Off-season vs in-season conversations

Why this matters

Athletes often want to train "in-season hard" year-round. That is the fastest path to plateau or injury. Coaches who manage the off-season vs in-season transition well retain athletes longer and produce better season-on-season results.

What changes between seasons in the Hub

Race calendar

• In-season: A and B races on the calendar with phases computed back from them. The season view shows the build-peak-taper cycles.
• Off-season: minimal races, no A race within 12 weeks. The season view phases collapse; you mostly see the Base block extending to the next season.

Macrocycle config

• In-season: structured week-by-week volume with phase labels. Intensity prescribed against testable thresholds.
• Off-season: broader weekly volume bands, fewer pinned key sessions, more athlete autonomy.

Assessment cadence

• In-season: tests scheduled to refresh stale thresholds before each A race build.
• Off-season: tests are diagnostic ("where do we start the new build?") rather than confirmatory. Run a metabolic test, a body composition assessment, a technical swim or run assessment to set the year's priorities.

The conversation: in-season → off-season

A typical end-of-season conversation includes:

1. What worked this year (recap reviews, race results).
2. What didn't (limiters that need addressing).
3. Rest first (2 to 4 weeks of unstructured movement, no targets).
4. Off-season goals (one or two specific weaknesses to address, not "general fitness").
5. New base block start date.

Document the conversation in a CoachNote on the athlete visible to them, so the framing is clear in writing.

The conversation: off-season → in-season

The transition back is the hardest one:

1. Retest everything before assuming summer fitness is intact (CSS, CP, run threshold, weight). The Hub's readiness check will flag what is stale.
2. Set the first A race target if not already on the calendar. The season view builds the phases back from that date.
3. Volume ramp capped at 10 to 15 percent week-over-week in the first 4 weeks back.
4. Mental ramp: athletes coming off a real break often want to chase early-season results. Manage expectations; the first race is a tune-up, not a peak.

What the Hub does not do automatically

• No "off-season mode" flag on the athlete. It is a coaching call communicated through the macrocycle config and notes.
• No auto-archive of past races. They remain on the calendar as historical references.
• No auto-clear of stale metrics. They stay in MetricHistory with their original dates; the readiness check just flags them as expired.

What to log on each transition

• A CoachNote summarising the conversation.
• A revised MacrocyclePlan config_json (or a new plan record marking the new season).
• Updated race priorities (downgrade in-season A races to C / archive once past).

See also: Macrocycle plan basics, Race readiness checklist, Editing a deployed plan.