Then I told her to promise me she would give herself an off-season. This gave runners an opportunity to rest and cut back their training in the early part of winter. Now there are races throughout December, New Year's Day seems to be a day for racing, and the remaining winter months have added some big events. One could say there's no longer an off-season. That means little time to rest and little time to recover from the previous racing season and properly prepare for the upcoming year.
Rest is good.
Olympic marathoner Pete Pfitinger once told me that days off for runners are as important as training days. Trying telling that to a runner who's now going from race to race 12 months a year. If you're coming off a busy fall and are already focusing on January races it will be hard to allow yourself a period of relaxation, but the rest will do you good. I'm not just talking about cutting back your mileage. It might not be a bad idea to take a week or two off from any running.