a break from structured training, so don’t be tempted into a regimented gym routine or running schedule or anything too strenuous.

“You have to fight that temptation of thinking, ‘Okay, it’s off-season, so now I’m going on a massive backpacking trip and sleeping on the ground and not eating very well and spending 20 kilometers per day on my feet.’ Hyperactive cross training is the biggest pitfall that athletes fall into. Do the activities that you like doing and that you don't normally get to do in the off-season, but do them without too much structure so that you are the one choosing what you do. If you have a coach, you spend most of the year getting told what to do, so take the opportunity to just do what you want. Don't give it too much direction. The only goal is to come out the other side healthier. If you want to run, don't go from having run once a week straight to 120 kilometers in a week just to do it. You can take on some new stress, but keep it healthy.”

Activities that are especially beneficial are ones that are load bearing and engage your upper body and core, which tend to get neglected when you are riding a bike. Cross-country skiing, trail running, and paddling are good examples. The most important thing is to enjoy your time outdoors though.

“There is a natural tendency to think, ‘How can I make this as productive as possible?’ Nate said. “But then you might fall into the trap of not really getting a real mental break, because you have just taken one rigor and routine and replaced it with another.”

This is your opportunity to relax. Have a great off-season! If you follow Nate’s advice, you should end your time off in a better place, ready to resume training with renewed vigor and expanded potential.