Base2race access difficulties

If you have been having problems accessing base2race.com read on.

We have found an issue with users being routed through the internet via Tiscali routers and switches. The request being routed (through servers/routers/switches whatever) which are timing out.

We are working to rectify this. In the meantime you can access your acccount via our alternate service at http://www.base2race.net.

Reserve service at www.base2race.net

If you experience technical difficulties accessing www.base2race.com, a service running on our reserve server is now available at www.base2race.net (but does not support email or pdf export).

This is a reserve service. We only recommend using it when you cannot access www.base2race.com.

Looking good one week into our new home

On Sunday 23rd February we changed server hosts. We weren't getting the quality of service we expect from our older host. The move was fast and easy.

The service is running well and seems (to me anyway) to be slightly faster than our old one.

Base2race service resumed

Base2race service has resumed. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused by the 2 hour outage.

Base2race service interuption

Our service has been down since 11:10(GMT) this morning.

Our hosting service provider, the Positive Internet Company, has stopped our server to apply security patches.

They have assured us that we will be back up and running soon.

We will keep you informed.

Periodisation Planning: Mark Whetmore

Mark Whetmore is the coach of the University of Colorado’s Cross Country Team. Teams season is featured in the book "Running With The Buffaloes" by Chris Lear which featured athlete Adam Goucher.

Heavily influenced by Arthur Lydiard, Chris’s book describes Whetmore’s plan as follows:

Period A: Ascending to Full Volume
The period lasts roughly six weeks, beginning when they resume training after taking a break at the end of outdoor track and lasting until the end of July. Each runner has a different goal volume depending on what he has done in the past. Whetmore recommends “no more than a tem percent increase from his last successful maximum volume.” In a letter he sent to the squad on June 24th, he wrote of this first period, “For the time being don’t attempt any hard work-outs. No intervals; no ATs [Tempo runs]; no fartlek; no races. Just steady medium-distance runs and a weekly long run that is 20 percent of your total week. Get your bodies ready for the sustained volume of September and thereafter.”

This period translates to the BASE1 period in base2race.

Period B: Aerobic Short Specificity
This phase lasts five weeks and is characterized by work done at task pace (be that mile pace for milers during track season or 10k pace during cross country since that is the distance run at NCAA’s) that is not anaerobic. This means that another interval is not started until the athlete is fully recovered from the previous one. An example of a workout in this period is a fartlek with one minute on, four minutes off. There is a complete recovery between each hard effort so that no significant oxygen debt is accrued. This is mainly a transitional phase where Whetmore’s runners get used to going fast again.

In base2race you could specify this period as BASE2.

Period C: Aerobic Long Specificity
This phase lasts 6 weeks and includes longer intervals than in Period B, while still avoiding anaerobic workouts. This phase is characterised by longer fartlek workouts, mile repeats, and long, hard aerobic efforts such as the ten-mile Dam Run. The rest between intervals will shorten toward the end of Period C as the runners advance their fitness. Because the intervals are much longer than in Period B, his athletes start Period C running intervals at paces that are slightly slower than they will be running November 23rd. The paces drop over time. It is important to emphasize that through Period C the Sunday long run is emphasized, using the rule of thumb that it should be twenty percent of an athlete’s weekly volume. As a rule, the steady runs on Wednesday afternoons through this phase are fifteen percent of an athlete’s weekly volume.

In base2race you could specify this period as BASE3.

Period D: Anaerobic Specificity
Now Whetmore introduces a heavy dose of traditional interval running: short, fast repeats with precious little recovery. The anaerobic work enables the runners to capitalize on the increase in their aerobic capacity while giving them what Lydiard calls “the vital edge” to race anaerobically. The Wednesday medium-distance run and the Sunday run are continued as aerobic maintenance, the difference being that with only six weeks until Nationals, the distance of the runs will decrease by 10 to 25 percent. The pace of the medium distance and long runs remains steady.

The shift in emphasis from distance to intensity characterises this cycle as a BUILD period. In base2race I would set this one up as BUILD1.

Period E: Anaerobic Speed
The season’s last phase is marked by training sessions designed to induce deep anaerobic stimulus. In laymen’s terms, this is when his runners puke and come back for more. The hard training sessions will include sprinting and intervals at paces substantially faster than race pace. The end result of these sessions is a feeling of sharpness – a power and fluidity of stride that causes a reversal of traditional mind-body communication. Up to now the mind is employed to overrule the unresponsiveness of the legs that is a result of the cumulative fatigue from an ungodly number of training sessions. Now it is the legs that start telling the mind: hey, you have the tools to raise some hell when it counts.

This final cycle would translate to the PEAK period in base2race.

Written as a journal, I found "Running With The Buffaloes" an eye opening and entertaining read, and would recommend it to anyone interested in endurance training. From a periodisation point of view, it provides a superb day by day illustration of athletes going through each meso-cycle.

Distance summary updates: Automatic workout update

Recently we upgraded workout distances. This involved adding in a new item "distance units". This allows base2race to calculate totals for Swim, Bike and Run distances.

For workout distances to be included in totals, workouts should have distance units selected and distances should be simple numbers.

This is a fundamental change in how distances work in base2race!

In order to help you to change your existing workouts, we've created an update script that we will run over the data. Unless you choose to be included we will not modify your data. You can opt to have your account included in this script by clicking here.