I'm going to declare this the first week of winter base training. If
you're still racing, then choose you favorite workout from November, but
I strongly encourage you to take some down time sometime soon if you
have not already.
The purpose of base training is to build mileage slowly and intelligently over a period of weeks. By limiting the
intensity of
training during this period, our bodies can adapt more easily to the
stress of adding mileage. One of the best ways to improve your base is
to increase your running frequency. I've put together some guidelines
here ...
http://trackworkouts.blogspot.com/2008/06/running-frequency-progression.html
Looking at the weather, you'll see one of the reasons why we do base
work this time of year. It can be cold, rainy and/or windy.That is not a
scenario that's conducive to quality work on the track.
The base phase is also a great time to refocus on often-neglected
aspects of our training like core strength. Core doesn't mean abs. It
means abs, hips, glutes and back too. Here is an excellent site for core
strength info
http://www.ronjones.org/Handouts/index.htm. There is a series of videos on core strength at
http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=16625.
And lots of good articles written by Mick Larrabee (from past editions
of Footnotes columns) on a variety of subjects like strength training
and core at
http://www.optimalperformanceinc.com/articles.html.
If you despise road runs and need a track fix, here is the official off-season base training plan:
http://trackworkouts.blogspot.com/2008/06/summer-track-workout-progression.html
Workout Summary
A.
Easy running on the roads or Greenway. Wear something reflective if you have it!
B.
[Alternate if racing] Choose your favorite workout from the past month. See
http://trackworkouts.blogspot.com/
Plug in a recent race result to get your training paces here ...
Join the Tuesday Track Workouts at Tom Black Track group on Facebook.
Keith Gemeinhart: 
