Marathon training has a lot of moving parts. Running, stretching, strength training, fueling, recovering, balancing training with family and work. That’s why it also has seasons. It’s impossible to train everything all at once. So, just like football or competitive swimming, there is an a preseason, an in-season, a post season and an off-season. Base building is that preseason.

Preseason is typically six to eight weeks. It begins with gradually increasing weekly miles towards a target determined by your training plan or coach. It consists of easy miles that prepare your body for harder workouts to come.

Base building miles prepare your body for the long haul of a marathon by teaching it lots of things. One big one is motor programming. Muscles learn what order to contract in, how many fibers to contract and how much oxygen and blood that takes. Once our body knows how to run, we need to stress it with more stimulus to see change or improvement. That’s where the build of base phase comes in.

As we push our bodies to run more miles, become more efficient and develop fitness, our stroke volume can increase. Improved stroke volume means more blood is ejected from the heart with each beat and therefore carries more oxygen to hard working muscles. This ties into an improvement in VO2 max, or the maximum amount of oxygen your body can process in one minute. The higher VO2 goes, the better off you are. Other benefits include higher mitochrondrial density. Base building also teaches your body to use fat as fuel and makes you an overall more efficient runner.

While you shouldn’t be doing any very intense or very long workouts during this preseason, it is the perfect time to throw in fartleks, hill work and some shorter tempo runs once a week to break up the miles. It is also a good time to strength train, cross-train and have fun.

Although base building should be fun and seems simple, it is an invaluable part of marathon training. Skipping it can be dangerous. Running hard frequently right out of the gate might give you a confidence boost, but it also looks for trouble. Diving into race pace, long tempo and speed workouts before your body is ready asks for burnout, frustration and potential injury.

Coach Meredith

Every runner loves hills. Maybe. Love them or hate them, every runner needs hill work. If you’re racing a hilly course, like New York or Boston, practice and skill running hills is key to race day success. If you want to get faster, stronger and fitter, hills will help.

Why to do it: Hill work makes you durable. It makes you fast. And it improves your form. The extra power required run maintain your pace running uphill also makes you strong.

Your feet are landing higher then where they started. As a result, that means extra knee drive and generating power from your forefoot. It makes muscles work harder by firing more fibers in a faster sequence than flat ground. That promotes good form and helps muscles remember it. Good form plus strong legs means faster race times.

When to do it: Hill work is useful in every phase of a training cycle because there are short hills, long hills, steep hills and gradual hills. This makes hill work greatly variable and useful at all points in a cycle. Working on specific endurance? Steady long hills. Speed and strength? Short, hard hills. Beginners should start low and slow while more advanced runners can go steeper, longer and harder.

How to do it: Step one is finding the right kind of hill. It might not be what you expect, either. Maybe surprisingly, bridges, parking garages and treadmills can all serve as places to practice climbing. Consequently, if it’s just been raining and you don’t have spikes, a big grassy hill might not be the best choice. Make sure your footwear matches the location and conditions of your hill work.

Finally, if you’re looking to add hills to your training program, seek help from a qualified professional before hitting them too hard. They can wear out fast twitch muscles and leave your next workout lacking.

Coach Meredith

The long run is a staple of every runner’s program. And it should be because it has tons of benefits. Regardless of what race distance you’re training for, it is an important part of your weekly mileage. Here are some of the big gains you can earn with your weekly long run.

Builds volume (and fun). The long run contributes a large portion, up to 30%, of your weekly mileage. Running more miles improves your efficiency and strengthens your heart. It’s also a great time to run with friends and have some easy paced fun.

Mental toughness. The long run usually comes towards the end of the week which means you’re tackling it on potentially tired legs. Marathons are hard and you’ll need to practice being uncomfortable if you want to succeed on race day. These long miles provide the perfect opportunity to get your head, as well as your body, ready for anything.

Learning how to fuel. Never try anything new on race day. Long runs give you a chance to learn. Try different fuels on training days, not when the pressure is on. Take the opportunity to explore fueling at different times, different types of hydration and figure out what works best for you.

Stronger bones, tendons and ligaments. Running puts a lot of wear and tear on the body. The cumulative stress from running lots of miles makes your body stronger, as long as you recover adequately. That means your body will hold up better to the strain of race day and can produce more power over the long haul.

How to do it: The long run should be run at roughly 90 seconds slower than your goal race pace. It can also be slower than that or include race pace work. To build the right run for where you are in your training cycle, reach out to a qualified coach.

Where to do it: Anywhere! The long run is a great tool to explore a new city, trail or park. Make sure you check routes for potential hazards, like lots of traffic or no shade, or helpers, like water fountains and restrooms, before you run them.

Get excited for your next long one and have fun out there!
Coach Meredith