Wednesday, January 11, 2006

SPOUTING OFF

I’ve been spouting off a lot of info I read from Ron Daws’ Running Your Best. Two of the key things during the early stages of the base building phase include; 1) evenly (for the most part) distributing your mileage across each run and 2) keeping the pace easy to moderate until you can handle the mileage. Basically, you throw the hard/easy philosophy (including long runs) out the window until you max out your mileage and then hold it there for a week or two. Then you can begin to incorporate hard/easy efforts and start bumping up your long run.

I’ve been in the base building phase for 10 weeks now. I think I did a pretty good job following Daws’ “plan” for about 8 weeks. The last two weeks, however, I’ve added more stronger aerobic runs and I’ve bumped my long run up to 18 miles. While I’m feeling great, I think I need to get to Daws’ basic principles next week if I want to continue building my mileage.

Evan had a really good post today regarding the hundred mile week. One of the things he mentions regarding “lower” mileage is that you can “get away” with a 6-mile day. However, as you approach “100 mpw your 6-mile day is purchased with even higher mileage on another day.” I like that quote. It reminds me of the focus and dedication required to reach my higher mileage goals. I can’t back off for even a day and still hope to reach my goals. Obviously, I’m talking about motivation-wise, not injury-wise.

As I commented on Evan’s blog, I'm still trying to get a feel for maintaining this higher mileage. While I like the idea of splitting up the 10 mile recovery days into 2 runs, I'm torn with just doing a single so it doesn't feel like I'm running all the time. It's more of a mental drain than a physical drain.

This morning I felt better than I thought I would (due to last night’s harder effort) as I ambled along for 8 very easy miles.

3 comments:

Mike said...

Nice eight weeks Zeke, keep up the good work. At some point just running 6 probably won't feel like enough as the mileage progresses.

Chad said...

Christine, you bring up a good point. I shouldn't have said "maxed out". I was referring to achieving the highest mileage you have planned for that training cycle.

Sorry Susan, you have to do the work yourself. That's half the "fun."

Mike, 6 already doesn't feel like enough. I mentioned a few weeks ago how 10 miles is the new 6.

Unknown said...

Thanks to the link to Evan's blog. He has some good advice and info about getting to 100. Good look on your continuous build up.