Do you have a place? A place where you can go to reset, refocus, and re-motivate? Maybe it’s not a place, maybe it’s a person. Or a group of people. For me, my place is the mountains, and the Uinta mountains are some of my favorite.

I had the opportunity to do an overnighter with an experienced fly-fisherman at a beautiful lake nestled at just over 10,000 feet. We had a great time hiking, talking around the fire, and catching lot’s of fish. Time spent away from phone service, away from a schedule, and where the stars shine extra bright is time well spent for me. It allows me to reset, refocus, and re-motivate.

I generally have each of my athletes take at least one week off mid-season to have a chance for this reset. Generally it’s after one of their big summer races, whether that’s Nationals, or in my case this summer, the Crusher. This splits the season into two main parts: Spring-Summer and End of Summer-Fall. This split is helpful for maximum growth and learning because it gives you two mini seasons in one year to adjust, adapt, and to figure out what works best.

I’ve found that this one week off is really helpful for a couple of reasons. It gives athletes enough time away from their bike that they’re excited to train and race again. It also allows their body to take a full break/recovery before building more fitness for the fall season.

Do you take a week off mid-season? Let me know your thoughts.