Deload, Post-Race Recovery vs. Off-Season
- Albon Team
- Oct 22
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 26
Athletes often talk about recovery, but not all recovery is created equal. A deload week after a big training block, a few easy days/weeks after a tough race, and the off-season at the end of the trail season all entail rest, but they serve slightly different purposes.
Understanding the difference is the key to staying strong in the short term and consistent in the long term.
Deload Week: A Regular Reset Within Training
What it is: A scheduled week every 4–6 weeks where training load is reduced and intensity is scaled back.
Goal: To let your body fully absorb the training you’ve done by reducing fatigue and stress. This is when supercompensation typically happens; the process where fitness actually improves as your body rebuilds from harder training. Done well, you’ll come out of a deload week feeling fresher and fitter than before without having lost fitness.
What to do:
Shorten long runs and general training load.
Reduce the volume of higher intensity efforts.
Prioritize extra recovery habits: sleep, nutrition, mobility.
Use it as a checkpoint to ensure you’re still progressing, not digging a hole.
Think of deloads as a maintenance strategy. That is, small, regular resets that keep training sustainable throughout the year.
Post-Race Recovery: Resetting After a Tough Effort
What it is: A short recovery phase (a few days to 2–3 weeks) after a race, depending on the race distance and effort.
Goal: To give your body time to repair the deeper stress caused by racing, from muscle damage to energy depletion, and to let your mind recharge. You might feel a little rusty coming back, but fitness doesn’t drop too much in this period. If you went into the race well trained, you’ll relatively quickly return to your baseline (think weeks rather than months).
What to do:
Shorter races (<2 hours): 2–7 days og gentle daily activity, then a gradual return to cross-training followed by running.
Longer races (2-10 hours): 1–2 weeks of gentle daily activity before gradually resuming training.
Very long races (10+ hours): Anywhere from a couple of days to 1 month of no structured training before gradually building back.
Think of post-race recovery as your cooldown lap, a chance to absorb the effort before moving forward mid-season. Even if your legs feel fine, deeper repair is still happening, so resist the urge to dive back into running straight away. Gentle activity or cross-training works best in the early stages. Remember, your body can only handle so many of these shorter resets in a season before it needs a deeper one, that’s where the off-season comes in…
Off-Season: The Full Reset
What it is: A planned 2–6 week break at the end of your trail racing season. Not just a lighter week or two, but a full reset for body and mind.
Goal: To heal the cumulative damage from an entire season of racing and training, and restore motivation for the year ahead. Fitness will drop, and that’s intentional. By letting it dip, you create space to build stronger for the next season instead of carrying lingering fatigue.
What to do:
Step away from structured training and performance goals for at least a couple of weeks (no need to even look at AlbonApp).
No, this is not the time to sneak in extra cross-training. But you can still incorporate enjoyable and relaxed movement such as easy hikes with family/friends, light yoga, swimming, skiing, cycling etc. to stay a little active.
Gradually reintroduce structured training towards the end of the off-season to ease back into it.
Allow mental freedom during the back-end of the off-season: social training, unstructured runs, or complete rest days.
Don’t rush the rebuild. If your off-season was a couple of weeks, expect to feel rusty for a little while. Trust the process, in the long-term your fitness will return.
The Bottom Line
Deload week = regular reset. Prevents fatigue, promotes supercompensation, and makes you fitter.
Post-race recovery = cooldown lap before ramping up for the next big race. You’ll feel rusty at first, but fitness stays relatively stable if managed well.
Off-season = factory reset. Fitness dips by design so you can rebuild for the next year and beyond.
For trail and ultra runners, rest isn’t a luxury, it’s a strategy. The real challenge isn’t deciding whether to rest, but working out which kind of rest your body needs. Get that decision right, and you’ll start your next block fresher, stronger, and more motivated than before.
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