How A Pro Runner Stays Fit in the Off-Season
- December 05, 2024
Much of an elite distance runner’s season hinges on the unseen training sessions that happen outside of their competitive window, which is typically late spring to early fall. If anyone had five competitive months that were worth boasting about this year, it was Jess Hull. The Australian middle-distance runner took silver in the 1500m in Paris. She set the Australian national record in the 1500m and the world record in the 2,000m. And indoors, she set national records in the 1500, the mile and the 3000m.
The off-season is here for Hull, and so are her critical hours of offseason work. Resisting the urge to pump more, more, more in the training plan — especially coming off a year of records and PRs — is easier said than done. But experience has taught Hull to carefully tend to every facet of her athletic self before she hits the track again. Here, she shares four lessons she’s learned to stay healthy and get stronger and faster.
Start a workout journal
"My training logs are crucial to my progress. I write down my specific workouts, but also how my body felt doing them. Then I’m able to reflect as my season goes on about the areas in which I see I’m getting stronger. In a weight training workout, for example, I might be able to get six reps in a session and it feels challenging, then three weeks later that same session comes back and I get eight reps and my body feels great. Logs give me the ability to acknowledge the efforts that make me strong and keep me strong."
Try practicing a new distance
"The off-season gives you the opportunity to listen to your body while training in new ways. For me, that means focusing on the 3,000m. Choosing a specific, different distance to train helps me keep a baseline of fitness, and I’m not overtraining at my specialty [the 1500m] heading into the next season. Plus, the technique needed for a different distance can help you improve in your specialty. For example, I don’t want to come out too fast in the 1500, so mixing my training with the 3,000 reminds me to start out at a more manageable pace. Focusing on a different distance can help you make those smarter decisions."
Experiment with terrain
"I try to stay off the track until January, which is one of the luxuries of being in Australia. We have a variety of surfaces to train on, whether that’s trail, sand or grass. Running on grass is one of my unspoken rules in the off-season. Your splits in those sessions might not measure up to what you’re used to, but that’s okay. The point is to give your body a break. I also like how training on a softer surface targets different muscles. I feel stronger at the end of a grass training period."
Listen to your body’s cues
"Whether you’re prepping for the Olympics or a local 5k, you mentally prepare your body differently based on the stakes of the moment. In Paris, I went into the medal race thinking I’d do my traditional warmup — an easy 5K distance about an hour out from the start of the race. I warmed up for about 12 minutes that day and thought to myself, “I’m done. Anything more is too much.” And I respected what my body told me."