So here is something that I'm finding out: the good habits that you develop during the racing/riding season to take care of yourself are very easy to fall out of, particularly when it comes to recovery from workouts. In season its easy to form great habits of stretching and using a foam roller almost every night. Its easy to remember to do at the time- you had ridden long,or hard, or long and hard, and you're left sore, tight, and tired. Now that the off season is here and workouts aren't as intense, it's easy to forget to do that stuff. Further, this time of year is a great opportunity to try different events to keep things fresh. Here are some thoughts about off-season conditioning and recover to help make sure that the winter stays injury free.
The good news is that this time of year (meaning preparatory work for building a base) the workouts are extremely variable. Weight lifting, cycling, running (fine, IF WE MUST) and as soon as the snow flies snowshoing and skiing do a great job of stressing the body in a variety of ways. While its great to do something different and you may be carrying great cycling fitness into the winter, its important to remember that many of these tasks are considerable new and different from a season of sitting on the bike; so its important to start off slow and listen to your body. Soreness from new activity is to be expected, and is actually good as that is a sign that the body is being stressed. As long as you allow yourself the time to recover from that soreness the body will adapt and get stronger. Remember, this is the off-season: this is when its good to just go do whatever activity and have fun. No sense in killing yourself in December/January and getting hurt, that will just hinder your conditioning later on in the late winter/ early spring when you'd rather be on your bike.
While we are taking this time of year to get introduced to new activities, this is a great time to continue to take care of any chronic issues you are prone to during the riding season- be it IT band syndrome, low back pain, or take-your-pick knee pain- and give them a chance to heal. As I said before, this is still the time to maintain those good habits during the regular season. Keep up with daily stretching and/or soft tissue work. For doing soft tissue work getting a foam roller is a GREAT way to start working out the knots and soft tissue tightness.
If you haven't used a foam roller before my recommendation is to start with a basic model. There are a number of companies that have a wide variety of foam roller products. These range all the way from the basic closed cell foam that has a little bit of give to it, all the way to the plastic tube wrapped in a very firm foam (and is virtually rock hard) to firm foam with ridges that looks like it has a tread pattern. My recommendation is to start out with the basic closed cell foam. They are usually the cheapest, so if you try using it and you HATE IT then you're not out a ton of dough. They are also a little softer than the more expensive models, which for muscle and soft tissue that have never had this work done, is going to be more appropriate than the discomfort you'll get from the tire tread designs. If after a while you find the basic roller isn't enough, then upgrade. That way on days you want to be really aggressive about loosening up those knots, you use the really nice roller. If you're super sore, then you still have old faithful standing by (oh yeah, if you upgrade, dont' through out your old one).
So, points to take home: The off-season is a great time to get out and enjoy all the other activities that you don't have time to do when you ride your bike all summer. When getting into these off season activities remember to start off slow and listen to your body to avoid injury. Remember to stay focused on resting and recovering, don't let good habits that you developed during the summer fall by the wayside; and if you haven't started a rest and recovery routine yet, well then there's no better time than now to make a habit of it!
