The Importance of Base Mileage

Base mileage is the first step to any specific running goal. In fact, building your running base is one of the most essential parts of any fitness goal. These are the slower, consistent, weekly runs that you do. Whether you want to become faster or enjoy your runs more, base mileage is the first step.

Starting out with consistent, easy runs of three to six miles, three times a week, before building up to five days a week, will help to prepare your body for any harder training plan. Increasing your running speed or feeling like your runs are easier is all dependent upon your running fitness; the more often you run, the higher your fitness will be.

Runners who want to add sprinting workouts or tempo runs to their routine will need a high base mileage to see the most improvement. Similarly, individuals who are getting into running or who are trying to grow their fitness need to develop their base mileage in order to initiate a new healthy habit. Base mileage is what prepares and develops your body, as well as prevent injury. It can be exhausting to run everyday, so it is important to start out with a low base mileage and work from there.

Base mileage is often acclaimed for building your aerobic endurance. This is important because you will want to build your aerobic abilities before attempting any anaerobic exercises (these are fast paced workouts that build up lactic acid in the muscles). Thus, base mileage runs should not be strenuous or fast-paced. They serve merely to grow your endurance and fitness. 

I think most of us understand the concept of base mileage. You need to have some foundation, some base level of fitness, to accomplish more specified goals. It can, however, be easy to get caught up with the idea of those specific goals and discount the importance of the slower, mundane, daily run. Nonetheless, working towards those goals will be fruitless without the consistency of base mileage.