Slow Down Damit!

Base, base, base. This time of year all of the running and triathlon magazines are filled with articles on the whys and how?s of base training. So are you currently building your base or are you still in racing mode where all your workouts are fast and hard?
The purpose of base training is to prepare the body for the more intense forms of training that will come later in your program. Low intensity workouts help to teach your body to burn more fat for fuel, improves circulation by increasing capillaries in the muscles and the heart?s stroke volume and it improves your ability to recover. If you are a new runner, this is also the time when your bones, tendons and ligaments become accustomed to the impact of running so when you increase time, distance or intensity you are not as prone to injury.
Base training should be the primary mode for the first year of your running career as well as the beginning of each racing season. Without this important break in intensity, you will run the risk of being over trained or worse yet, falling out of love with your sport as it becomes more like a job then a source of pleasure.
Using a heart rate monitor is essential for all new runners as it is difficult to be objective about how hard you are working. The philosophy used by most runners is to run hard enough that it feels like work but not so hard that it feels like hard work. This puts you in the heart of no man?s land, essentially where you are running too hard to get the benefits of base training but not hard enough to get the benefits of interval training. Although this is a tempting place to train, you will only improve to a point and then your performance will stagnate. If you feel this is you, take a step back and try a cycle of low intensity running. The majority of your training sessions, approximately 80% should be done at less then 70 to 75% of your maximum heart rate (MHR). Calculate this number using the following formulas:
 New runners should use 220-age=MHR x 75%= training rate
 Experienced runners: 220-age= MHR-RHR x 75% + RHR= training rate.
(Note: RHR = resting heart rate)
Some runners have a hard time running this ?slow? at first as they feel like they are not accomplishing anything. To keep yourself honest on these days, run with a slower partner, ensuring you don?t press the pace past their abilities. You can also take walk breaks at set periods of time to break the pace. The first eight to 12 weeks of your season should consist mostly of base training. At this point although it is important to add in speed work and long runs, you should maintain some base training days that provide active recovery.