Base Training: Not Just For Endurance Runners
Back in late fall 2016, as I was contemplating my race calendar for the upcoming year, I shared my thoughts with my coach and he said, “Sounds good. That gives us time for three months of base training.” What exactly is base training? And how important is it? Base training could principally be described as ‘training to train, not training to race.’ It is a period used to strengthen the muscular and aerobic systems and get the body prepared for the greater stresses that are applied when training to race. The goal of base training is to develop a runner’s aerobic potential to its maximum before implementing anaerobic training, which fine-tunes the body to run at greater speed. Cross-country skiing is a great aerobic exercise Physiologists experimenting with endurance athletes at Cologne University found that fine muscular endurance can be attained by exercising continually for long periods, i.e. two hours or more at a time (not split up within a day, but can be a ...