Running Around 12-4-06

For the month of December, we will be doing base training. That means we'll still meet at the time time/place, but we'll do road runs instead of track workouts on Tuesdays. Why base training? Well, we can't be at our best all the time. That's why we're following a periodized training cycle. Part of that cycle is rest, recovery and base-building. We are in the rest & recovery stage right now. It's a great time of the year to be doing this since things get hectic during the holiday season, and it's a lot easier to just hit the roads that make time to do a full-blown workout.

Looking ahead ... we'll focus on two spring races: Expo 10k at the end of May and/or Knoxville Marathon at the beginning of April. We have a long way to go until Expo, so there's lots of time to build your base.

The marathon (and half) are 16 weeks away, and the official training program began this past week. If you can, get out and participate in the group runs on the weekend. They usually have water/gatorade on the route somewhere as well as refreshments afterward. Marathoners (and half) should be working on base during December. In January, we'll start with the faster stuff.

If you took some time off last week, start back gently. Work on gradually adding miles for the next several weeks and increase the length of your long run. I'll suggest a road run in the 5-8 mile range. I'll probably do somewhere around 6 on Tuesday.

P.S. If you absolutely need some type of track fix, 3 x 1600m @T pace with 1 min rest.