Base miles are what we run between races

I don’t have any marathons or half marathons on my schedule. But it’s always a good idea to have a long run in your base miles routine.

“Long Run” means different things to different people. If you are a new runner then four or five miles may be your long run. If you run marathons, then a 10 mile run would be a good base miles long run.

I only have 5Ks on my schedule for the foreseeable future, so 10.44 miles was a great Sunday Long Run for me.

When I looked at the weather Saturday evening, Sunday looked like it was going to be cold. As such I wore my Under Armor gear and Adidas running pants. The pants are wind proof and for such light material really do a great job of keeping me comfortable.

We passed several bank clocks which showed that temps were no higher than 33°. Fortunately we didn’t have any wind so 33° felt pretty good. Even around Lake Quannapowitt there was barely a breeze off of the water. It was really a nice run for such a cold day.

Most of us are still adjusting to the cold temperatures. Two of the guys actually wore shorts today, and they said they felt comfortable, except at the water stops.

Base Miles

My base miles are generally in the 20-25 miles per week range. I usually get these miles through our Tuesday Night Club Run (6.5 miles) and two lunch time runs. Getting in a good Sunday run takes the pressure off to run long at lunch.

When I first started running, I only trained if I had a number for Boston. I did this for about three years. Then I started running a little bit year round regardless of my Boston status. Now I run a few days a week 12 months of the year. Maintaining base miles year-round is crucial if you want to improve your running.

If you stop training completely in the cold weather you will lose most of your fitness in just a few months. Take six months off and you are basically starting all over again. Base miles make it easier to ramp up your training when you do have a big race on the calendar.

Base miles are very important.

1,000 mile quest

As of Sunday, November 16th, I have 913.76 running miles. With about six weeks to go, I only need to run 15 miles per week to hit my goal. I’m feeling pretty confident about hitting this goal.

Are you following my blog through email?

Blogs have what is called an RSS feed. If you subscribe to my email list the RSS feed sends posts directly to your inbox. What you receive is basically a news letter. In the newsletter, I am able to provide links to additional stories and information that you will find interesting.

I subscribe to a bunch of running related news feeds (RSS feeds) and get interesting articles all the time. Instead of making a post with a bunch of links, I add the interesting links to the newsletter.

I appreciate everyone who follows me through Twitter, Facebook, and WordPress. In the newsletter, I provide additional running related information. I hate to use the word “newsletter” because that sounds dry and boring to me: Many pages full of stuff I don’t care about.

I sort through these feeds and post what I find interesting as a runner. I think you will find some of the links to additional stories and information interesting also. If none of them sound good, you still get to read my post.

Run well my friends!

Andy

© anagelin