All about... BASE TRAINING
Whether you’re in your race off-season, you’re preparing to crank up your training in the autumn, or you’re just keeping things ticking over, base training is a vital weapon in a runner’s armoury
Words: Anna Harding
Base training is the bread and butter of your weekly running and if you do it right, it can help you to build your fitness and teach you to train at different intensities. Although it can be considered the early part of training for a long-term goal, or a good way to keep you ticking over between races, the base run will always be a key part of your weekly running schedule, often referred to as the ‘easy run’ on the plan.
In addition, base training can help you form good habits because it has you running consistently, and getting stronger and fitter in the lead up to starting a more structured and specific training plan for a goal race or event.
Back to base-ics
The easiest way to think about base training is to imagine a triangle. The very bottom of that triangle is the widest part and the foundation of the other layers on top of it. In other words, the widest part is the ‘base’ of your training, and the layers above it build up towards whatever goal you’re working for, and include things like strength and speed training.
Base training is about building your base aerobic fitness. Simply put, aerobic means ‘with oxygen’. The opposite of this is ‘anaerobic’, which means ‘without oxygen’. During anaerobic exercise (think sprints and anything that feels really hard), your body doesn’t use oxygen to fuel its main energy source. On the flipside, when you are carrying out aerobic efforts like endurance, your body requires oxygen to fuel them.
Your heart is a muscle and when you exercise it gets stronger. Aerobic activities are when you begin to breathe faster and more deeply than if you would if you were just going for a leisurely stroll. Your heart rate increases and your body starts to maximise the amount of oxygen in the blood. The increase in heart rate means more blood is flowing around your body to your working muscles and then back to the lungs.