Saturday. Oh Saturday. Its a day to sleep in. Do chores early, play with the family later. Its date night, concerts, anything your heart desires. Well, its my day to run and run long. Many choose Sundays as their long run days. For religious purposes, I have chosen Saturdays. I am out of the house by 6 and back by 8 or 9 or 10 depending on the week and how far into training I am in. The best part, is coming home to a house of fed and clothed children, a warm bath, breakfast, and a family waiting to have fun with their mom. The reward is worth the effort.
If you have to skip a day of training, make it a short mileage day. Don't skip out on your long runs. Long runs help you strengthen your legs and develop your breathing patterns. It helps you get to know your body better, what it can or cannot do. You will learn how to breathe, when you need food, when to hydrate. You will learn what pace to keep comfortably.
As your training begins, you will notice that it will taper. For example, one week you will do 7 miles than, 8, than 4, than 8. This is not me playing with your minds. This is to help you avoid over training and injury. Plus everybody needs a break.
Make sure you take with you a sports drink and or water. I purchased a Camelback and drank from it every 2 miles whether I was thirsty or not. Others use water bottle belts or whatever is most comfortable for you. You will be exerting yourself for several hours so you need to stay hydrated. I did a sports drink because it gave me carbs and electrolytes. If you are taking a camelback and are doing double digit miles, consider taking a banana or a gel that you can eat or squeeze in your mouth. I will try to get you some good recommendations on those.
Focus on your time, not miles. When it got tough, I would say, "OK today I am running for 3 hours." Whatever I accomplished at that time was a thrill to me. Once you become more practiced, you can focus on miles, but just go out there and run and don't worry.
I would love to hear about different experiences whether spiritual or nature driven that you have had during a long run. Comment below.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You are gonna get sick of my comments...sorry can't help it! I LOVE long runs. One time...it has been a lot of years ago now. My friend and I were getting ready for a marathon and doing a very long run...18,20 something like that. We were getting pretty far into the run and getting a little loopy. So we started acting like we were airplanes. It was pretty funny and a good memory to look back on!
ReplyDelete