GB triathlete and Zoot Sport ambassador Sophie Coldwell is used to putting in some tough training sessions over the winter, and she’s shared some advice on how to get through those cold, dark months and come out the other side ready for a new season.

• Make sure your training is consistent from week to week. You need some recovery periods, but with fewer races over the winter it is a great time to put back to back weeks of training together.
• Use the off season as time to work on your aerobic base. It’s best to do this on the bike, with it being non impact you are less likely to get injured. Aim for 1 or 2 rides a week over 3 hours.
• It’s a good idea through the winter to work some short but high intensity sessions into your week. This will keep you in touch with shorter and sharper training so it won’t come as a massive shock when you return to super fast sessions before the season kicks off!
• When you’re running and riding, make sure you keep warm. Not only will it make training more comfortable, but it will help prevent injury and illness! Make sure you keep your chest wrapped up to prevent getting ill – the Zoot performance tanks are a great base layer.
• Keep doing a bit of gym work through the winter. Examples include some lower leg conditioning, or glute strengthening – whatever it is make sure you don’t miss it out. You’ll want to increase muscle volume through these months so gym work is vital.
• One key to winter is to make sure you enjoy the training you are doing – Its a long time before the fun of racing begins again, so if you aren’t enjoying the training you aren’t going to be very motivated!
• Being injury free is definitely the most important thing to ensure consistent training. Sometimes it can’t be helped, but keeping on top of strength and conditioning, stretching and foam rolling definitely helps. You can also wear compression tights to aid recovery – the Zoot recovery tights do exactly what they say!
• Keep in touch with your competitive side. There are plenty of events you can compete in such as cross countries, road races, cyclo cross and crit races.