Many
runners struggle with the concept of doing only "easy" running in the
base building phase
and quickly get bored with doing all
their runs at easy pace. Others fear that the easy pace running will
somehow make
them "slower". Sometimes just
knowing the why of base building is enough to make the long journey
tolerable.
Why
do we do base building in the first place? The primary goal is to
establish
an endurance base that's consistent
with the event you're training for. The total weekly mileage and the
longest run of the
week both need to increase in
incremental fashion until you've built enough aerobic endurance to not
only complete your event
but perhaps also to compete in the event. So how physiologically are we able to build our endurance?
Endurance
is built as your various systems adapt. The most obvious of these is
your cardiorespiratory system. Your
heart will increase in size and
strength, your body will make more capillaries to carry the blood to and
from the exercsing
muscles, and you'll increase your
total blood volume. Meanwhile your muscle fibers will get bigger, and
will add in more
of the little cellular organs that
generate the fuel (ATP) needed for their contraction. These little
organs known as
mitochondria, make this precious ATP
from the stores of glycogen (carbohydrate) and fat you have stored
nearby. If you
have more of the mitochondria making
ATP, your muscles can work harder and faster and not run out of
fuel. This stimulus
to mitochondrial development happens
best when the muscles are worked in an aerobic (think "easy pace")
fashion.
In response to training, your
muscles become better at storing glygogen and fat -- which comes in darn
handy in the late stages
of an endurance event! Your tendons,
bones and ligaments are a bit slower than some of the other systems in
adapting and often
don't give you much more than very
subtle cues of an impending injury until too late. For this reason, it's
best to take the
base building process slowly.
OK... so if I have to do only easy pace running in my base building
phase how can I fight this boredom? Here are a few tricks to try:
Do your run on a route
you've not used before, or perhaps run your usual loop in the opposite direction
Try
to find some trails nearby and
experiment with a little trail running -- if you're not used to trails,
it helps to slow down
a little to make sure of your
footing.
Introduce a friend to running -
invite them to join
you on a short run and keep your
pace conversational. Show them what a great feeling it is to go for a
run.
Throw a few hills into the mix. Hill running is a great form of strength training. One or maybe two hilly
runs a week works well for most people.
Play
"match the pace" and see how close
you can come to the pace you're
supposed to run. If you do this in a group - you can up the ante and say
that the post-run
treat (insert beverage of choice
here) is bought by the person who was furthest from their target pace!
Whatever
your method - the base building process needs to focus on base building
and doing the easy aerobic paces
that will best stimulate the
physiological changes you're trying to accomplish. The aerobic engine
you build in this phase
will really shine when it comes time
to switch gears and start the sharpening phase. Patience... it pays
off!
Visualize your success -- and get there by training SMART
Janet
is
a Registered Clinical Exercise
Physiologist, a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and
certified running coach
who specializes in helping
individuals improve their health, fitness and athletic
performance. Janet has been coaching
runners in groups and individually
for over18 years and has helped athletes rehabilitate from injuries for
over 25 years.
She is a certified running coach and
coaching instructor with the Road Runners Club of America, a certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist with the National Strength & Conditioning Association, and a Registered Clinical Exercise Physiologist with the American College of Sports Medicine.
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