How To Always Be Race-Ready

Many runners dream of being race-ready all year round (or all racing-season long). Fit enough to sign up for a race 1 to 3 weeks out, show up confident, and perform at their best.

The truth is, you don’t need a 12-week training block to make that happen if you keep yourself tuned with a base mileage that suits races of your favorite distance.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the simple mindset and formula I use to stay race-tuned throughout the racing season (Spring to Fall inclusive)—without burning out or constantly 'building'.

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The 3 types of runners: where do you sit?

Before I get into the how, let me quickly define 3 categories of runner for the purpose of this article:

1. The spontaneous runner: Runs a few times a week, without any structure or targets. Training is intuitive, and generally speaking, effort-based. They might follow a training plan before a race, but often don’t.

➡ Key trait: Fitness comes and goes. Races require full rebuilds.

2. The weekly mileage chaser: Hits consistent mileage but doesn’t follow a structured plan, instead, workouts are decided on the day. They tend to follow a training plan before a race.

➡ Key trait: Fit and consistent, but lacks progression or purpose.

3. The structured base-builder: Trains with purpose year-round (or seasonally), even outside of peak race cycles. Every run has intent, and weekly mileage aligns with them being able to easily race their favorite distance, when they choose because they're always close to rae ready.

➡ Key trait: Can race almost anytime with a short tune-up.

This article is for anyone in Group 1 and 2, who wants the confidence of being a Group 3 runner; ready to race at short notice without going into panic mode.

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And yes, this works whether your goal distance is a 5K, half, marathon, or trail event. The trick is to maintain your base mileage and apply a smart, simple 2-3 week ramp-up when it’s go time.

Your base mileage, and why it matters

Think of base mileage as the average mileage you can comfortably run each week.

It’s not your peak week mileage, it’s the mileage from the week before your biggest week in a structured training plan.

That’s the sweet spot: enough to stay strong, without running more than you need to which can sometimes lead to overuse injuries.

Here’s what that base week looks like in a few of my training plans: