Base Training

Wow. I was looking at this thread yesterday! Coincidence

Not following it right now but have in the past - Dr Dan is for his Autumn marathon I believe so hopefully he'll contribute. I'll lurk, and answer any questions if I can

I would say the latter. Running up to 80% WHR is likely to lead back to the situation that the fictional female runner had (I forget what her name is and I don't have the book on me right now) where she's getting burnt out etc.

What I did was to allow HR to start off in the 60s and then back of the pace etc when it got up to 70%. I tended to average about 68% WHR over the whole run, however the vast proportion of it would be spent at 69/70% WHR.

I got a great sense of easy run pace judgement when running to a HRM, so I can now pretty much do an easy run to much the same HR figures with no checking of HR whatsoever. If you don't want to overcomplicate things then creeping over the 70% threshold isn't going to bring the hosue down.

Going back to the start (ie page 1 of this thread) the Hadd link no longer works.

Does anyone know where that article can now be found?

84 - Yes, that's the 5-parter I recall - thanks.

Guys, looking for some advice from the folks who offered it earlier in the thread (Dr, Brian etc).

Have been a lurker for some time but would really appreciate some help now.

I find it impossible, even at virtually static pace (12:30 min mile) to keep heart rate at 75%. Can I reverse the theory and keep running at nearer 85% of MHR at the same pace UNTIL my HR comes down to 70% as I become fitter?

Brief info: age 36, 6ft, 12.5st, MHR 191 (actual test...the 220 minus age has me at 184)...generally fit, was a swimmer for three years until taking up running three months ago for the first time. Normally run 10miles about five times a week. I like having targets - so after 8wks of pointless huffing I looked into theories etc.

Hadd suits me, I have plenty of time to run.

Yesterday's 11.5miles was PAINFULLY slow, almost walking, and HR was an average of 160 (doing 12min miles.) Aaaaaaargh

Today's 10miles was around 11:30 min miles and managed to keep HR to around 150 (but I was almost jogging on the spot at some points.) Between miles 8 and 10 I couldn't keep it below 160bpm.

Ideal world: my 70% would be 133bpm, 75% would be 143bpm (both impossible, unless I walk, which is a no go) and 80% would be 153bpm...

Do I stick with the frustrating pace for however long it takes? If that is the answer, please say so. I have no problem sticking to it. Just worried that 12minute miles are not doing me any good. I have no problem running for 90mins or more (but then neither would anyone else at this pace!)

Regards,

Gus.

The general consensus is that base building takes months or even years, so during the early stages (say you're up to ~20 miles a week) when is too early to consider training for a marathon? Is it even worth bothering if you have less than 6 months of solid, consistent weekly miles in the bank? Or can you ramp up to 25-30 miles a week, then immediately go into a 16 or 18 week marathon training plan? is that asking for trouble?

 AgentGinger wrote (see) 

...when is too early to consider training for a marathon? Is it even worth bothering if you have less than 6 months of solid, consistent weekly miles in the bank? Or can you ramp up to 25-30 miles a week, then immediately go into a 16 or 18 week marathon training plan? is that asking for trouble?

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/training/training-for-the-right-distance/166480.html

thanks Dr Dan, a lot of interesting material in that thread. Whilst I agree the most sensible approach is definitely to build up over a number of years to longer distances, I have nonetheless entered a marathon next spring so I'm looking to improve as much as possible in the time between now and then. I'll be spending the next three months building up as many miles as possible whilst trying to avoid injury and developing my aerobic fitness (as per the Hadd/Lydiard theory of doing lots and lots of miles under the anaerobic/lactate threshold). I'll then be starting a marathon plan in Jan, to prepare me for Manchester marathon in late April. Whilst I know that this might not yield the best possible results I don't really fancy waiting another couple of years to run another marathon, so I'll be continuing to try to improve beyond April too.

I think the info in the thread you posted will help me to make the most of the time on my feet, thanks

This was a really good read and explained a lot for me i've been running for a good 2 years now with the last year joining a running club. I average at least 20+ miles a week with a parkrun on a sat. Suppose my query would be am i best to follow the Hadd solution of building up big milege to gain good times when racing i've only done 2 10k races where they were 45mins and 43mins. My main goal would be to run a sub 40mins 10k and sub 20mins 5k. My current 4mile pace is 7min miles which i've been doing for the last few weeks.I tend to tire out chest before legs. But i suppose the build up in milege would help this right.

Mark  run slower and you will get faster.

Cheers Spen71 is that a true judgement though i mean you run slower and longer mileage and eventually you'll run faster. Is that right.

Yes.   Last year was a bit of a crap year for me with injury and other issues.    Since Dec I have ran constantly,  with lots of slow miles.   The pace for same heart rate is 2 mins per mile quicker

I think im going to try and hit at least 30 miles a week of a slow decent to build up then concentrate on speed.