A strong base can enhance your race training.
Sallie asks: I’ve heard from my running friends that you should have a base before you train for a race. What does this mean, and how do I build a base?
Your running friends are wise! A running base is like the foundation of a house in that is supports the demands of progressive mileage and intensity that comes with a training plan. It is the bridge that gaps your racing seasons together and prepares your body and mind for the harder efforts during training and racing.
When you begin a training plan, it starts out at a low level, which builds week to week until it peaks just before the race. If you go into a training plan without an optimal base, your risk for injury is much higher because your body may struggle to adapt to the consistent increases in intensity and mileage.
It can also lead to burnout, lack of motivation and hormonal imbalances in your body from overtraining. Going in without a base is a little like trying to build a house on a foundation made of cardboard. It doesn’t hold up.
A running base is a period of time – typically six to 12 weeks – and varies depending on your running experience and fitness level.
If you’re new to running, investing in easy KMs at a conversational effort will build a solid aerobic base from which you can begin a first timer’s training plan. For instance, if you’re running two to three kilometres a few times per week and you want to begin a marathon training program in two months, your base should look like this: three to four runs per week starting at 3 kilometres per session, then build slowly to be able to run six to eight kilometres per mid-week run and a long run of ten kilometres. That increases your mileage up to the point where many first-time marathon plans start and prepares your body for the progression from there.
If you’re a seasoned runner, your base can include mostly easy-effort running with some harder efforts ike hills, tempo runs, and fartlek workouts sprinkled in. The secret is to balance off the ratio of easy-to-hard running so that you don’t push into training mode and fatigue your body.
Here is a sample base-building plan for seasoned runners who are looking to improve their race performance. It’s broken into three weeks so that you can repeat for two to three months, and it includes four runs per week. You can modify the number of runs per week to suit your personal training plan and running level.
If you are injury prone, you can use cross-training like cycling, elliptical or stair climbing to perform the harder effort, mid-week workouts to maintain fitness. Fill in the rest with easy effort runs. To do so, simply replace the hard effort run in the plan with a hard effort hilly ride, elliptical or stair climb. Finally, strength training is an effective mode to fill in the gaps between runs. For instance, ride for 15 minutes at an easy to moderate effort, then follow it up with 20-30 minutes of total body strengthening exercises.
Week One
Monday: Run easy effort 45-60 minutes
Tuesday: Cross-train 30-45 minutes (strength training and low-impact cardio)
Wednesday: Run 3×4 minutes at a moderate tempo effort with 2 minutes recovery; add 10 minutes for warmup and cooldown. Build to 5×4 minutes.
Thursday: Cross-train 30-45 minutes (strength training and low-impact cardio)
Friday: Run easy effort 30-45 minutes
Saturday: Long run at easy effort 60-75 minutes
Sunday: Rest day
Week Two
Monday: Run easy effort 45-60 minutes
Tuesday: Cross-train 30-45 minutes (strength training and low-impact cardio)
Wednesday: Fartlek run – 40 minutes at easy effort with six to eight 30-second, hard effort pick ups woven in.
Thursday: Cross-train 30-45 minutes (strength training and low-impact cardio)
Friday: Run easy effort 30-45 minutes
Saturday: Fast finish long run 75 minutes – first 50 minutes easy effort, final 25 minutes at moderate effort
Sunday: Rest day
Week Three
Monday: Run easy effort 45-60 minutes
Tuesday: Cross-train 30-45 minutes (strength training and low-impact cardio)
Wednesday: 45 minutes easy effort run with four 30-60 second hard effort hill repeats sprinkled in. Build to 6-8 repeats.
Thursday: Cross-train 30-45 minutes (strength training and low-impact cardio)
Friday: Run easy effort 30-45 minutes
Saturday: Long run at easy effort 90 minutes
Sunday: Rest day
