Moving on from the Base

As an aging runner (40), building up a solid base becomes even more important. The foundation is truly the key to everything in life, including life itself. Without a strong foundation, or base, whatever we try to build on top can come crumbling down. If you are young, you can get away with a weak foundation because the body is resilient. As you age, however, the body's resiliency wanes, and the importance of the strong foundation increases. For my Boston training this year, I've decided on a schedule similar to my training last year where the goal was a summer 100 miler. That was all about base training and there was never any speed or tempo work done. Nonetheless, marathons should be run almost entirely aerobically and therefore that was a very effective training model with 4 runs over marathon distance (26-35+ miles) prior to Boston. This year, without a 100 miler in the works (though I am signed up for the Pineland Farms 50 in May), the base needn't be near as big, so the long runs have built from 3 hours, to 3:40 2 weeks ago to a final long run (4:30 if slow, 3:40 again if quicker paced) being planned this weekend. These runs are done at a low heart rate, relaxed pace and consistent cadence.

Now it’s time to transition: gain speed without risking injury. Last weekend I had a 2:40 minute snow shoe race that almost acted as 2 x 45 min at tempo (higher heart rate/effort) yet without the pounding on the feet. Though a little beat up from that race, I had a good recovery run Tuesday morning with 8 miles and an average heart rate of 135 which is very relaxed for me. Wednesday night was what I call a progressive transition run as it serves as a tempo run that bridges the base training to the speed work. With the legs feeling good after the first 20 minutes, I began to build into the run, picking up the effort as I went. I ended up at 12.5 miles in just over 90 minutes on a very hilly route with the last half essentially at or near tempo, save for the last cool down mile+, which was all uphill.

Friday was supposed to be an easy run to get ready for Sunday’s long run. I had every intention to run a relaxed 50-60 minutes. As you can see from the run data:http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72467982 , average heart rate at 159 (high zone 3, upper limit of aerobic) and a 7:15 pace over almost 10 miles wasn’t what I was looking for.

So this weekend was the last of the long, slow, distance runs. I ended up “scaling it back” to 3:35 rather than 4:30 for 2 reasons. The first is because of the hard run two days before. The second and main reason is because of the pace I was able to hold with my given heart rate over the 3 hours, thirty-five minutes. At a high zone 1 average, 139, I ended up with 25.2 miles with some high aerobic pick ups over the last 5 miles. To run further would have been more risky than beneficial as at this point, the foundation is complete…and intact! From here on out, it's tempo with incorporating speed work over the last 4 weeks. Without that solid base of fitness that I've been building since December (no tempo, no speed), I would be at a high risk of injury over these next 3-4 weeks, and that's not something I want to risk.

There are so many people who injure themselves time and again because of trying to do more than what their body will allow. They want to run long or run fast without putting in the time and effort, or essentially the foundation. When you have years of long distance running under your belt, your foundation is quite solid, and the focus can be different. When you are a new runner, or haven't yet done a marathon, then there needs to be careful planning to set up the right program, and implementation of that program so that it is realistic and attainable given a persons body type, injury history and lifestyle. Working with an experienced coach can be incredibly helpful to help keep you focused toward that goal.