Summer of 2009 my main focus will be back to base training. I'm following Lydiard principles with some Greg McMillan twist to the breakdown of my weekly plans. The biggest thing is all my running this summer will be run at easy to steady efforts. There won't be any "structured" serious workouts or races. I plan to end the base training phase though with a big race September 6th CDR 15Miler. (Although I won't have any structured hard workouts going into CDR, I should have lots of miles and hills which really is ideal for that race. It is a perfect race to end base with because it is way more about strength then it is about being "fast")I think many summer's I have trained too hard or too much and came out of the summer pretty worn down when fall marathon season kicks into gear. I'm sure it was mainly due from too many hard workouts through the summer heat and humidity.This summer with the focus on base mileage I think I can safely get my mileage closer to where it needs to be to make a big jump in the marathon and set myself up for fall marathon specific training.So the plan is 12 weeks of base which I'm currently 4 weeks into the base as I get closer and closer to peak mileage this summer of 105-120 miles per/week. (If I reach that max mileage I will be tired enough without extra "hard" workouts anyways)
The other important point about my training is after this summer base phase if I'm worn down then I will just take a break or if I feel I need to continue to just run miles I will do that then. My fall and really the rest of 2009 is all about getting miles and just running. It will be a busy and tiring rest of the year so if a fall marathon doesn't come together then so be it. But ideally I come out of base and get into a 8-12 week block of marathon specific work and when I feel I'm fit and ready I look for a marathon to test things out.
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