The Long Run

So last weekend I had my very first 20+ mile run of my marathon training and this past weekend I had my 2nd. Prior to these two runs, I had some serious questions as to whether or not I was going to be able to complete another marathon, I hadn't run anything over 16 miles and even then that seemed like a struggle. But something amazing happened, in 2 consecutive weeks I not only went my target distance, but I was under my target time goal for that distance. I set out each time to run very specific paces and was very mindful of split times, this is where having a Garmin has truly helped me out, I can get an accurate up to the moment view of my pace as well as my distance and overall time. This has easily become my most important training tool, well other than running shoes. The other thing that I paid particular attention to during both of these runs was my calorie intake and water intake. I rarely if ever take any fluid during a normal easy run of 6-8 miles which probably isn't the wisest thing to do, but I just don't see the need to load up my fuel belt for a couple ounces of water, sometimes I'll stop at a fountain if one is available but other than that generally no water. The real downside to this is the carry over effect into my long runs, I will generally wait an hour before I start re hydrating and of course by that time its already to late. So upon advice I read in a magazine I made sure to take water early and often, easiest way was every mile, which is where the Garmin comes in handy again, since it gives me a nice little audible beep every time a reach a mile. I also made sure to take a gel every 45 mins, which has worked considerably better than every hour, 15 minutes difference doesn't seem like a lot but when you are burning upwards of 1000+ calories and hour that 15 minute window in the beginning can mean the difference between hitting your goals or straight bonking.

All in all after the last 2 weeks long runs, I am feeling confident about completing another marathon and hopefully going under 4 hours which would be a huge improvement over last year.

Lastly, I wish I had a catchy little tag line to drop at the end of these posts I always feel like I need to say goodbye or something, need to come up with something original, I'll have to add that to my ever expanding "To Do List"

Until next time "Insert catchy tag line here"