Issue #2: Base Training

✍️ Author’s Note

Welcome to this edition of the Threshold Lab newsletter! I’m Stephen Pelkofer, an experienced HYROX athlete with a men’s pro personal best of 59:41 and men’s pro doubles best of 51:39. If you want to learn about my story and how I got here, check out this Instagram post here.

The goal of this newsletter each week is to pick a training topic related to running or HYROX, do deep research into it, and provide actionable protocols that the reader can take away and apply to their training immediately. Let me read the research, listen to the experts on podcasts and youtube, and then give you the tools to make it work for you.

👨‍💻 Introduction

Topic: Base Training

Base training is a critical piece of any training plan. It is the foundational work that is put in further out from a race to lay the groundwork for more specific and intense training later on. Done correctly, it enhances endurance, improves running economy, and reduces the risk of injury, setting you up for long-term success. Today I’ll dig into what base training typically means for a runner, but also touch on some of the traps to avoid, and why the specific characteristics of the athlete matter when it comes to building a base training phase.

🔬 Deep Dive

Base training has been part of elite endurance athlete training models for decades. A pyramid is often referenced as an example of what an annual training plan should look like. The bottom layer represents the base phase, and it is meant to be what everything else gets built on top of. It’s the foundation for the support training and race specific intensity work. The idea is that the bigger the base, the higher the peak can be later on.

In historical literature, researchers and coaches focus the base training phase on aerobic development, which most people just translate to: a lot of easy running. This makes a lot of sense! Your aerobic system is critical for most (nearly all) race distances, workouts, or events that you complete. In fact, once the duration of continuous exercise reaches around 75 seconds, energy contribution is about equal between anaerobic and aerobic systems. As the duration increases, it becomes more and more aerobic [2].

So does that mean everyone's base training should just be as much running volume as possible? Not exactly. Like almost everything in training, it depends on the athlete and their training history. Nearly everyone reading this is likely aerobically underdeveloped and will become a better endurance athlete with a better aerobic system. That does not mean that you should just start logging the highest mileage weeks you have ever hit, increase 10% per week, and expect substantial improvement while also remaining healthy.

Running high mileage in the off-season is not going to make up for poor running mechanics. If you go run 30+ miles a week but have bad mechanics (like excessive heel striking or over striding) and don’t move through space efficiently, you’re just going to get better at running a bad stride. While running easy miles is fun and for a lot of people can almost be like therapy, you should be focusing on your form and efficiency during these miles. There is a quote from The Science of Running podcast that I like to remind myself of: “run better, then run faster, then run more” [3]. Elite athletes can handle the crazy high mileage numbers mostly because they have excellent mechanics and have been doing it for years or decades. Most people are not elite endurance athletes.

There is another part of base training that doesn’t get talked about a lot: running really fast. Although we rarely ever need to touch top end speed in any race, improving the fastest speed you’re capable of running can support the slower, but still fast, intervals you will do later on in training [4]. The goal with running really fast is to recruit and train your fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are important for generating power, maintaining good form under fatigue, and improving overall running economy. The good thing is, you can do this without fatiguing the body too much and leaving you sore for days by including hill sprints and strides in your base training (see lab notes below). 

In summary, base training does not just mean running really high mileage (for some it might!). The base phase is meant to fill the gaps in your skillset. For a recreational or intermediate runner, this could mean you focus for 6-8 weeks on (1) Running a lot of easy mileage with perfect running form, (2) Adding strides and hill sprints to recruit and train fast-twitch muscle fibers, and (3) Doing a lot of cross-training to train your aerobic system. Time for the lab notes ⬇️

🧪 Lab Notes

In every issue of this newsletter, the “Lab Notes” are going to be the protocols that you can apply to your training and routine right away. The goal of this section is to translate the science into actionable steps for the reader, whether you’re a recreational runner/HYROX competitor, or someone pushing the limits of their peak potential.

• Be honest with yourself about where you are as an athlete

  • Have you been running for years and have solid mechanics? Aiming for higher mileage to increase performance is probably a good idea, but do so gradually.

  • Are you newer to running? Do some research on proper running mechanics and film yourself running on a treadmill or track. Here is a great video to start with, from the great Steve Magness: How to Run with Perfect Form | Athlete Analysis

  • A quick note on mechanics: I'm going to look into getting an expert on running mechanics to write a guest post for the Threshold Lab in a future edition

• Run more easy mileage compared to in-season, but run it with perfect form

  • It can be mentally exhausting to focus and think about form for your entire run, but eventually you won't have to once it becomes automatic

• Use progressive overload with a weekly long run

  • Wk 1: 60 min easy

  • Wk 2: 65 min easy

  • Wk 3: 70 min easy

• Use hill sprints to recruit and train fast twitch muscle fibers

  • Example session: Adding 10x8 second hill sprints with full recovery

    • Full recovery is critical and might mean walking or jogging for 3-5 minutes

    • Add this in the middle of, or at the end of a long run

  • If properly warmed up, running uphill is really safe since it reduces impact and has a smaller range of motion

  • The key is that these sessions are easy – you’re getting high output work in, but not causing additional fatigue

• Adding strides to easy runs

  • Similar to hill sprints, sessions like 8x100m strides can be added in the middle or at the end of an easy run

  • Strides are short bursts of running at a pace that is fast but keeps you relaxed

  • More experienced runners can add in a lot of these and accumulate a ton of volume at a fast pace without creating additional fatigue (see a pattern here??)

• Do a lot of cross training for extra aerobic work

  • Biking, ski erg, rowing, and swimming are amazing tools for building aerobic fitness

  • If you’re training for HYROX, it should be a given that you are putting in many hours of easy and efficient ski/row work in the off-season

😁 Work with Me

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That’s it for this edition of the Threshold Lab. If you enjoyed this and found it useful, please share it with a friend!

What I Read and Researched for this Issue

• [1] Runningniche.com/lydiard-peaking

• [2] Energy system contributions during incremental exercise test 

• [3] Science of Running Episode 124: Increasing Mileage

• [4] Run Elite - Train and Think Like the Greatest Runners of All Time

• [5] Training Periodization, Methods, Intensity Distribution, and Volume in Highly Trained and Elite Distance Runners: A Systematic Review