Long-Distance Recipe

As I prepare to start running more miles than I have ever run before… beginning next week, I have been trying to read up on long-distance running.  I get an email each week from Active.com Running – it features different articles about running topics.  One I found particularly of interest this week was “The Right Recipe for Long-Distance Running” seen here: http://www.active.com/running/Articles/The-Right-Recipe-for-Long-Distance-Running.

It talks about developing your personal marathoning style… and how you need to blend your personal interests and tailor the training schedule to fit your life.  That is definitely something that I have been trying to do.  If I can’t run on Saturday – I make sure to run on Sunday.  I try to plan out my week so, even if I can’t run on the specified days of the training calendar, I still get my 3 runs of the same distance completed.  The article gives 5 key ingredients to long-distance running:

1. Patience – This is key so you don’t get burnt out!  Make sure you allow for setbacks like illnesses, travel, family plans, minor injuries, and those days you just don’t want to run!  The nice thing about the Cellcom training plan is that it was set as a 19 week calendar.  I feel that it is a great time frame for someone completing their first half-marathon, like me!  “Practice patience and evolve into your best runner.”
2. Planning – Use a planner and schedule your life FIRST… include obligations you know you can’t get out of.  Then plan out your training runs.  Develop your training plan to fit your life.  There is an optimal training recipe for everyone; you just have to find what works for you.  When you do, you’ll recover quicker, improve faster and run stronger.   The first few weeks I felt like I HAD to run on the days the calendar said… but then I realized due to certain obligations, that it’s just not possible.  What I do now is look at each week coming up and determine, based upon weather and my “life”, which 3 days of the week is best for me to get my runs completed!  It makes me feel much less stressed and I don’t have to panic if I can’t run on specific days.
3. Accessorize – You never want your race goals to completely take over your other interests/activities in life.  Cross-trainers have fewer aches and pains… they develop balanced strength and maintain a constant level of motivation throughout their training.  This is one thing that I have definitely tried to maintain as 1 day a week of the training schedule actually calls for cross training.  My forms come from sand volleyball, the elliptical, biking, core exercises, or walking my dog.  The one thing I have thought about recently though is incorporating activities like swimming or weight training into my day of cross-training.  I haven’t’ gotten there yet, but it’s something that is always on my mind.  I feel like it will allow me to become a stronger, and possibly faster, runner.
4. Train Mindfully – There will be occasions when you have the “less than perfect runs”… you feel tired, your iPod dies, you have side pains, can’t get your breathing right… whatever it might be.  Some days you will wake up refreshed and have the perfect run….. those are the days that you love!  (Well at least I do!)  But just because something isn’t right with your run… doesn’t mean you should just give up and go home.  You have to labor through the bad days, and remember why you’re out there.  Focus on what kind of run you want to have that day… easy, moderate effort or hard.
1. Easy effort – Where you can’t hear your breathing or you can recite things out loud.
2. Moderate effort – one notch up; you can hear your breathing and you’re taking notice that it’s not quite as easy to talk.
3. Hard effort – your breathing is labored, you are outside your comfort zone and can only hold this effort for minutes instead of hours.
5. Take Note – keep track of details during your training plan.  You’ll stay motivated by seeing the progress you are making.  The one thing that I do is I have a calendar planned out with my “planned/scheduled” runs or activities and then I have a blank space for actual.  I have been recording each of my run and exercises so I can see my progress of just how many miles I am running!  It’s been great motivation to say “oh boy, I didn’t do so hot that week… or WOW!  I amaze myself sometimes!”  I also take note if I was sick or something happened where I couldn’t get one of my runs completed.  

I had a pretty good Thursday night run… I was able to complete 4 miles before it got dark out.  March 11^th can’t get here fast enough… I can’t wait until it starts staying light out until after 6:30pm!!  Time to rest tonight and prepare for my 6 mile training run bright and early tomorrow morning :)

Running Stats:
Miles Ran this week: 11.4
Miles Ran in February: 33.05
Miles Ran in 2012: 79.01