Every October I see athletes make one of two mistakes. They shut down completely and lose everything they built, or they hammer through the dark months and arrive in spring injured, ill, burnt out, or a bit of all three.

If you're over 50, both mistakes cost more. This week's solo episode covers how I approach winter with the athletes I coach, and how I'd plan it for myself.

"It's not nice to have wellness. It's a hard-nosed performance strategy."

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​Start at the end

Before you think about intervals or long rides, work backwards. Which race, which date, and what does success look like? "I want to be fitter" is like telling your sat nav you're heading to the north-east of England. Give it a street in Newcastle and it can build you a route.

Winter isn't separate from your season. It's the foundation, and if it's wrong, your race-specific work won't be as effective as you hope.

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Listen to the full podcast episode here: The Perfect Winter Training Plan for Triathletes Over 50​

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Health comes first

The first goal of winter is to stay healthy and injury-free, because illness and injury force you to cut back or stop. Four things protect you:

• Sleep. It's my number one non-negotiable. Poor sleep hurts recovery, drops your immune system and raises your injury risk. It's dark at 4pm, so use it to protect seven to nine hours.
• Nutrition. Enough quality food, plenty of fruit and veg, and roughly 1.2 to 2 grams of protein per kilo of body weight. At 80 kilos, that's 120 to 160 grams a day. Winter is a tempting time to cut calories, but under-fuelling and training rarely mix.
• Alcohol. I'm not telling you to stop. I like a glass of wine and a couple of hours in the pub. But it hammers sleep quality, and we tolerate it less as we get older.
• Niggles. A twinge in your Achilles may be tightness in your hip. Deal with it while it's small, so you can keep training around it.

This isn't doom and gloom. It's physiology. As an older athlete you lose fitness faster than you did at 30, and it takes longer to get back.

Train the way an older athlete recovers

Five principles run through my winters:

• 80/20. Out of ten sessions, eight easy and two properly hard. If you count hours, think 90/10.
• One full rest day a week. A rest day, not an easy day.
• A recovery block every 10 to 14 days. Planned, not on demand.
• Strength twice a week, at least. "This is the hill I will die on." We lose muscle mass and bone density as we age, and lifting addresses both.
• A volume you can sustain. My diary goes back 15 to 20 years and my winter average sits between eight and ten hours. Six hours every week for six months beats ten hours for three weeks, then two weeks ill.

Reps in reserve

Borrowed from strength training: in a set of eight to ten squats, you stop at seven, knowing you could do one to three more. For intervals, if your coach prescribes five threshold efforts, finish feeling like you could have done six.

"On a Tuesday evening at the track, you don't need to prove anything to anybody."

That's why I like hard sessions indoors in winter. You control the environment and hit precise targets, without worrying about visibility, traffic or wind. Keep your outdoor sessions easy and put them on the weekend, when there's more light.

Fix your limiters

Don't spend winter doing more of what you're already good at. Dig into what's actually holding you back. "I'm not fast enough in the pool" might be a volume issue, a technique issue, or limited shoulder mobility that stops your hand getting to the right place. Book time with a good coach, find the real cause, and fix it, even if that means swimming in a slower lane for a while.
Do that and you'll arrive in spring ready for your race plan, fitter, healthier and more resilient than you've been in years. That's what Battle Ready looks like.

If you'd like help turning this into a plan built around your goals and your life, that's what we do inside the SWAT Inner Circle. It's coaching and community for endurance athletes over 50 who want to keep performing without burning out, with a weekly coached training structure and my eyes on what you're doing so you're not guessing. New members join at £65 a month with no minimum commitment. Find out more HERE:

Simon Ward​ Performance coach for endurance athletes over 50 Helping you train smarter, race stronger, and stay in the sport for the long haul.