I'd like some advice on how to derive the most out of a base period I'm about to begin in for the new year. My initial plan was to continue my usual training, run some indoor track races and increase weekly mileage from its current 70 mpw to 95-100 mpw by late February and then move down to 80 for the rest of the spring/summer. Unfortunately, I need to reconsider my plans after a disappointing race I ran a couple weeks ago while recovering from a bad cold, and an ankle injury I sustained a few days later from new shoes that have proved difficult to break in. Running the last two weeks has been limited due to my tender ankle, ~36 mpw last week, ~18 so far this week, but it's slowly improving. This period may be a blessing in disguise, a kind of rest period for my body after a long year of building up mileage, intensity, and quality of performance. I've decided to forgo any races for the next few months to focus instead on a base training phase where I increase mileage, add in various plyometric/footwork exercises to work on form, and some strength/conditioning to help build some more speed.
My main questions are in regards to how to best utilize a base training period. I understand the fundamental components of base training: a couple weeks of easy running after a rest period that builds up to current mileage; build up mileage in a four week cycle; all runs at easy/AE pace with one tempo run and one long run to start; do strides a couple times a week to maintain speed, light speed drills one day a week to keep mechanics sharp; add hills sprints and another workout after a month, but nothing too strenuous. That's an easy enough template to build off of. My three primary goals for this period are: increase mileage to 95-100 mpw before dropping down to 80 mpw consistently; adding doubles into my weekly routine; adding plyometric/footwork/posture exercises a few days a week to improve form and economy. I expect this period should last between 3-4 months (January-end of March/April).
I think this will all be very easy to maintain, but I'd appreciate any advice you guys can offer on what I should expect from this period, and anything else I should add/take out to make this as valuable a time as possible. I love to train much more than I love to race, and it's going to be very, very difficult for me to acclimate to easier mileage every day; I like to run hard, and run hard a lot. Will doing a base period the right way have substantial benefits throughout next year, or will I just lose my edge from all the easy pace work?