Embrace a slight loss of fitness during the off-season

Although this can be the toughest thing when it comes to the off-season it's part of a normal (and healthy) annual training schedule. Throughout the year your body has endured a lot of training stress, which on a chronic state can be quite unhealthy. Many endurance athletes overlook recovery and disregard the end of season break resulting in chronic fatigue, loss of motivation, hormonal issues, etc... The break ultimately allows the body to heal physically and mentally, and it is healthy and normal to lose fitness as the year finishes. In many case the training has been focused on maintenance and recovery and is slowly being built back up throughout the next couple months to lay a foundation for further adaptations and improvements going into the next year.