The last 12 weeks of training have been at least as good, if not better than, any 12 weeks of base training have ever been in my career. I averaged over 100 mpw, with workouts gradually building up from short and easy in the beginning to race-specific by the end. Most importantly, I still feel mostly on top of the training, instead of buried under it. I consider this to be a wrap to the base phase because of the impending 10 mile race at Club Challenge this weekend, which in my mind kicks off my spring season. The races I have on my calendar currently are:
2/26: Club Challenge (10 mile)
3/5: Tim Kennard (10 mile)
3/19: NYC half
4/2: Cherry Blossom
4/23: Pikes Peek 10k
4/29: Race against Racism (5k)
5/6: Pittsburgh Half
Races in bold are peak races.
In my mind, the key difference between this base phase and last summer is that I did all workouts and runs by effort rather than putting a watch to anything. Last summer, I feel I overtrained because I was pushing too hard every workout to hit some arbitrary goal I made up for myself. This cycle, until about 2 weeks ago, I never wore a watch or took splits in a workout. I did everything on a course that I knew the distance beforehand, such as a track or the PP loops, which made it easy. In the last 2 weeks I have started timing workouts as the races get closer and I want to be more specific in the training.
Another aspect I added back in during the last 4-5 weeks is dedicated hill workouts. I have never really been a big fan of serious hill workouts having a long-term place in a training cycle, because I have always considered other workouts more valuable. However because this was a base phase fairly far away from the big races, I decided to add them in for variety. It's hard to put my finger on any clear changes or improvements that I might have derived from these workouts, but I feel stronger and like my stride has had small changes made that make me more powerful and efficient at speed. Again, sounds kooky and hard to nail down, and maybe it's all in my head, but the placebo effect is still an effect.
With such a good base under my belt, I am cautiously optimistic for the 10 miler this weekend. I say cautiously because I always try to keep my expectations in check before a race, because I know it will still be a hard effort on that course, but I haven't raced in a long long time so it'll be nice at least to get a reliable fitness check. To that end I am taking the week before easy and dropping mileage a bit to not go into the race tired. Should be a good effort and a very good workout as well for the big races yet to come.
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