As a former cyclist and rookie triathlete, I'm very familiar with the importance of establishing a proper BASE early in the season. When I was training 10 or 15 hours a week to be a competitive collegiate cyclist, it made sense to do 4-hour base rides at a Zone 2 pace.

“I never know what kind of training to do in January and February.” I heard this statement from one of the athletes I coach and I blew it off as an inconsequential statement with no relative meaning. And then as I commuted through my day, I thought, ‘By God, he needs to know.’

I have been doing some reading on base training including the thread that currently is being commented on in this forum, but I wanted to ask a slightly different questions with regards to base training. I would think that you would want to do base training in all three disciplines and increase your distances as you go. However, what do you do if you don't have access to a heated swim facility. Pain is the sensation of weakness leaving the body!

Well, today marks Day1 of the 2008 training season! Nice easy "long" run this morning and I will be in the pool for a little bit later. Dang Wii party on Sat. night still has my shoulders sore, tho! That's what I get for being the reigning boxing champ! Right now, I am still excited about all the possibilities this season has in store! Life is short. Play hard and get dirty doing it.

I put some pedals on my Bianchi Pista for the first time in a long time the other day for a 2 hour ride. Know what that means? Winter is officially here! It was a little chilly for my ride....dipped below 70 for a while at the beginning. I forgot how much fixed-gear riding hurts the next day! I didn't even go hard at all. Anyone else ride fixie for the off-season? ______________________________________________ -Matt Not fast enough.

It's around this time of the year that many of us experience a confusing transition in our endurance training. If we've followed instructions properly, we've logged countless miles of easy endurance training. In addition, we've worked on force application with slow sets on steep hills and a regular weightlifting regimen.

A well-designed base training phase is crucial for annual progress, but it is often taken for granted as the “easy” time of year. Base is, in fact, the time to address aerobic level fitness, strength, and technique. To make the most of your base phase, you may need to dispose of a few myths and rationalizations.

During the winter you should be focusing on two things - building base mileage and building strength. The majority of your efforts and training time should be spent on those two goals. Racing During Base Phase Training

One of the hardest concepts for an athlete to understand and implement is base training. It is counterintuitive to run or bike slowly in order to gain performance later in the season. It is also very difficult to take a step back from the intense training you were doing a few weeks ago, and bring the speed and pace way down.

Five Steps to a Better Race Season Spring time means the smell of newly blooming flowers, crisp fresh spring air and dormant grasses turning green. For most of us it means time to get outside see what all that base training did for you this winter.