How Should I Take an End of Season Break?

Why Take an End-of-Season Break

After a long block of racing and training, your body and mind need downtime. A well-planned break helps you:

Take at least one full week with zero structured training after your last race.
If you feel restless, light activity such as walking is fine — but avoid intense effort or training stress.

Do light, unstructured cardio or recreational activity — not intensity training. Think easy swims, rides, hikes, or something different if you like.
Keep sessions to about one hour or less, and make them easy or moderate intensity.
Include two rest days per week.

Begin structured training again (this can be the prep/base phase of our longer-duration Training Plans or a standalone Off-Season Fitness Maintenance Plans) but at a much lower volume than during your peak season.
Weekly load should be roughly half of what you’ll do later when training hard.
Prioritise easy-intensity sessions, and avoid stressing your body with high volume or high intensity right away.
Use this time to experiment or try new things (e.g. a new swim club, using indoor cycling, different activity) without pressure — a good chance to explore what you enjoy.
The length of this phase depends on the time until your next target race. Example: if next event is 40 weeks away, Phase 3 might be 8–12 weeks; if race is soon (e.g. 24 weeks), keep Phase 3 shorter (e.g. 4 weeks).

Once Phase 3 ends, you can start increasing training volume gradually each month — giving your body time to adapt and rebuild fitness safely.
Avoid expecting to return instantly to your previous peak training load. Use gradual build-up to avoid injury or burnout.

Physical and mental burnout from continuous training and racing
Loss of motivation due to fatigue or overtraining
Decreased enjoyment — taking time off helps reconnect with why you train and race in the first place