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As I have mentioned in the past, any commitment to either losing weight or endurance training lifestyle doesn’t have to an “off season”. Making a commitment for your life style is a choice but as you start thinking about your fitness goals for 2012, keep the following in mind:

Nothing is too hard. Whatever you do, avoid putting your body through any high intensity fitness tests early in the year. Some of you will be tempted by the fall season, but unless this is something that you’ve been training for consistently I’d skip that race schedule entirely.

Build up your infrastructure. I like to begin every season with 2-3 weeks of exclusive strength training. This means spending every other day in the weight room, following a program that I developed. Developing this schedule from the beginning helps ensure that I can incorporate this into my schedule once the other workouts are added to the mix.

Try something new. Every year I try to find something new and unusual to add to my training program. You might want to try yoga, new stretching exercises, spinning your bike on rollers, paddles/fins in the pool, etc. These four weeks are the best time to do some experimentation — and you might find something that provides a breakthrough.

Work on your weakest activity. This is a unique time of year when you can spend a complete month working on the one sport that has been your weaklink

And finally, it’s always good to have a solid sense of self-awareness before you begin a new season. Renewing a sense of what’s important to you as a person and an athlete, what your short and long term goals are in this sport, and what kind of commitment you are prepared to make to achieve those goals all help you gain a positive perspective on what you’re about to undertake.

Training times will gradually increase throughout the preseason and you’ll be ready for higher intensity training and racing when the competition starts. You’ll also notice that the warmer weather will help your body “wake up” to the additional challenges ahead. The renewed focus should also serve to help you stay sharp as the season winds down toward your key race. Stay consistent, monitor your body for signs of overtraining — be proactive!

And the two most important tip: Have fun! Hike, Walk, Bike, Run, Swim…crawl, doesn’t matter just do something healthy!

-Cisco