Running Around 12.4.11

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/

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Plug in a recent race result to get your training paces here ...

• http://www.attackpoint.org/trainingpaces.jsp
• http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/racepaces/rp

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