The longer you are on, the harder it will be to recover. IMO, you'd be much better off running gear for shorter periods, around 10-16 wks, then come off for the same length of time. Its a game of 3 steps forward, 2 steps back. Then 4 steps forward when you go back on. The key is what you do with nutrition, during the cycle and most importantly, AFTER the cycle. If you keep the diet in check after the cycle, you will of course, still take on a softer, lower quality look without the gear, but you'll maintain the max amount you can. Then when you go back on, you'll get back to your previous on cycle best, quickly and continue to push to new limits, faster. 

The longer you are off, the harder it'll be to maintain quality muscle. Emotions and drive are often lower when off gear. Its just a lot easier to lose motivation and lose focus on diet. So 26 wks off, plus PCT...thats a long time for things to go wrong. Often times, guys go in with plans like this, run a 25-30 wk cycle. Then decide they can't deal with not being on for the extended "off" period. So they go back on early and never fully recover. 

Even for older guys that run HRT year round. 26 wks is a long time. Cholesterol, liver and kidney values can get thrown way out of wack in that period of time.