Going to use this thread to document my winter base phase. I'll document this from November to February.
First week back into training, after month off:
Sun am 10
Mon am 10 steady pm 5
Tues 0
Wed 5
Thurs 5.5
Fri 10
Sat 10 w/ 24 x 150m (these were basically glorified strides. They were done on a slight hill)
Total: 55.5
Pretty light week as before I took the last month off I was averaging 80 miles per week throughout the year. Took Tuesday off due to not sleeping the night before.
A little background:
Not setting my self up to failure. But, last year during my winter base phase I hit a new pr for most mileage in a single week and new mileage pr for the most mileage done in a single week, which was 110 miles . I hope to average that for this build up. Last year my winter base went like this: averaged for 101 miles for nine straight weeks from from December to January. And this was pretty good. Considering I hadn't really run since high school (current age 20) and was only a few months back into running. Started training again last August. First few months back I only jogged about 40-60 miles per week. No real plan, just jogging to get in shape. I don't know why, but I just snapped and gritted my teeth and made myself determine to do something. I've always been a slacker, so I just said f it and ran a hundred miles( my mileage the week before this was only in the 60s) the first hundred mile week last year in my winter build up was SLOW AF. But as the weeks progressed I got fast. My main workout last year in my winter build up was a steady 18 miler. This was my only real workout to look back at it, it usually averaged below 6:30 minute mile. And most of my other runs were 8 minute pace. But it paid off. As I achieved new prs this year in the 10k and half marathon(that half marathon race is the reason I took the last month or so off I did it in brutal heat and humidity which took a lot out of the well)
Look back in retrospect to last year build up. A few things I will change from last year. One add strides. Wasn't till recently I've started doing strides again(for the longest time I had a phobia of strides as in high school I blamed them for valve and ankle injuries). I'll probably do 4-6 per every other day and occasionally do a boat load of strides like I did today. Second, my body is more adapted to mileage. So, I will do more progression runs and fartlek runs this year. I won't plan them, I'll let them come to me. If I feel good I'll pick up the pace. Third, I'll double more often than last year. For a few reasons, writing this had me look back at my winter training from last year. Most weeks I only doubled two-three times a week. Resulting in only usually about 10 runs per week. If I add just another 4 runs each week of 5 mile easy runs that will result in 120 mile weeks.