Transition

From a physiological standpoint, the Out-Season paradigm we outlined is not only effective and scientifically sound, it also promotes year-long fitness gains. The only problem is that you aren't a robot. In our world, your ability to do the training in the first place is a combination of physical and mental focus. Asking you to sustain that focus for longer than 16 weeks is typically too much—the further away your race is, the more this is true.
 
Improvement in the Out-Season is important for long-course athletes, but like anything else in life, too much of a good thing can be not good at all. A typical error folks make at this juncture is to look back at their fitness 16 weeks ago, draw a line to where they are today, and assume that further improvement will maintain the same trajectory. Instead of waiting for the inevitable drop off/plateau to happen, we preempt it by building in set aerobic periods. In the Out-Season (or after a big race) this is called Transition.
 
The overall goal of Transition is to take a mental break from structured training so that you emerge ready to train again. The last thing you want to do is realize that you are burned-out during the mid-season. To be more specific, you need to be ready to tackle another 10 to 16 weeks of work (depending on how far away your next race is). If you can't talk yourself into the next work cycle, you just aren't ready yet. The following is an example of what a Transition week might look like for the IM or half-IM athlete:
 

Transition is the time to focus on nutrition and body composition, invest extra time in flexibility and core strength work and line up things for your next block (equipment, nutrition, holidays, etc.).