Fifty Plus (50+) - define: Base Miles

I'll take a stab at it without wikipdeia or google - The maximum distance your body can comfortably endure on any given day.

Correct?

"Base miles" must be one of those terms with multiple meanings. IME, it's always referred to early-season, high-volume, low-intensity training (aka LSD - Long Steady Distance). ie, the stuff you do before you start doing speedwork and intervals.

SP

To me- Base miles are the amount you must do in a week/month/year that will maintain your minimum required fitness. For me that is around 60 to 80 miles a week. Then when I want to train for extra milage or that longer/faster ride- I have to put in extra miles or Faster/extra miles to get that extra fitness.

Base miles - those miles you put on that aren't specifically aimed at any training goal, just miles and miles.

And here I was going to the local Little League park, riding my bike around the diamond, just to make sure I get in all my "base miles."

Boy, do I feel dumb.

If a rider intends to begin an orgianized training program for performance, base miles are the first step. They are the miles put in early in the season or over the winter and are usually long and not of a high intensity. The rider's goal is to be able to ride more miles than he/she will race at by building a fitness base from which to start the training cycle. Once race specific training begins the rider will not do many training sessions that total more miles than his/her races unless the workout is for 'tempo" training. The rider needs to be able to recover from the high intensity workouts and/or races at this time of the season instead of building fitness by riding for hours in HR rate Zones 2 and 3.

I guess I had it wrong. I generally do 3 to 4 rides a week at about 25 to 30 miles each and I try to throw in one ride that's somewhere around 40. I figured that my base miles were around 30 and if I needed to get ready for a longer ride (say 50 miles) then I would have to start increasing my base miles.

I guess I had it wrong. I generally do 3 to 4 rides a week at about 25 to 30 miles each and I try to throw in one ride that's somewhere around 40. I figured that my base miles were around 30 and if I needed to get ready for a longer ride (say 50 miles) then I would have to start increasing my base miles.


For your own training program you are correct. What may help in reaching 50 miles is to ride some of your regular rides at little faster pace than you intend to ride the 50 miler in. Your body wont be working as hard but will need to be able to ride for a longer time. The biggest difference you'll see in going form 30 mile rides to 50 miles rides will be in "fueling on the bike". If you are not yet eating while riding this is a good time to start.

I used to do a long offroad ride. 100 miles takes a long time to ride and there is no way we could get in a 12 hour ride to train for it. Easy way out was to work out our average for the 100 and it was just over 8mph. So we worked out a tough 30 mile route taking in a couple of severe hills and some tricky singletrack. When we could do the 30 miles in 2 1/2 hours- or 12mph- we were fit enough for the 100.

Made no difference as after about 65 miles- we were running on empty. It was just turn the pedals and get through the ride.

Base miles = 100 miles per week for me. I need to do that to maintain the point I want to train. It does not make much difference how I ride these miles, just do it.

Not sure what the official meaning is but for me it is those miles done in March where I am just getting the legs use to the bike again after a long winter, no HRM yet, no sprints or intervals - just hardening up the rear end and turning the pedals in the cold weather, trying to get use to 100miles/wk again. The real work starts in early April.

And here I was going to the local Little League park, riding my bike around the diamond, just to make sure I get in all my "base miles."

Boy, do I feel dumb.

Dumb and dumber, how about army base miles?

If a rider intends to begin an orgianized training program for performance, base miles are the first step. They are the miles put in early in the season or over the winter and are usually long and not of a high intensity. The rider's goal is to be able to ride more miles than he/she will race at by building a fitness base from which to start the training cycle. Once race specific training begins the rider will not do many training sessions that total more miles than his/her races unless the workout is for 'tempo" training. The rider needs to be able to recover from the high intensity workouts and/or races at this time of the season instead of building fitness by riding for hours in HR rate Zones 2 and 3.

Bingo. That is the only definition I ever heard for base miles.

And here I was going to the local Little League park, riding my bike around the diamond, just to make sure I get in all my "base miles."

Boy, do I feel dumb.

Well, at least you had all your bases covered.