I have been told if I want to improve I need to build a base that is to run easy (70% MHR) for all my runs for three months.
After that I can start to do some speed training etc. If you have done it can you let me know if it was worth the time put into it?
The other option is to run just my easy days slowly it appears most of us run them too quickly anyway!
Any thoughts and views would be appreciated?
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To complimment this some general strength work is also good
I would disagree with WW about the need to do any speed work though. I think a good stretching / strength-training regime will prevent any long-term loss of speed.
I ask because I'm planning a couple of months of base training after the Great Cumbria Run.
Read somewhere once the best form of training is to train for a marathon but without doing the marathon at the end
What do others think and would more than 3 months base training be more of a hinderance or a help.
At last the message that quick fix speedwotk is not the answer is getting out! Hurrah!
All runs nice'n'easy keeping HR low, BUT the BETTER runners can do SOME alactic speedwork concentrating on RELAXED FORM. Alactic = too short for lactate to form. Some 100m reps with VERY long (several minutes) rest intervals keeping good form will keep the body ready for teh faster work later on.
Are ALL runs at the same HR or do they vary? Been reading about this but need some direct answers.
I'd still be wary about doing a long period of purely slow running - based simply on the effects it had on people I knew - maybe a small sample but they didn't get faster except over ultra distances. However I think the idea of doing some fast running without turning it into a knackering interval session may be enough for maintenance. Again just an educated guess.
Ard - I up the duration of my long run to 3hrs (i do 3hrs 1wk 2hrs the next alternating)
BR - what questions do you want answering
60-70% of the training hours should be aimed at the slow stuff with the aim of improving the body’s oxygen transport system (50-60%whr) – Endurance : Easy Cruising pace – Over Distance : long easy runs
10-20% of time on strength for the reason stated above
The reminder speed sessions to ensure you don’t loose the speed you have built in the past – emphasis would normally be short intervals working on body speed, tempo speed and kicks
I can recomend the book "SERIOUS Training for endurance athletes" BY Rob Sleamaker and Ray Browning
but watch out for that big rotweiller the old bloke walks down by the swings - its a bu66er
Have run before but am returning for the zillionth time
http://www.ffh.us/cn/hadd.htm
Should answer a lot of the questions.
Happy reading!
Currently am doing 3 x 5+milers at 65-70%WHR, a 20mn speed session at club night and running through a weekend race by taking the first 1/3 easy and then running the second 2/3rd as a tempo type run. I intend to staedily increase the 5+ milers to 7 or so over the next month and then maybe to 9.
What I'd be interested in knowing is how much slowr do people find they go when base building than their current racing pace. I guess I could race a 10k now at around 7:20-7:30min mile but my base-building runs are at 9:30min/mile pace about - 80% of race speed.
Although I do feel my running has improved in the past 6 months (I've only been running for about 17 months in total) I don't feel that the improvements have been as dramatic as I'd hoped or expected.
I think this is because I do all my runs at too fast a pace. The net result is that I have a certain amount of speed (which I'd like to improve on) but not nearly as much stamina as I'd like. In training runs I often find myself having to take a break because I've started out too hard. I've read a bit about base building but I find it almost impossible to slow down - my body's used to the pace I run at and changing it is proving to be very difficult. I often set out with the intention of doing an 'easy' or 'recovery' run but end up logging it as a tempo run because the pace was too quick.
I thought a heart rate monitor might help me with pacing, but am a bit put off by reports I've read about them chafing round the chest strap.
Do others find a HRM is best for learning to pace yourself?
TSR - as base training progresses you'll finfd your speed will increase for the same HR - as you become more aerobicly fit and you oxgen transport system inproves
Resting HR = 55
Max HR = 200
10K race pace = 6.10
Currently doing 5 runs per week:
1. Long run (building to 16 miles) at 150HR
2&3. 2 x medium runs (building to 10 miles each) at 160HR & 150-155HR
4&5. 2 x shorter runs (5 miles each) at HR<145
Current avaerage pace at these HRs as follows:
145: 9.00
150: 8.40
155: 8.20
160: 8.00
Have been following this programme for about 3 weeks so far and have already seen a reduction in pace of around 20 seconds per mile at each HR. When pace at each HR starts to level off I will up my target HRs at each level by 5-10bpm. In the New Year plan to re-introduce the speedwork as well.
Am convinced this type of training will pay off with improved race times come next Spring/Summer but guess I will have to just to wait and see!
Have seen link to hadd and it seems a lot of reading so i have printed it off to read at leisure.
I just hate the very slow running!
I'm not dissing it - training is all about finding an aproach that works for you and going for it
I go for BASE : BUILD : PEEK : RACE : RECOVER
After a week or so off after GNR I'll be donig 4 months base training in the manner i've discribed above with overdistance and endurance training controled by HR and time on my feet (forget about pace and distance)
Then Ill enter build where the overdistance will be cut back and emphasis will switch to improve endurance (marathon for me) during the latter sage of this i'll do a spring marathon
PEEk for me will be an Ironman specific programme
If all goes well I will revert back to Hadd next Autumn/Winter and add to the endurance base I will have laid this year.
I believe it is a cumulative process over a number of years so next year's base phase should take less time to reach the same level as this year and, all being well, the paces will be faster than this year for the same HR.
That's the theory anyway - as you say, it's all about experimenting and finding what approach works best for you.
Good luck with the Ironman (you must be mad!!)
It occurred to me at the Nike 10K when I was forced to run the first 2K at a pace well below what I usually run at because of the sheer volume of people that I was struggling to keep going even though I was a lot slower than usual. Having read the Hadd article, this kind of makes sense now. By doing pretty much all my runs at what amounts to tempo pace (not by design; I just can't seem to run slower) I'm increasing the mitochondria in my fast-twitch muscle fibres but the slow-twitch fibres are not being developed at all - consequently when I run at a pace which forces me to use these I crash and burn. Also explains why my endurance doesn't match my speed.
Having read Hadd and this thread, the idea of training phases makes a lot of sense and seems to me a good way forward for my training. I really need to work on building base fitness - it's like building a house without any foundations: sooner or later it's going to fall down. Seems what I've been doing is trying to improve the quality of my running without having the foundations in place to allow this to happen.
Now realise I never really understood why I was doing those sessions when I was. As my 10m & 1/2m paces were way off those predicted by my 10k pace I thought it worth trying this approach this year. I have also read (or part read) The Lore of Running by Noakes and as a result of all of this I now feel that I understand why certain sessions are done and, more importantly, how I can use them to improve my own running.
Must stop now as I think I am in danger of becoming a running bore!