This week Massachusetts had a vacation week for public schools, and the age old problem of athletes taking a week off to go on vacation exists because planning is never done with physiology in mind. Detraining is real and many coaches understand the gravity of the situation of someone taking a week off just as the athlete starts getting in shape. In fact not competing allows athletes to actually train, not be in triage. My biggest pet peeve was the parent request for workouts the athlete was going to do on the beaches of Spain or at the hotel fitness area in Orlando (instead of the Disney complex). The classic response I have was Adjust goals and that wasn’t very popular but it was honest. The most important training week is April Vacation as the athlete is rested from not going to school and three quality workouts can get done, almost equal to a month of HS training when you are dealing with meets and invitationals.
