What is considered Base Miles? (Read 1046 times)

What is considered a good base before starting speed or tempo work? When I was into bike racing I always put on a base of 1,000 miles before starting strength, speed or tempo training. What is the general rule of thumb for running? I have on my Christmas list running books but who knows what my family will come up with? I started working out again about two years ago and have lost about 30 pounds. My fitness is pretty good even though I have more weight to lose. I ran off and on this summer and decided my knees could handle the running. I just started running consistently (5 times a week) at the end of Oct. I did a race at the beginning of Dec. and felt pretty good about it. Pulling the rookie mistake of letting the crowd take me to fast at first but pulled it back in a ran a bit above my training pace and then really pushed it at the end. Since then my right foot has hurt whether I did to much pounding on the pavement and hills I'm not certain. So I'm back to enjoying the motion of running for now but do want to start training for some races this spring. There are no certain races I want to run at this time other then trying to find a 5K in the spring, 10K in the summer and maybe a HM in the fall barring injury or ther unforseen problems. At the present all of my runs are easy with a 6 mile run on Sat. for a mileage of 20 a week. So what is a general rule of thumb for base mileage? I've looked a training schedules at runners world and cool running, but they just say you should be running X miles a week before this. So what is X miles? I don't want to go to fast and injure myself. Or maybe fast is the the wrong word for me? Thanks for the help! Hope I made sense! Gayle

A long time ago I heard a rule of thumb that said you should be averaging weekly a minimum of 3x the length of the race you wanted to run in.

Interesting...by that theory I should have been running ~40mpw for my HM. A marathoner would want to be running close to 80/week...that seems a little excessive for longer races. But I could see that being applicable for maybe anything < a 15k-10mile race. for me i consider my "base miles" whatever is my absolute minimum...which is around 15-20 miles/week right now (divided between 3 runs). by the end of summer and before my long races of fall (a 10 miler and at least one hm) i would like to be doing closer to 30-40 for my base. k a="" 15k-10mile="" race.="" for="" me="" i="" consider="" my="" "base="" miles"="" whatever="" is="" my="" absolute="" minimum...which="" is="" around="" 15-20="" miles/week="" right="" now="" (divided="" between="" 3="" runs).="" by="" the="" end="" of="" summer="" and="" before="" my="" long="" races="" of="" fall="" (a="" 10="" miler="" and="" at="" least="" one="" hm)="" i="" would="" like="" to="" be="" doing="" closer="" to="" 30-40="" for="" my="" base.=""></ a 15k-10mile race. for me i consider my "base miles" whatever is my absolute minimum...which is around 15-20 miles/week right now (divided between 3 runs). by the end of summer and before my long races of fall (a 10 miler and at least one hm) i would like to be doing closer to 30-40 for my base. k>

Hi, Gayle. I'm not sure anyone has a good answer for this question. I've seen it asked a lot of times, and the answer seems to change depending on who the runner is. Perhaps that's the best answer: depends on the runner. Janell

Thanks for the answer. and sorry I asked it again if it's been asked lots of times. I agree with you on the foot. Nothing but easy miles for me until it starts feeling better. I think it's an arch support problem. It did not hurt to run on Sunday and there was a few mild hills on the run. But then on a flat run on Tues it was achy and started hurting when I was walking barefoot in the house later. I've bought inserts trying for more arch support and will see how that goes. So with that said I think I'll continue the easy mileage at least through Jan which will give me almost another 100 miles and see how my body feels from there. I found a 5K race on April 1st that I can shoot for. Thanks again.

I didn't mean that you'd put out a dumb question. I meant it's a question a lot of people ask. I've asked it myself, even though I'd seen it get asked and not answered several times before. I've never seen a satisfactory answer - VERY frustrating to those of us who think there should be nice, clear, clean, cut-and-dry answers to everything. :: sigh:: I wish someone would answer it definitively.

I didn't take it as asking a dumb question, I thought maybe I didn't look hard enough on the threads to find the question and answer already asked. I'm a numbers and data person and find it frustrating I can't find a number to put to it. I was hoping to get some running books for Christmas and see what they said. But heavy sigh I guess no one is taking my running to heart. When I told one of my friends who has worked out with me this past few years I had joined the 1000 mile club on this site, the reponse was far from supportive. Heavy Sigh. So like I said I'll put another easy hundred on next month and see how I feel. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question. I do appreciate it. Gayle

I've sometimes had trouble with my coworkers not really "getting" my running. That seems to be a common problem. . . . I guess my point is ... give it more time. Let them come to see running as a permanent quirk of yours... not something you're trying to force on them... and they'll come around. Eventually.

I've had this same problem with co-workers and friends for the past two years since I started watching what I eat and working out again. I've had a very supportive workout crew that has helped me stay on track. In fact with losing almost 30 pounds and putting on muscle definition has been a huge highlight in my life. I still have weight to lose BUT I have muscle defination and don't "jiggle" as much. I just didn't expect my workout buddies not to be supportive. Hard to figure, but I guess the running world is to different from cardio and weight lifting in the gym world. I use to run in my 20s (which cough, cough - was a LONG time ago) and I had forgotten how much fun it is. I was reading someone's comments here about how they thought about running all the time, and could see myself in her words. To funny! I'm a bit nervious about the 1,000 mile club, but it's only one step at a time, right?! See ya later. Gayle