The focus during an early-season “base” or “foundational” training phase is aerobic development.So, what can we learn from the top minds in running about base training? Here are a few key points: It helps build your foundation so that you’re fit enough to tackle more race-specific workouts later in your training cycle by focusing on endurance but also a small amount of very fast and race-pace running. Takeaways on Base Trainingįrom these definitions, we can agree that base training is preparatory training. You can do a progression run that is mostly below threshold and it might end with 5 minutes of running that’s just past threshold, yet the amount of lactate produced is minimal and is cleared in just a few minutes of cooling down.Īnd there is no reason that you can’t be doing strides several days a week. I also reached out to Jay Johnson, coach to multiple national champions, about what he thinks should be included in a base training phase (or “foundational training” as he calls it):įoundational training doesn’t need to be so black and white. You’re always doing all of it, it’s just a matter of to what degree. There’s never a time of year when you’re just running mileage or you’re just doing speed. I think that the phase of training is defined by what you are focusing on during that phase.īut you always do a little of all of those things. The problem that most athletes have is that they think are mutually exclusive. There are three basic phases to a training cycle: base, strength, and speed. Other priorities of the introductory period include establishing a foundation of neuromuscular fitness with very small doses of maximal-intensity running and beginning the long process of developing efficiency and fatigue-resistance at race pace with small doses of running in the race-pace range Bob Kennedy emphasizes mixed workoutsīob Kennedy, the dominant American distance runner in the 1990s and first American to break 13:00 in the 5,000m, agrees. Priority number one is to gradually but steadily increase your running mileage… The purpose of the introductory period is to establish an appropriate fitness foundation that will prepare you for the more challenging and focused training of the fundamental and sharpening periods. Brad Hudson points out increases in mileageĪnd Brad Hudson, coach to many elites and author of Run Faster, explains the base phase (or as he calls it, the “introductory period”) as: You can see that the focus here is NOT on hard workouts – but even so, there is still a weekly session where you run quite fast. Since we don’t want to breath heavy (indicating a large build up of lactic acid- a big no-no while in the base phase), these workouts include repeats lasting less than 30 seconds.Ī good example might be 10 x 150m striding the first 50m, running quickly the second 50m then at 90% of top speed for the final 50m. They are neuromuscular workouts to make sure the brain and muscles remember how to turn the legs over quickly. Leg speed workouts are NOT heavy breathing workouts. Year-round, it is important for distance runners to work on leg speed. The first workout is a leg speed workout. Our base training comes directly from Arthur Lydiard with slight modifications for our athletes. There are two workouts that are performed in the base phase. Greg McMillan, of the “McMillan Running Calculator” fame and author of YOU (Only Faster), defines base training as: Let’s see how some famous coaches define base training. So first, what is base training anyway? What is Base Training? And the base phase of training is the perfect place to start this conversation. I rarely discuss specific training methods (“Run Less, Run Faster” for example) unless I have very strong opinions about them. Like CrossFit Endurance!īut I think there’s a valuable discussion to be had about how runners should build their endurance. How to design a proper base training phase.The (significant) drawbacks of the Maffetone Method.What is “base” or “foundational” training?.Today we’re going to cover several questions and topics: I definitely am – and this article is a beast – so grab a cup of coffee and settle in for a wild ride. Are you ready for a monster discussion on base training, the Maffetone Method, and more training geekery?
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