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Building base - what works for me (Read 679 times)

    I've been running 3 years and I still consider myself a newbie because I'm always learning something new. And I started exercising late in life. I have learned an awful lot reading posts on sites like this that got me started. Tonight something that I had read sunk in. I've heard some people say that you should always lighten up one week out of 4 and 1 month out of 12 for recovery but could never bring myself to do that. Well, through one activity and another, my mileage for December was much lighter than normal. I was very worried about losing my fitness if I didn't run increasing amounts or at least kept up my levels. Well, lo and behold, I'm feeling much stronger now that I've taken the time off. Strange. Anyone else experience the same? Anyone have a recommendation on the right balance of pedal to the metal and backing off or is it trial and error? Ruth

    Suffering Benefiting from mature onset exercise addiction and low aerobic endorphin release threshold. Hoping there is no cure.

      Ruth: It's a most likely taper effect. For example, people would taper anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks before marathon race. In the case of my wife's first marathon, I actually would have prefered 3 weeks before the marathon but she felt a bit uncomfortable if whe could completely "taper" from all the training (we laid out a 10-week program); so we started to taper 4 weeks before. During this period, she cut back her mileage, not quite in half but quite a bit. She never timed her runs but, when I ran with her, I was timing the first mile of the run. Just but cutting down her training, she started to run this first mile almost a minute faster. A week before the marathon, I told her to take it easy and she snapped by saying anything slower than that would feel like walking! She actually was getting faster without trying to run faster. Be aware though; that it is actually a combination of hard training effort AND tapering that made you feel so good. It seems some people misinterpret this phenomena by thinking actually less training is better. There's a time to train hard; there's a time to take pressure off. The important thing is to lay down a long-term schedule so you'll know when to train hard and when to back off so you'd feel fresh and sharp (hopefully coincide the time when you race).
        There are a variety of different theories out there with regards to year-round training schedules and how you should spend your time. In general, my experience with the 3 on 1 off plan isn't really that great, but I haven't gotten a whole lot out of it either. I would tend to say that taking an overall look at your year and figuring out that works is probably going to be more beneficial. There are a number of noted folks in running who would say otherwise though (Sleamaker and Galloway for instance). It is important to let your body recover periodically How you schedule things should depend partly on what your goals are. For example, are there specific races that you want to compete in during a season, or at different times of the year? Answering questions like that can help you determine how to break down your time. If you have one time of year when your highest intensity running takes place (races etc.) then sure, after that it makes sense to recover a bit, spend a month or two with lower volume. High intensity running can do a number on your body even when it doesn't seem like it. You then progress from there upward toward your next season. Have a couple big seasons? Slow it down after each, but not by as much since you can't afford to take as much time to recover. Every coach I had when running for the various schools I competed for had some variant of this philosophy, always seemed to net good results for us. There's good material out there on year-long training plans for all types of folks (there has to be, I just found some hints in the only book which sits around in my office), I'd suggest picking up some material and seeing what studies have shown. Smile


        ~J

        Richard21142


          The "lighten up" weeks could be part of a training plan (i.e. taper for a race) or out of necessity as a result of some hard training or racing. In my training, I don't plan easy periods, but take them when necessary. The New England winter usually gives me more than one month of easier training; even though there may be a few races during that period.