Building a Base

[Benn Griffin]

Hey all. I'm sure that this has been posted on various other blogs, but coming back from the injury I want to build up a base which will allow me to compete instead of complete longer races. I've had decent success in the 5k/10k/15k range and even had a decent 1:38 1/2 time last year beating my old PR by about 11 mins! Now I am running 5 days a week at about 25-30 miles per week. I remember Sasha saying to work to 6 miles per day 6 times per week and hold that for at least a month or two. Will running 6 miles a day really help build a base if that is only ~50-55 minutes of running? Right now my long runs are 7-8 miles. Just curious where to look at a program that slowly builds up. I want to run my third marathon in 2009 but I want to set a big PR.

[Eric Day]

Benn, remember its 5 days a week, then, on day 6, a long run & rest the day after.

[Benn Griffin]

Well what i do is do my long runs on Sundays i.e. the first day of the week after church. So lately that has been a 7 or 8 mile run.. this week was 8.25 miles, and then I will try to hit 5-6 miles the rest of the days of the week and rest on Saturday night after work to be ready for Sunday. Is that good? My schedule is crazy so idk how else to do it.

[Eric Day]

Benn, I think Sasha or another of the super-runners should suggest & comment. I too much of newbie.

[steve ashbaker]

I think that Sasha's advice is generally sound.  Work up to 6 miles or an hour a day. Be sure to keep thins between 70-75% max hr.  Run medium one day, super easy the next.  Once you are comfortable with that, start increasing by 5 minutes 3 times a week. Every week increase this length by 5 more minutes until you reach an hour and a half every other run while taking one complete day off per week.  Do this for a while and then start worrying about tempos, long runs etc. Then get back to me if you want and I can show what the next phase can look like depending on your condition. Easy progression is all that is needed for the first while and then you can have your dessert so to speak.  Trust me this will work, It is the best thing to do for someone at this stage of your running career.  I should know I have tried every thing for almost a decade...    Sincerely, Air Darkhorse.

[Paul Petersen]

Here is a good article on base-building.

http://www.therunzone.com/ntrz/?page_id=17

What Steve is suggesting, I almost consider "Pre-Base". It's like you need to get in shape before you can get in shape. So perhaps consider Steve's suggestion as "Base I" and the ideas proposed in the above article as "Base II". After about 4 months of Base I + Base II, you will be ready to start some hard training and get some huge PR's. But the key is to let your training cook and simmer slowly. Don't be a in a huge hurry to get to a certain mileage zone or to run a certain race. Remember that races happen every year, and when in doubt, defer and train more.

[Benn Griffin]

Steve, wondering if you can refocus and respond to your previous post. I really want to train smartly this winter. Do I understand this correctly:

Work up to 6 miles a day 6 times a week.. starting with 3-4 mile runs perhaps, not worrying about effort but then concentrating going somewhat hard one day, recovery the next, etc. No track workouts or tempos or long runs though.

Increase every other run by about 5 minutes or so until I am running 1.5 hours every other day?

Maybe start long runs after a couple months of this.

i.e. if I want to do some trail races in the spring, and maybe a marathon in 2010 when should I start putting in long runs?