Building your Base

When I woke up today I felt a ton better (I have been sick-food poisoning?-the past few days),  and it was a warm 40 degrees (compared to 5 degrees!!). So we ditched the arena and I took Koda out for a ride in the snow. It was so much fun trotting through the snow drifts!

If you are considering doing a big or small race this year, now is the time to start building your foundation of base miles and strength. Here's a fantastic article on Base Miles, which talks about cycling for the elite athlete but it's relevant to anyone for any sport.

Basically for the next few months you want to build your strength, heart (cardio) and core. You don't have to put in tons of boring miles right now (that will come later, hehehe). To build a foundation, quality wins out over quantity. Cross training, interval training, core, kettlebells, strength, HIIT are all important at this stage. Do a little bit everyday and it will pay off.


 So how am I building my base? I started Cathe's XTRAIN 30 day + Ride (cycle) workout program on Monday. It's a new release that I got for free (thanks to Cathe's awesome offer--if you submit a recipe or a success story and they publish it on their website...you get $100 to shop on her site!!) Although I missed a few days being sick, I'm back on track today. It's always hard when illness or injury get in the way of your fitness goals but I've learned to just put it behind me and move on. You can't change it, right?

I will also be adding in some treadmill and elliptical workouts as well to round things out for my 5K and 1/2 marathon training. Since I've been healing my ITB and haven't been running, Couch to 5K is in the works!

And by the end of this month I'll be able to check two more things off my goal list since I'll be trying snowshoeing and cross country skiing this month, which will also be great cardio!

In addition to the actual exercise, what you're wearing is also important. Do your workout clothes fit? Or do they ride up in some areas or "fall out" in others? Do you feel good in them? Or do they make you feel "fat"?
Invest in some quality pieces that make you look and feel great and you will be more motivated to workout. Recently I needed to update my workout wardrobe and found the compression line at Old Navy very affordable, comfortable and a great fit. Also found Champion's premium line at Target on sale and it's nice stuff. It doesn't have to be expensive to be good.

How are you building your fitness foundation?