A common topic amongst my runner friends and I is how often we are frustrated by our bodies. I don’t mean in a poor body image kind of way, I mean by our own inefficiencies. My problem is usually that my upper body and my lower body have a hard time syncing. Either my lungs and heart feel great, I won’t be winded and feel that I can run forever but my legs feel heavy and tired, or the other way around.
This morning, I had one of those great runs where everything meshed together. Had time not been of a concern, I feel like I could have run and run and run. I don’t know what the magic elixir is that made it all work today, but I hope to repeat it.
I have to remember that even though I have been doing this for a few years, I am still relatively young in my running career. I have only trained for one marathon (soon to be two!) and I take some things for granted. One thing that I know I take for granted is the kind of shape I was in for the marathon. I feel like I have stayed active … granted I am not pulling 16 mile runs on the weekend … so, what I am saying is that I am realizing that there is a natural ebb and flow to fitness levels. You can’t always be in marathon shape. But keeping up a base fitness is important, because you don’t want to start at square one.
So, that base. How do you keep it? How does that work? I did some research and found out. Runner’s World makes an excellent point when they say that building a base is often overlooked because it actually comes before training. It seems to consist of two or three days a week of speed, hill or fartlek workouts that push you to no more than 95%. And then a long run once a week. That sounds familiar … what … does .. that … remind … me .. oh. wait. Training. Sounds just like training. So, I guess the difference is that you aren’t increasing mileage and you aren’t pushing to your hardest. I will say this for it, at least we aren’t re-inventing the wheel here.
So, I am going to build a strong base. That is my current goal. For the next three weeks I am going to be as consistent in my fitness and workouts as I can. I am going to continue doing weights 3 times a week. I am going to run 4 days a week (3 interval workouts and a longer run). And I am going to do a spin class each week. I am going to get into the kind of shape that is conducive to building mileage. That way, I can start my marathon training off on the right foot. Here we go …
If you want to read a more eloquently and expertly written article about building a base check out these links …
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267–12431-1-1-2,00.html
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244–11174-0,00.html
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244–12330-0,00.html
Tags: base building, Running, training