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Guest Article:  Marshall Burt, owner and coach of the Elite Training Group in Austin, TX frequently posts articles to the RunTex forum.  Though to my knowledge Marshall and I have never met we have independently arrived at very similar training and physiology beliefs.  He recently posted the following article on base building that not only coincides with my power running training philosophy, but is also quite thought provoking.  With Marshall's permission I have copied the article from the RunTex forum and posted it here for your consideration. (I have edited the style, but not content.)

The Basics of Base Building

by Marshall Burt

Accurately Applied Concept of "Base Building"

In this “Accurately Applied Concept Of Base Building”, the term “base building” does not describe a period of time in one’s training year for doing elevated volumes of work, or a few weeks at the beginning of a track season…..but a specific type of workout that is done in a training program, preferably…..all year around. The traditional manner in which the concept of “base building” has been applied is physiologically unnecessary. The “Accurately Applied Concept Of Base Building” is one where the purpose of “Base Building”..…is to have a – “bottom floor”- of power output which you are able to maintain for long distances. The objective should be, over time, to gradually raise the –“bottom floor”- of power output. There should be a velocity below which you will not go in your training. This is your bottom floor. That floor should be raised over time……by design, on purpose, not by accident or by default.

Your Long Workouts -Are- Your “Base Building” -----
You don’t have to “lay down a base”…..first…..you just have to have some sort of “base building” in your training program. The purpose of a “base” isn’t to “prepare” a runner to progress…..but rather to “cause” the runner to progress. Progressions in bottom-end and top-end power output lead to progressions of everything in between. Distance runners, regularly training for multiple years at velocities slower than what they might run for a marathon, creates the chronic situation of failing to provide an adequate “base” from which to progress. Failure to have an abundance of training [all year around] surrounding one’s event distance insures that the runner cannot fully develop at his/her event distance. This lack of a true “base” is why [for example] a 1500m runner is typically unable to run a good time for 10,000m, and a Marathoner is typically unable to run a good time for 1500m.

Its Not The “Mileage”…It’s The Workouts -----
Traditionally, the belief is that “Base Building” is necessary to prepare the runner to progress on to more specific training for his/her event distance. It has been asserted that the required adaptations to this “base building” training are;

It has been generally asserted that these adaptations come only from this method of “base building” and/or that this method is the most effective. However…..the physiological reality is that prolonged training runs ---- or ---- repeated high velocity intervals......that deplete glycogen stores to some threshold level.....are effective stimuli for increasing--maintaining Glucose Transporter levels [thus increasing-maintaining glycogen storage capacity]......not "mileage" per se. Prolonged training runs ---- or ---- repeated high velocity intervals......that create a high demand for ATP [energy], are effective stimuli for production of blood vessel capillaries, red blood cells, mitochondria, etc, etc, etc.

Use Your Time Wisely
Since it takes more glycogen, more ATP, more capillaries, and more red blood cells to run fast than to run slow, runners would do well to train at a variety of velocities surrounding their event distance as much as possible, all year around. Thus it carries purpose to abandon the traditional concept of “base building” in favor a “power output” focus. Neurological recruitment patterns are velocity specific. Glycogen storage capacity, capillary and red blood cell production, are specific to training velocity. The concept of “base building”, applied in the traditional manner, forces runners to focus multiple weeks/months of training on workouts run at velocities that are well away from goal paces for event distances. This inherently leaves less time per training year to train at those goal paces for their event distances, and leaves less time, or prevents entirely, training at far higher velocities that are necessary to train adaptations related to nervous system recruitment and recruitment rate.

Abandon Arbitrarily Determined Workout Distances
The reason [for example] a runner whose main event is 1500m cannot do –only- workouts at his/her 1500m goal pace, is because that runner will be unable to fully develop at the 1500m distance. This is because…….
 

Arguably, a high fitness level for the 1500m race distance is the combination of a high fitness level at races distances that are….slightly above…and well below….the 1500m race distance. Future improvement beyond current goal paces, is dependent upon raising the --“bottom floor”-- of power output that can be maintained for long distances, in combination with improvements in the top-end power output. They should have in their training program, 10,000m and marathon goal pace workouts in their training program. These workouts are the application of the “Accurately Applied Concept of Base Building”, in a 1500m runner’s training program. By not allowing their slowest workouts to go below Marathon goal pace, they begin with a reasonable bottom floor of power output from which to progress their “base”. The 10,000m, and Marathon goal pace workouts provide a more disciplined, less arbitrary method by which to choose workout distances, allowing a focus more on event specific—goal pace relevant…power output, and less focus on arbitrary, non-goal pace relevant “weekly mileage”. Since we know that many of the fastest marathoners tend to be those who can run very fast for shorter events such as 10,000m, arguably, a high fitness level for the marathon race distance is the combination of a high fitness level at races distances that are….slightly above…and well below….the marathon race distance. One can argue that for a marathoner…….marathon goal paces should be the bottom floor, and that there should be an abundance of goal pace training relevant to shorter race distances comprising their training programs.