Running Around 12•8•13

Week 2 • Winter Training 2013

Last week the suggested workout was planned time off for recovery. Now we're starting our Winter base training period, so that means easy running on the roads or greenways. Base mileage is important in our periodized approach to training. Winter is a great time for it because the weather is usually not conducive to high quality workouts on the track.

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

This 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 infohttp://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 ran through this week, then you can take your down time before starting back with base mileage.

If you just love running in circles, here is the official off-season training plan. Good for both Winter and Summer despite the name of the article.
http://trackworkouts.blogspot.com/2008/06/summer-track-workout-progression.html

This is a time of year when some of us are taking time off or are going on vacation, etc. So the Facebook group page is a good resource to check in with each other to see who is going to be at the track or if anyone is doing a particular workout.