Is it ok to do road races during base training?

Do it as it keeps your mind fresh and tests your summer training- good for motivation and encouragement to work harder on the base mileage. Some elites use them as a training workout session to keep them sharp. Test the water as you have nothing to loose.

no

if you are a seroius runner, then no, if you run for fun and dont care about development then yes. motivation should be no problem, if it is then you should quit competitive running

Yes, it is ok as long as you view the race as a workout, a very hard workout, but a workout none the less. Don't taper or anything like that. Do a long cool down afterward.

nooooooooooo wrote:

if you are a seroius runner, then no, if you run for fun and dont care about development then yes. motivation should be no problem, if it is then you should quit competitive running

Although this reply is a bit brash, I would have to agree. If you really lack the motivation and need a summer race to keep you motivated, then you're in trouble as a competitive runner. But if you're just going to run the race for fun and giggles, then sure, why not?

If you are serious about your running then I would say that a summer race is not worth a consideration, especially when you are in summer base training. Focus on the task at hand during the summer and worry about the racing when it counts.

bill rodgers raced just about every week including during his base training and he was pretty successful. just dont back off your training except for races that are important to you.

(High School)

Yes, definitely. if you come from a great program that covers all the bases, even in the summer, and there are alot of you training together, doingtempos and time trials together etc....it may not be necessary.

If on the other hand you come from the average program, where guys get together and spend a good amount of time bsing and tossing a frisbee around...then weekend races would be a great way to make up for the wasted time.

Nothing wrong with roadraces. I ran my first roadrace during the summer before my freshman year. I found out how much I sucked compared to the others in my age group and it motivated me to up my training. I decreased my 10k time 5 minutes over 2 1/2 months. The majority of kids are not going to be in great programs that teach aspects of training and have summer programs. Most kids are on their own until 2 or 3 weeks before the season.

I would suggest taking the day before the race easy though. The race will make up for it and racing if already really tired may lead to injury. If you don't want to take the easy day, then just go do another workout instead of the race. Running should be about having fun, not just grinding every workout out during the summer.

Yes. Just train through them.

i do shorter ones as tempo runs and go on another run later

and do longer ones as a regular run and go on another run later

as long as you " train through it" then yes. In other words, incoporate the race into a long run - put it after 5 or 6 miles, and run 7 or 8 after.

well...

just do em when you get bored. no doubt you'll get sick of trainign by yourself and start skipping runs to hang out with people or w/e, but if you have a race you wont. dont treat it like a race, i.e. dont taper. but race it like a race. it helps you to keep toughness to hurt every once in a while.

High school runners should run more 10k races in the summer. Builds endurance! Just go out and run it hard.

are you suggesting i pay to do my training runs?

i think i will not.

seriously as every one said do not taper just incorporate it into your training.

You didn't say whether you are high school or college or open or training for cross country or indoor track, or competitive road racing. I'm assuming you have highly focused and competitive goals for an upcoming cross country season so that's why I include some cautions. If your approach and intensity is more low-key, then road races can be done anytime you feel like it. That said, I don't see any harm coming from running a couple 5K-8K road races during a base phase if you are training for cross country at those distances. Just work them into a regular week of basework and don't be surprised or worried if you feel sort of flat and rusty. Also, if you are too competitive to avoid going to the well, I would not even enter the race. I don't think you should truly race them, but use them more like efforts somewhere between a threshold run and a race or start conservatively and build into it but don't go all out. If you are doing basework then you should be pushing your body's limit for total volume at an aerobic intensity. Anytime you are pushing your body's limit, you are more prone to injury. That's why you don't do your highest mileage and your highest intensity during the same phase. Don't mess up your upcoming season by developing some avoidabale muscle strain or overuse injury just to run a road race and break the monotony of basework. Don't wear racing flats, wear a lightweight trainer or your regular trainer. Just my 2 cents and what I would recommend if I were your coach.

Here's one thing to beware of if you race during base training.

In January 07, after running an early December marathon PR (3:30:59....BQ @ 48), I was back in base training and, after only a month of that, beginning to feel really strong. I did a few hard fartleks--6 x 400 on the road, with 45-60 second floats--and stepped into a 5K, where I promptly nailed a master's PR.

Great! I thought. I knew I was a good cold-weather racer. (39 degrees on race morning.) So I decided to run another hard fartlek the following Wednesday, taper for a couple of days, and try and set a 10K PR.

I missed a PR by 20 seconds--it was on a certified course--and wrenched my hamstring so badly that I was forced, after two miserable weeks of 11:00 pace jogs, to stop running altogether for two full months. 8 WEEKS OF ABSOLUTELY NO RUNNING.

That showed me. Don't get greedy. Don't try to do what I did.

An occasional race during base training is OK. Once every three or four weeks, at most.

I should add something important: in the 5K describe above, I raced as hard as I possibly could, scratching and clawing my way past several runners in the final mile and ending with a flat-out sprint against a guy half my age. (He beat me.)

I really felt as though I'd had a breakthrough in terms of really learning how to RACE, rather than just go for time.

So I approached the 10K the following weekend with the same mindset: take no prisoners, go to the well, set a PR.

That was my mistake. You can't do that two weeks in a row during base training, after a hard midweek workout.

I missed a PR by 20 seconds--it was on a certified course--and wrenched my hamstring so badly that I was forced, after two miserable weeks of 11:00 pace jogs, to stop running altogether for two full months. 8 WEEKS OF ABSOLUTELY NO RUNNING.

And was this in Tuscaloosa?

AdamLocked wrote:

nooooooooooo wrote:

if you are a seroius runner, then no, if you run for fun and dont care about development then yes. motivation should be no problem, if it is then you should quit competitive running

Although this reply is a bit brash, I would have to agree. If you really lack the motivation and need a summer race to keep you motivated, then you're in trouble as a competitive runner. But if you're just going to run the race for fun and giggles, then sure, why not?

If you are serious about your running then I would say that a summer race is not worth a consideration, especially when you are in summer base training. Focus on the task at hand during the summer and worry about the racing when it counts.

Are you kidding? I hate just straight up running by myself for months on end. Let people have a little fun with these non-serious racing situations.